Top Five Red Eye Flight Items
For seven years, I’ve avoided red-eye flights because of my young children. Now that they are a bit older, but still small enough to sleep comfortably in an airplane seat, I’ve started introducing these flights into our itinerary.
So far my conclusion on these are: they are mostly good for the kids as they have managed to sleep the entire flight (average of 6 straight hours). This means they land in an ok mental state, and I haven’t had to grind at keeping them entertained. The downside is, I am horrible at sleeping in planes, so I land pretty exhausted - but what is new, being a parent, traveling with young kids? Nothing. It’s all the same.
If you choose to go the route of a red-eye, here are my top five purchase reccommendations:
(1) GNEGNI Toddler Airplane Footrest
This was a game-changer. Although advertised for a toddler, this little mat even worked for my small 7 year old. It was super easy to install and take down and sturdy for what we needed it for - to create more space for the kids to sleep. That extra spot between end of the seat and the beginning of the seat in front, allows the kids to sleep comfortably without having to bend in their legs completely side by side and kicking each other. Each of us now had (more-so than normal) of our own designated spot in our seats. My kids ended the flight tangled up into each other, but that’s more of a result of them sleeping together in their bed at home and being used to that, than them being forced to due to lack of room.
If you’re using it for a toddler - even better! Because in addition to allowing for more wiggle room, it will also serve as a landing spot for all their snacks, garbage and toys, rather than having to bend down and grab all the debris on the ground.
This is my number one pick if you’re travelling with young kids.
I hadn’t thought of packing my own sleep mask for a flight in quite awhile, and on this more recent flight to Costa Rica, I was happy I did. The airplane is never pitch dark, so if you’re like me and want complete darkness for sleeping, then one of these does the trick. Any soft, good fitting sleep mask will. These are the ones I bought recently and they worked well. Soft and easily adjustable.
(3) JefDiee Inflatable Travel Pillow
This style of pillow was recommended to me by a friend who fly’s a lot, and all in all, I was happy to have it on my latest flight. I felt slightly embarrassed to being blowing up what is essentially a pool toy in the airplane, wondering if everyone was looking at me, but I got over that quickly once I saw what it had the potential to do. The blow up pillow has multiple holes to place arms while you rest your head or face, and for me who likes to hold a pillow when I’m sleeping normally at home, it felt comforting. I do with the space for the face was a bit smaller - and like I said - I can’t really sleep on an airplane sitting up, but I do feel I was able to relax and close my eyes for significantly longer periods of time than without it.
The Sleep Mask and the Blow Up Pillow that is the huge black thing in front of me.
(4) trtl Travel and Airplane Pillow
People Love this pillow - but as I keep mentioning, since I have hard time sleeping no matter what, I don’t think I fully enjoyed this item to its fullest. My dad for example, who sleeps well on an airplane, I think would really benefit from this pillow as it does a pretty good job at keeping your neck in place. I still felt I would doze off then wake up because my body was sliding down the seat, but for those that can stay still, I can see it being very useful.
(5) Yeti CROSSROADS® 27L Backpack
This backpack is very durable, looks good, lots of compartments, nice slot for your computer and can fit a good amount of a variety of things.
The Travel Crew - from left to right: Tiger, Mariko and Yale.