Travelling- What Is In My Carry On Luggage

Going on my holiday today, so I thought I should follow up with another travel post as I got lots of nice feedback on my post on tips on how to survive a long haul flight when you're plus sized. I have certain things I need to bring and do before I go travelling so I can set off with my mind at ease.

I'm a bit of a control freak so I like having things in order so I am prepared for my travel. And here are my best tips.

When I go for a shorter holiday I very often only travel with hand luggage so I travel light. I bring less clothes, but bring very often items I can mix with each other so I can make several outfits out of just a few things. I always travel in the heaviest items I plan to bring when I have hand luggage only.

My carry on suitcase is an amazing one from Tripp. It's called Tripp Lite 2-wheel cabin suitcase. It's a brilliant little suitcase that is the right cabin size even for flying with Ryan air. It's lightweight and very sturdy. And despite being as small as it is, I can't believe how much I can get in it. I only had this one with me when I went to Amsterdam a couple of years ago and I went shopping. I had already taken lots of summer clothes with me, so not much room for the 3 bags of shopping I'd done. But believe it or not, I got room for it all. The advantage with having a hard shell suitcase is that it doesn't change width as a soft shell one would do if you filled it to the limit, so it can still fit into the overhead lockers. Mine has a very lovely colour as well, so I travel in style.

Mine has an icy blue colour.

In my carry on luggage I always makes sure I bring

Headphones for music- I have these great Sennheiser HD202 ones with great quality for a bargain price. 

Adapter for the in flight entertainment 

Hand sanitiser

Eye mask to block light out if it is a daytime flight

Moisturiser/eye cream as your skin get very dry inside the plane.

Wipes (both anti bacterial and make up removing ones)

Healthy Snacks

My money and credit cards

Chewing gum

Tablet with lots of music, books, videos, games to keep me entertained

Toothbrush&toothpaste

Neck pillow

Camera 

Few essential make-up articles, mascara, eyeliner, eyebrow kit, tweezers, concealer and lipstick.

Blanket/jacket/pashmina to keep warm as planes can get cold and to put over my face for more privacy while I hope to sleep. I have an Osprey one that was a birthday gift a couple of years ago.

Extra battery for phone/tablet or one of those handy portable power banks you can easily buy for a tenner. You can also keep your charger in your hand luggage in case you come across a power outlet on your way.

Deodorant cause after a few hours on the plane you will feel dirty and smelly, so a deodorant is handy to have to freshen up with.

Fluffy Socks- just remember to put your shoes back on before heading to the toilets in case someone has had a bit of an accident in there.

My phone so I can take photos from inside the plane or if we are flying over somewhere beautiful. Not very often you get a birds-eye view of places, so make sure to capture them. 

Painkiller, medicines, my asthma inhaler and pro plus in case I feel a bit under the weather and/or tired when I arrive to my destination.

A change of clothes in case my case get lost or delayed so I don't have to wear the same clothes till my bag arrives or have to go out and buy some new clothes(not that that would be a bad idea, but it might be difficult to come across plus size clothing everywhere)

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I bring this PowerShot camera from Canon instead of my big DSLR to save space as I don't want to sacrifice having lovely photos taken whilst away. 

If you have these things in your carry on luggage your needs should be covered whether it is for a long or a short flight. And in worst case scenario if your holdall case get lost you will have enough to get you through till your case arrives.

10 Tips To Make A Long Haul Flight Better For A Plus Size Person

Spring means warmer weather and longer days. It's my favourite time of year as I love the long light evenings. Living in England you are never guaranteed hot weather which is fine by me as I don't mind cooler temperatures either. I think all weather has its charm. I like to travel in warm countries and in cold countries. I want to explore everything out there and that is probably why I have lived in different climate countries like Norway, Portugal and Canada.

Spring is also a time when a lot of people choose to go on holiday before the crowds of sun seeking families arrive later on in the summer and before the nice temperature here sets in.

Up in the air

 Mike and I are going on a holiday in one week and this time we are going to Mexico. Neither one of us have been before so we are very much looking forward to it. We like to mix beach, pool and relaxation with exploring the area, its history and culture and also go off the beaten track to get some of the real feel of the places we go to.

It's a good 10-11 hours flight to Mexico and that is something that might be challenging for the most experienced traveller as plane seats aren't the most comfortable place to lounge for that amount of time. You can find many good tips for travels online by doing a quick search, but there aren't too many advice for plus size travellers, so I thought I would share a few tips that I as a plus size traveller have found to be at help on all my travels. Cause even if you are fat it shouldn't stop you from seeing the world as it is one of the best things you can do in your life.

