Long-haul still has me going giddy with excitement at how this massive metal construction can ever get up into the air, that makes it harder to get some sleep. :-) A neck pillow is the best investment I've ever made there though, it stops you from waking up when your head falls forward.

Also, I'm disturbed by the amount of people who simply don't know how to pop their ears and sit and try to swallow or rub their ears or whatever else crap they're doing. Just hold your nose, blow out, done.

I pop my jaw instead, works better and doesn't add to the congestion and pain.

Anecdotally though, it's the only thing that's afflicted anyone young that I know personally, and three people very close to me have had them in their 20s. (only one was a blood relative, so it's not just genetics). All of the people I know had substantial risk factors for them, smoking, birth control pills, or long flights. Which are also relatively common things, and enough to scare me.

My brother had his first one in 2001, before the media blitz about it, and doctors were very surprised by it. But they seemed to notice a pattern of young, highly athletic people getting them in the year or two after that. One theory was that bruises on the legs create a conducive environment to clot formation.

Also, although none of the people I know have died, it has substantially lowered their quality of life. Their clots won't totally go away, so some of them are on blood thinners for life which restrict what activities they can do, and are very expensive. And one of them has to have surgery to install filters in his legs.

For me, it's usually just a glass or two of red wine at the airport bar before takeoff, and maybe another on the plane. I'm not much of one for taking off my shoes or getting half undressed on the plane.

I also make it a habit to generally not talk to any seatmates or introduce myself. Leads to the possibility of someone thinking it's an open invitation to talk/pester you the entire flight.

In that case, you really want an aisle seat within two rows of a toilet block, so you can stumble to the loo and back without having to fully wake up.

I always end up tired when I arrive, but I've usually had close to 10-12 hrs sleep at various points on the plane trip, so I've "had" enough sleep, it's just the exhaustion of the actual travel and jet lag.

Then the biggest thing for jet lag is, keep busy for the rest of the day and go to bed "normally", i.e. when it's the actual time to go to bed in the new place; usually that'll kick the jet lag pretty quickly.

Arrive for the flight tired. I would rather sleep less the night before and be able to get something done than sleep less on the flight.

I haven't experienced this. I wear IEMs every day, and have worn them on 14-hour flights. Perhaps it depends on the person. In any case I don't see why they would be hotter (or hurt more) than silicone earplugs.

in-ear phones are more dangerous to your hearing than regular ones

Citation? Given that they block more noise than other earphones, logic would dictate that you don't need to play them as loud to achieve the same clarity. I find that I keep the volume on my iPhone very low when I use IEMs, as opposed to near-maximum when using the supplied earphones or headphones.

I have a pair of baggy tracksuit bottoms and long-sleeve t-shirt, that roll down into nothing, which I change into in the departure lounge or on the plane. With a pair of thick warm socks it makes the world of difference.

I love seeing people on the SFO->LHR flight who dress like they're on the way to an evening in a cocktail bar. They invariably end up looking disheveled and grumpy by the time we arrive.

If you need to go straight to a meeting or whatever, just pack a suit carrier. Takes 10 minutes to change and you will arrive to the carousel around the same time your luggage does.

Besides one either gets the "don't do to others what you don't want to be done to you" view on things or one doesn't. In this case you clearly don't.

http://www.mindfold.com/

(Although, it was much cheaper when I bought it a few months ago!)

I sleep with this every night and find it to be quite comfortable. Being able to have total darkness and still be able to open your eyes is great. Sometimes I am woken up by my alarm clock and think, "why is my alarm going off at 3am" before I realize I have the eye shades on. Then I take it off and notice that I forgot to close my shades, and the sun has been directly in my eyes for a few hours ... and that I didn't even know. It's great.

So yes, tl;dr: Go geeky, and learn about how commercial airliners work (they're actually quite cool!). Then compare your knowledge to what happens during a trip and see how predictable it is, and after you can try focusing on just how cool it is how everything works :) Good luck!

All calculations I've seen conclude that driving alone actually is less carbon-intensive than flying, on a per mile basis. The average American drives 10-15k miles per year. If you fly even remotely often, you'll easily end up logging more air miles than car miles. And if you carpool, there's no contest.

Flying is way worse than you may think, from a CO2 point of view.

That said, I take a number of very long trips each year e.g SYD-NYC etc. and find that ordering 2 or 3 rum and cokes after dinner and diving under the blanket knocks me out for a good 8 hours. Steering clear of the in flight entertainment helps too - plain old reading is much more calming.

Never used a neck pillow as I've always found the adjustable headrest to be adequate.

- lip balm so your lips don't get dry and cracked - red wine works better for me than beer - I eat the meals because I like to nap after meals - don't watch movies because the bright lights will keep you awak - listen to relaxing music on your headphones, but choose a playlist that will run out after about 30 minutes - a small pillow can help if you get uncomfortable on flat, hard plane seat cushions. Soemtimes the airlines give you these, but a folded up shirt under your thighs will also help - dont sit near the toilets or galleys because they will be noisy - if you suspect the flight might be a bit empty, get a seat near the back. It's noisier but there is a much higher chance of nabbing a row of seats to yourself.

Finally, pharmaceuticals : sleeping tablets work great, and the best sleep I ever had was stretched out across 5 seats on a 777 after a tiring weekend and a mild sleeping tablet.

To put it in numerical perspective, I had my mp3 player on volume 20 with the Bose, and volume 11 with the Shures to get the same level of music.

That says more about the sensitivity of the Bose vs the Shure more than the sound blocking ability.

That said, I have Bose QC-1 (first generation) noise canceling headsets and Etymotics ER-6i (which just my replaced the ER-6) in-ear headphones. I tend to use the Etys much more than the Bose simply because the Etys are easier to pack (I can stuff them in my pocket vs having to make room in my carry-on for the Bose).

The in-ears do work better than noise canceling headphones, but they are not as comfortable for very long usage.

Absolutely true, but comparing the DAP volume setting doesn't tell you that. The Bose QC-x are relatively insensitive, so the DAP volume will be on a higher setting regardless of the amount of noise blocked/canceled.

Why compression stockings? They reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis during air travel. Here's a link to a Cochrane review for those curious: http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004002.html

Very disappointing, and going through customs afterward is painful.

Great minds think alike, eh?

I'd also add that having thick, slightly compress-y socks and taking off your shoes can help.

The best eye masks, btw, are the Sleep Shades made by Bucky, with special soft padding that blocks out light from below your eye sockets. You can get them on Amazon.com. I have lost them on several continents and always gone to the expense and trouble of buying new ones.

When I have trouble falling asleep, I add in some Dramamine, or if the flight's really uncomfortable / full of screaming babies / extremely long (like Vienna -> Wellington), Xanax.

a) NOISE. You need noise. So much that it is not too loud but becomes background and ignorable. Practice on the NYC subway.

b) Head Rest. Something to keep your head in place and no pressure on the neck. Do that and you can sleep sitting or standing (yes I can)

c) Nobody touching you. anyone around you can do what they want, but as long as body-contact does not CHANGE all is well. You can be touching their hand or shoulder to shoulder, but as long as there is no change you are fine. Sleeping in weird non-super-restful positions = you are more alert so small things will wake you.

Again, practice on NYC subway and you will be an expert in no time.