Travel hacks make life on the road run more smoothly, which is great news for those who travel frequently for work or relaxation. Fortunately, flight attendants and pilots, who spend countless hours flying and in hotels turn to social media to advise others. For instance, a pilot shared something he always does to ensure he gets better sleep.
Travel Hack from a Pilot
Pilot Ron Wagner shared on Quora a travel hack that can help people struggling with sleep disorientation. Sleep disorientation is common in people who travel for work, or often sleep in new places, as they may wake up and forget where they are. Wagner explains a travel hack he uses to combat this issue.
Travel Hack to Prevent Confusion
Wagner’s helpful travel hack is to sleep with the bathroom light on when you stay at hotels, or new places because having a light on will help you see more clearly in the dark of night. This will help you acclimate to your surroundings and, hopefully, prevent confusion or panic.
The Pilot’s Explanation
“The room was totally pitch black and I needed to pee. I lay there with my eyes wide open looking around, trying to find some visual clue. Nothing. Total blackness,” he says, regarding the helpful travel hack. “Not only could I not recall the city, but I didn’t even know how to get up. Where was the wall? Where was the lamp? Which way to the bathroom?”
Adding Perspective
He continued: “The hack is to turn on the bathroom light and leave the door cracked just the tiniest bit. The light coming through that crack will give you your bearings.” However, Wagner explains that you don’t necessarily have to use the bathroom light. Any light will do.
An Alternate Travel Hack
“If the curtains don’t fully block the light, you don’t need to do this, so the real hack is to make sure there is some sliver of light somewhere to help you recall where you are,” he added. “Even then I still awoke every once in a while wondering what city I was in, but it turns out that just a few orienting clues in the sliver of light were all I needed to recall.”
Sleep Disorientation
Although sleep disorientation isn’t an official medical term, Very Well Health describes something similar, confusional arousal. Around 20% of adults and children experience some form of confusional arousal, which often happens during the transition from the deepest stage of sleep, to waking up. The cause is thought to be related to brain function because “different regions of the brain fail to fully communicate with each other,” according to VWH. “As a result, some parts of the sleeper’s brain stay asleep while others suddenly awake.”
Recognizing Sleep Disorientation
Symptoms include:
Confusion or disorientation.
Aggression
Staring off into space without saying anything.
Appearing to be “looking through you”
Confused or slurred speech
While seemingly terrifying, confusional arousal comes in short episodes, around 10 minutes, explains VWH.
A Forum for Information
Wagner shared the travel on Quora. Although it’s unclear how reputable the information on Quora is, the forum was designed for people to “gain and share knowledge.” Either way, Wagner’s expertise as a pilot holds merit and can be invaluable for staving off confusion in a new place. Wagner isn’t the only airline employee sharing valuable travel hacks. In contrast, advice ranges from ensuring a smooth flight and being prepared in case plans change to how to pack efficiently. Here are some other helpful travel tips to reduce stress while traveling.
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1. Hold onto Valuables
Never put anything you’re not okay with losing in your checked bag. This could be monetarily or sentimentally valuable or important documents like your passport. Either way, it’s a bad idea to leave someone else responsible for something irreplaceable, as not everyone will treat your belongings with the same care you might use.
2. Have a Financial Cushion
Things tend to go wrong when traveling, as such, it’s a good idea to have an additional budget set aside with a few hundred dollars in case you need to book a new hotel last minute or eat because your flight has been delayed.
3. Bring a Power Strip
While it might seem extreme, this travel hack will be advantageous when you get to your gate and discover there isn’t an open plug. You can ask someone to swap out their charger for your power strip, creating more outlets and ensuring you always have the option to charge your devices before a long flight.
4. Write it Down
It’s a good idea to write down the address of where you’ll be on paper to enter into the GPS or give to your driver. That way you can rest assured they have the correct information. This travel hack extends to all travel plans including anywhere you might have reservations or an outing planned. Additionally, grab a few business cards from the hotel so you can easily give the address to various drivers while touring the area.
Alternatively, you can use your phone to save important information. However, it’s a good idea to save in your notes rather than refer to an email because you may not have service or access to Wi-Fi until you reach your destination.
5. Travel Hack for Packing
This last travel hack comes from female airline attendants who explain that traveling light and rolling clothes can help create more space. Meanwhile, the military uses a “fold and roll” method. Purportedly, you fold small items like socks, underwear, or tank tops. Next, roll those into larger items like pants and sweatshirts.
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