1. Buy a seatbelt extender. If you are above size 20 I would say it can be uncomfortable when the seatbelt is too tight, so I have bought my own seatbelt extender. These you can get on eBay or Amazon for under £10, so it is well worth it. It all depends on the individual if you are confident in asking the flight attendant for an extender or not. It also depends on what airline you're flying with. What I've experienced is that on newer planes with more slimmer seats they have increased the seat belt length. But if you are in doubt if it will be a ease in your mind to bring your own.


2. Always pack some healthy snacks for the trip. I tend to bring fresh fruit as it can be difficult to get hold of fresh fruit on flights. Bananas and grapes are my favourites on flights as they are easy to eat without making a big mess like an orange might do. They don't have a strong smell either. I also like to bring some nuts as they are full of protein, fiber and healthy fats. The airline meals can often be very heavy and also give you indigestion and make you feel bloated. You sit still for a lot of hours, so you don't get any chance to walk much or do other things you normally would after a meal, so I tend to skip at least one of the meals on the plane and eat my snack instead.

3. I always like to chose my seat before I travel. The reason behind this is that I can then decide myself where I will be seated. I really like it if the long haul plane has got a seating plan with seats 2-4-2. I rarely travel on my own on long flights so by choosing seat I always chose the 2 seats that are on their own so you sit with someone you know. This gives you ease at mind as you don't have to worry about having to ask someone to get up for you if you need to go to the loo (sitting on an aisle seat would also solve that issue if you had to sit with someone else). As a top heavy woman I always prefer to sit by the window as it gives me more shoulder room (read boob room). If you're travelling on your own and you're worried about people thinking that you take up too much space, try and reverse your thinking, cause thin people are just as selfish and take up space by sitting with legs miles apart and demanding arm rest place! You might meet someone you don't want to sit next to!

If you want to check the width of the seats in most commercial planes and airlines, this table at Seat Guru is at great help.

Space is not in abundance on most flights

4. Drink lots of water!!! I can't stress this enough as it is so important for everyone, not just us plus size folks. The air is very dry inside the plane, so it's easy to get dehydrated. It's helps your brain, it helps your skin, it helps your digestive system and so on. Another reason why drinking lots of water on the plane is extremely good for us is that it helps on the water retention in your body which increases when you are in air so DRINK WATER!

5. With drinking lots of water follows toilet visits and these are not much fun! Especially not when you're fat. It's such a small space that you almost need to be an acrobat to be able to go in. I'm thankfully flexible so I don't find it THAT difficult, but it's yet something I dread doing. On shorter flights of up to 3-4 hours I tend not to drink that much and rather go pee right before I go on the plane and right after I get off. But on long haul flights you have to go to the toilet at least a few times. If you wear something easy to pull up or down (no complicated clothes like bodysuits or dungarees, or long maxi dresses that will sweep the floor-yuk) it will ease the experience as the time spent in there is less.

6. Don't wear tight fitted clothes! When you are seated in an already confined space, it is important that your clothes are not making it even worse.You don't want to increase the risk of getting deep vein thrombosis. I never ever wear jeans on a flights, it's a big no no for me. Instead I go for lose fitting natural fabrics like cotton. It's gives your body better conditions to breathe. It's the same with tight shoes. Slip on shoes are best as they are quick to put on and take off. If you have some big bulky shoes you need to bring like trainers/sneakers wear these and also free up some space and weight in your suitcase.  Another tip for clothing is to wear layers. You never know if you're going to feel to warm or too cold, so wear layers so you can take some off if you get warm and put them on again if it gets colder. Added bonus, these clothes can be used as a pillow if you need one and free space in your bag.

Not exactly lots of space between the rows.

7. Don't have too much stuff in front of you. If you have like me a big tummy and huge boobies you probably have experienced that folding the table down when it's meal time is difficult. This can lead to some challenges, but I have found that if this happens it can help a bit to recline your seat back to get the extra inches you need. I have also in the past used my handbag, rucksack or pillow as a table for me to balance my food on. If there is a seat free next to you use this table. To free space in front of your feet, which is important as you try to stretch your feet as much as possible, take the things you want to use during the flight, such as snacks, tablets, camera and so on, out and put them in the pocket in front of you. Place the rest of your luggage in the overhead locker. If you fall asleep you will be so grateful you did this.

