.SOMETIMES RAW.

Hello!

We arrived back in Canada yesterday and we had the smoothest flight ever with WestJet. The stewardesses were very funny, friendly and helpful. More than any other airline I reckon. Besides the slight change in temperature from 30 Celsius (87 Fahrenheit) to – 5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit!) and snow everywhere in Ottawa, we are okay. Also, we are all slowly loosing our awesome suntan. Damn! I saw many hotel guest totally covered with sun-protection swimwear. There is just so much out there. However, we don’t have any of these fancy thingies. I used sun lotion; my son had a bandana on most of the time and we were fine. Just a tiny sunburn for me – I guess I never learn. In this post I would love to share a couple of tips and tricks on how to have a smoother, stress-free plane ride. My family and I basically live on planes and I have some experience by now.

What seemed like a good flight schedule is when I fly from JFK to Frankfurt and take the latest flight possible. I leave the US at around 9pm – be on the plane for 8+hours and (with the 6 + hours time change) arrive between 10 am and 11am in Germany. So you take off in your country, try to sleep on the plane and rise and shine at your destination. Sounds awesome, right? Well, this works well in theory or if you are traveling without children and be able to sleep on the plane. The last flight to Frankfurt was a disaster and my son was crying a lot. Now with my new little Gravol-trick, it should be a bit better. Here, my son slept for about 1 1/2 hours straight on my sweater as a pillow. Sweet!

However, keep in mind that your child will not sleep the entire 8 hours. There is just so much going on. Dinner and drinks will be served, the light is still on and so and so. So from my experience, this is actually the hardest flight to take – definitely physically. Plus, if you stayed up the entire flight you will be jet-legged for sure and exhausted! If you fly with kids, definitely try to book an early flight, if possible and arrive in the afternoon or early evening.

Here a some other tips I would like to share:

1. Make sure to pack some cream or moisturizer in your carry-on. Also take a lip balm. My face tends to get very dry on the plane. Before you get off the plane, make sure to wash your face and apply a cream again. You will feel instantly refreshed. It is important to keep your skin hydrated.
2. Traveling alone or with my son, I always have snacks on me. Usually healthier ones like apples, almonds or pretzels.
3. Make sure to take a large scarf, hooded sweater and wear comfortable clothing – speaking nothing too tight, headphones (headphones for your kids!), painkillers (ear pressure, headaches etc.) and ear plugs. Don’t forget your phone charger and make sure you have downloaded enough Peppa Pig Episodes for your kids. Or whatever they are into. It just so happened that there were no touchscreen monitors on our last plane. The key here is, make is as comfortable as possible for yourself and your children. Wear comfortable shoes or bring warm socks and take off your shoes. On my last flight I saw a woman wearing high-heels before, during and after the flight! How uncomfortable can something possibly be? Are you allowed on the emergency slide with high heels? 🙂
4. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. I try to stay away from caffeinated drinks and alcohol on the plane. However, I have the occasional glass of wine with my meal but afterwards I can just wait for my skin to start itching because it dries out. Also make sure you have enough to drink for your children.
5. It is important to move around a bit. Walk up and down the aisles, go to the toilet so your blood can circulate. If you travel with children you will most certainly move anyway. If you are on a long flight you don’t want to end up with deep vein thrombosis while you sit the entire time in this seat with usually no leg-room. Stretch your legs, move your toes and do stand up every hour or so. I also massage my neck a lot.

I hope these tips help you and make your flight smoother. I have written a post on how to survive a plane ride with kids. Read it here if you would like. And you better listen to “German” stewardesses throughout the safety instructions! 😀

Thank you for reading my blog and have a safe flight!

As soon as I posted my latest article, readers asked me who The Minimalists are. Here are three great books for you to start. And believe me, this is way better than “The Life-changing magic of cleaning up by Marie Kondo.

These are the books I read:

Get it HERE.

Purchase it HERE. 

 Order it HERE. 

Enjoy! Let me know if you read any of these books.

Thank you for reading my blog. 

Hello!

Recently I have slept very well. Have you ever realized how awesome your day is when you have a good night’s rest? Everything seems okay. Sleeping is very important! My son usually sleeps 12-13 hours straight at night! Amazing no? Of course he is ready to go in the morning and everything is a-okay. Many times I thought I should take him as an example and do the same. Maybe not go to bed at 8pm and sleep until 8am but even this is sometimes a good idea. We all do remember the college all-nighters right? You didn’t study for your exam and then on the last day and night try to cram everything in your head. Then you take the exam in the morning. Fail! 🙂 But why? Well, I don’t want to give any study tips today but you know that this usually never works.

I did work night shifts a lot in my previous job and my body and system were pretty confused at points. Is it day? Is it night? I don’t think that it is too healthy to work at night. This is the normal time for you body to rest. No matter what anybody says. Today I would like to share some tips on how I  sleep better and get more rest at night. If you have a routine at night, your body transitions easier into night-mode. Again, my son is the best example here. He knows his program at night and he gets tired. Washing, brushing his teeth, pajamas, story and bed. I think to stick to a routine is key here. To get your body in some type of rhythm makes it easier to rest and make you relax.

My husbands bedtime routine: Lay down, close your eyes, focus on a black dot and nighty night. He seriously falls asleep in two minutes. Amazing. My bedtime routine: Thinking, thinking and trying to figure things out. Then get up, write a bit about a new idea, then go back to bed and try to sleep again. Try to focus on this damn black dot…. black dot, what kind of black dot? Is it big or small? Do I stare at it with my eyes closed? You get the point here. I just have so much on my mind and it runs free. I love to solve things at night. Problems that are not really problems maybe?

Here are some tips that work for me these days. Again, I am not an expert by any means and if you are suffering from insomnia or any other sleep related illness you are better off consulting a medical professional.

Set up a schedule on what you need to get done. There should be some type of deadline. You stop working after 9pm for example, if possible. Just turn your phone, computer, and every other gadget you may have off. I understand that it might not be always possible, but this might help. Right now I am not working but still, at some point I have to stop writing or reading and just call it a night. If you have a time when you turn your gadgets off, the body will react to it and start to relax and calm down. You know this constant vibrating and buzzing of the phone just bothers at some point.

I tell myself now that things can wait until tomorrow. This calms my brain down and the thinking at night has gotten a lot better. Tomorrow is another day and the problems will be taken care off then. Simple as that. It usually works pretty well. Another things I found to help me relax at night is definitely reading. A cup of decaffeinated tea – I love peppermint tea at night or a hot shower. I used to take a Yoga course late in the evening  at Mang’Oh Yoga in New York. It was very well done. With candles and calming music – just awesome. If you get a chance, definitely check it out. I am going to bed now. Rise and shine tomorrow when I take a 9:00am Yoga class. 😀

Thank you for reading my blog. And have a good night!