Brent and Michael's Secret Travel Hacks, Part 18!
Don't get sick on a plane, get cheaper Airbnbs, always have access to a StairMaster, use augmented reality, don't be anti-social, avoid taxi scams, and always know what to say in foreign supermarkets!
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This month’s edition of our very special travel hacks.
For other travel hack columns, go to Part Ten and Part Eleven and Part Twelve and Part Thirteen and Part Fourteen and Part Fifteen and Part Sixteen and Part Seventeen and Part Nineteen and Part Twenty and Part Twenty-One and Part Twenty-Two and Part Twenty-Three and Part Twenty-Four.
And now on with the hacks!
Want to avoid getting sick on your travels? Turn on that little vent over your head on the airplane and leave it on for the whole flight.
The air inside a plane is a mixture of outside and recycled air, and since the Covid-related installation of HEPA filters, the air is remarkably clean; the air inside a plane is completely replaced every three minutes.
But people still cough and sneeze, and that little vent will make the air you’re breathing much cleaner, especially when the plane is on the ground.
Oh, and as much as I love my aisle seats, the air around the window seat is cleaner.
Also, only use the blankets if they’re still wrapped in plastic. And use disinfectant wipes to clean the various seat surfaces. And wash your hands frequently.
But try not to be too neurotic about any of this. Stuff happens.
Five months ago, Michael and I were very frustrated by the coverage and terrible customer service of our international phone data provider, Flexiroam, so we switched to Airalo eSIMS. We still love it.
It used to be a popular travel hack that, to get a better airline meal, you should order a “special meal” in advance, especially a vegetarian one. And in my experience, these meals were a lot better: healthier, fresher, and more creative.
Alas, airlines have finally made the experience of flying equally miserable for carnivores and vegetarians alike: non-meat meals now mostly suck too.
That said, I confess to being tired of all the whining people do about crappy airline meals and how flying in general is so much less luxurious than it used to be. Do people not understand that, when adjusted for inflation, the price of air travel is dramatically lower than it used to be? Like, half as much?
Customers have repeatedly chosen low prices over luxury, and crappy or for-purchase airline meals are the inevitable result.
Great meals on airplanes are, of course, still available in First Class, but — and I really hate to be the bearer of this particular bad news — the more comfortable your seat, the worse it is for the environment. Business Class has approximately three times the carbon footprint of coach, and First Class may be as much as nine times worse.
Oh, and that whole business of “carbon offsets”? Pretty much a scam.
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