8. Move! Do try and get on your feet at least once an hour to make sure that your body doesn't suffer too much from being confined in a limited space. It's important for everyone to move around on the plane, but even more so for the overweight passenger. By making sure you drink enough you have to go to the toilet every now and again and that is a good way of getting important increase of blood flow in your body. Even just rolling your feet from toe to heel from time to time helps on the circulation. And don't take sleeping tablets no matter how tempting it might be, as staying in the same position for a long time increases the risk of getting DVT.

9. To find the most comfortable sleeping position on a plane I always bring a travel pillow. I swear by the memory foam kind as I find them more comfortable than the inflateable ones. There are other types as well, but I have yet to try them. I also use some of my clothes that I'm layering as I spoke about in section 6 as padding to painful armrests if these cut into you. Try and recline your seat as much as possible (but please politely ask the person behind you if it is ok first as I hate when people just recline their seat back into my space) and stretch your feet under the seat in front of you. This should make you able to find comfort in your little space and send you to the land of nod.

10. If you feel that your fat thighs get really sqeezed against the seat for all the hours you're in air an inflateable footrest might be a big help for you. These you can easily pick up from eBay and take up little space. Raising your feet can help the circulation of your legs and feet so it is definitely something to consider.

Before I board my flight to Cancun next Monday I will make sure I have taken care of as much as I can beforehand so I can have a pleasant and enjoyable flight. There are several other things I need on a flight as well, which will be my post on Wednesday so watch this space if you want even more travel tips.

Do you have any special things you do before going travelling?

15 Tips How To Get Cheap Flights.

It’s a brand new year and that means a whole brand year of holiday allowances. I don’t know if you are as me, but I have more or less all my holidays for the forthcoming year planned before the new year starts. I’m totally addicted to have holidays planned and I always look for great offers on tickets.

As a traveler I prefer to plan my own holiday instead of going with a holiday company. It’s so much fun and excitement in looking for cheapest possible tickets, and to start looking for beautiful and affordable hotels. Mike is helping too as we find it so fun and relaxing looking for lovely places together. We do travel with holiday companies sometimes as well, especially if I go on a warm getaway. But probably 8 out of 10 travels are planned by Mike and myself.

All our friends and family say that we are so good at finding bargain deals. I love trawling the internet for great offers.

Here is what I normally do.

Tips to find cheap flights

1. I'm not always that bothered where to go as I want to see the entire world, this makes it more easy to get good deals.
2. I am  also so lucky that we are not bound to school holidays so we can travel whenever which makes us a lot more affordable prices.
3. Start looking early and keep an eye on cheap dates.
4. ALWAYS compare airlines.
5. I always check with Skyscanner for the best deals for cheap flights worldwide or Flight Checker for easy search with cheap airlines, for charter holidays Travel Supermarket is my favourite and if you want more tailored trip planner I use Kayak.
6. I always cross check with the airlines to see if their tickets are cheaper.
7. I also always check the codeshares which is when an airline sell seats on the same flight to two different companies. You can be lucky and find tickets cheaper with one company than with the other for the same flight. Be aware though, cause ifyou are taking connecting flights these might be different airlines with different departure times even if it starts with the same flights.
8. If you buy tickets with Easy Jet sometimes it can be smarter to buy Easyflex tickets as these allow you to change the flights for a cheaper price for free in case of a price drop. This is best if you are flexible on the dates you can travel.
9. If you chose to go to popular destinations the chances are that you get cheaper tickets as there are more airlines flying to the same destination so more competition. 
10. Keep an eye on new destinations as when airlines start up with new routes as the prices can be very cheap then. 
11. If you can, avoid travelling at weekends. You can be lucky to find good deals on a Friday, but the chances are that you will have to pay a lot more than if you can travel out on a Tuesday or Wednesday and home on a Tuesday you might save so much money you can book another cheap flight. 
12. Be aware of all the hidden expenses with cheap airlines. Seat reservations, luggage and card payments are just a few extra payments you might have to pay for. In my experience it is rarely any point in paying to get a seat as in most cases you will be seated together at check in. In worst case, talk to the stewards and stewardesses and they will try and help you out. If you go on a shorter holiday or city break, hand luggage can often be enough. 
13. Always check with other airlines than Easy Jet, Ryan Air, Norwegian, Wizz Air and so on for cheap tickets. I have often experienced that KLM have cheaper tickets to Lisbon, SAS has cheaper tickets to Copenhagen and so on, so it is always worth a check. 
14. Buy one way tickets. What I mean is lets say you want to go to Alicante and you are booking outbound with Easy Jet. Then always check with competing airlines like Monarch or Norwegian if they offer cheaper tickets home. 
15. Chose an airport further away from your destination and travel cheap by train or bus to your desired city. Flights to more "inconvenient" airports can often be a lot cheaper.

These are my 15 most important advice I can give to get cheapest possible tickets. It does require quite a lot of work, but don't let that put you off as with time you might be as eager as me to hunt down the bargain tickets. 

In my next travel post I will give you advice on how to get great hotels for cheap prices so watch this space if you want to find out. 

One Night Away From It All- Horsley Towers

We like to do something a bit special everyday and since it was Bank Holiday weekend and we are going away on a little holiday on Tuesday, we wanted to do something fun before this. Both of us love to find a good bargain so we trawled the net for good deals. The best one we could find was at this HOTEL called De Vere: Horsley Park. It is a very nice hotel with great facilities and grounds. And right now they are having an offer for £39 pr. night.
The hotel itself is only about ten minutes drive from where we live in very nice surroundings in East Horsley, which is known as the richest village in England!

We have written a longer review about the hotel on our profile at Trip Advisor, but we had a great time and the lovely leisure centre with a swimming pool, sauna and gym was free and we spent a lot of time in the pool. Extra bonus was that there were free coffee machines!
A walk around the romantic and picturesque grounds is a must when you go here. Within the grounds the Horsley Towers can be found and they are absolutely breathtaking!
A special day and night in a very nice place doesn't have to cost much if you are being patient and look around!!!

My Favourite Beach Of England.

We have been car less for the last 20 days because our dear Ford Focus ST170 needed a new clutch. This was supposed to be an easy repair, but things kept going wrong and before we knew it, it had taken almost three weeks to get our car back. But today the mechanic called and said that it was ready. Many people find driving very boring, but we love it!! It is so much fun to get in the car and drive to the coast on the spur of the moment. So since we had not done this for such a long time, we decided to drive to one of our favourite places in the whole world, Bracklesham Bay!

Bracklesham Bay is located in West Sussex and has got a beautiful beach that is our favourite. It is as most beaches along the South Coast of England a pebbly beach, but as the tide goes out it becomes sandy. Bracklesham Beach is also an amazing place to find fossils. And lots of people come to the beach for this purpose when it is low tide.

It was great to be out driving again and the journey to the coast was a pleasant ride in sunshine as we kept off the main roads through the stunning Surrey and Sussex countryside.

Today was a beautiful day, but since it was late before we headed down there we decided to just go for a walk along the beach. Words can't describe how nice and great the walk was so we will let the picture tell the story!! And Anne-Lise, the mermaid, couldn't resist going for a paddle even if the sun was setting. And the water was very pleasant!!!

Winchester, A Former Capital With So Much Glory.

                       

Winchester is a gem! It is one of the nicest places we have ever been to. It is very strange that none of us have been here before. And that it had been capital in England before was new information to Anne Lise.

Winchester Cathedral is one of the biggest cathedrals in England and is well worth a visit. Not as tall and majestic as Lincoln Cathedral, but still a stunning piece of architecture.

We went for a walk along the river, from the City Bridge it is a beautiful romantic walk that we can highly recommend.

There is a lot to see in Winchester if you like nice old architecture. Like the Old Guildhall with the Town Clock( similar to the famous clock here in Guildford), the New Guildhall, High Street that ends in Westgate which is one of two surviving medieval city gates. It is a busy city, with lots of tourists in the summer months, but what we found so special about Winchester was that even if it was very busy with market day in High Street, it was a very peaceful and relaxed atmosphere there.

We ended our stay in Winchester at a pub( which we had been looking for a loooong time.. either there are very few pubs in Winchester or we must be totally blinde) right across the street from the Guildhall, Alfie's which was a nice pub. Wasn't too impressed with the "garden" which was nothing but a backyard with a few tables and chairs, but the pub itself was a nice place to relax after walking around for hours and your feet needs a rest. They also serv food, but we did not eat here.
We walked back to the train station and took the train back to Guildford both agreeing that we would be back soon!

Mookie