HEAD IN THE CLOUDS: what a frequent flyer has to say about too frequent flying

Es ist eher selten der Fall Julian an einem entspannten Ort zu treffen, fern von Telefonaten, Meetings und Terminen; manchmal kommt er uns vor, wie diese Top-Haarstylisten, bei denen man Monate lang auf einen Termin warten muss, aber zum Glück reisen wir ja auch ziemlich oft und siehe da, wen man häufig an diversen Flughäfen dieser Welt trifft: den Globetrotter schlechthin - unseren Julian. 

Wir wollten wissen, was jemand, der so viel unterwegs ist, alles an Reisekram schleppt, um seine Zeit an Airports und Airplanes etwas angenehmer zu gestalten. 

Fluggast Julian Daynov wird zur Gepäckkontrolle an den SoSue Schalter in Halle 3 gebeten. 

Da Julians Sprache besonders expressiv ist, versuchen wir es nicht mal den Text ins Deutsche zu übersetzen und posten ihn für Euch in seiner Originalversion. 

Viel Spaß beim Lesen.

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

You know you definitely are a far too frequent flyer, when your travel agent sends you a report, saying that in the past 365 days you were on board of 280 flights...

Well, reading this, feels like a slap of your mom, who tells you anew you are totally loosing track of your life on-the-groud with all that hopping around the world.

It also brings other thoughts along: do you now either take an overdose of any known and unknown vitamins to try balance out all the radiation you have accumulated in your body over the last year OR do you immediately go to your radiologist and tell him, you are as radioactive as probably the fields around Fukushima are. 

As much fun as flying is and most of the people who take a journey once a year to a distant fairytale island-spot see it as pure joy and adventure, it can also be a mini-torture and a true pain in the neck (literally!), if you are doing it on a daily basis. Reason enough, i suppose, to try and make the best out of it and add as much comfort and home-feeling to it as possible. 

As Sue and the guys often bump into me at airports (and always curiously look inside my carry-on-bag), they have asked me to point out some objects and gadgets I always carry with me and share some of my on-board routines and habits. Here some more stuff, on top of the usuals like tablets, mags, books and so on and for a change on a blog, NONE of these things are sponsored, all bought and used out of own taste, love and conviction.

Essential to me is a big, soft cashmere throw - i barely ever board a flight without my LALA BERLIN one and love cuddling into it. Even in summer, it's cold on flights. On transatlantic rides, always have a pair of compression socks. My fave ones are those of ITEM M6 as they look really cool and not like unsexy as usual compression wear. I sometimes even bring a pair of thick and fluffy socks to warm my tired feed while watching embarrassing movies. 

As seating neighbors can often be too chatty or too excited (first flight!), i dive into my own bubble when putting my headphones on: i know the ones by Bang of Olufsen are crazy cool, but as i left a pair on the plane and they are crazy expensive (500 bugs, hello?! i'd rather buy a pair of new Margielas), this time i went for a more reasonably-priced version and simply love it. As i hate earplugs, these guys really rescue me. Since I am hyperactive and restless in my life on the ground, i search for silence and rest in the air, so my tunes are really melancholic, slow and openly sad: Lana del Ray is always traveling with me with all her songs, i listen to a lot of Portuguese fado, Tori Amos, The XX, of course Sade, Nina Simone, Whitney's ballads - i am somehow very much into into female vocals, I guess. To eliminate the nasty noise while asleep, i listen to meditation playlists over Spotify.  

Die preisgünstige Variante von Amazon

No matter what airline you fly with, food on planes is barely ever good (yup, even in Business Class), so i always have some nibbles on me: raw cashews, almonds or a couple of these sensational new protein bars i recently discovered RAWMYGOD: no gluten, all vegan, all raw, all amazing. And hell, their name - always smiling back at the wrapper. Useful is also some ginger to chew on - a great hint i got from an even more frequently flying guy, who still manages to look well, have great skin and is all about healthy living. Apparently, ginger is a fantastic antioxidant and brings you additional gastro-intestinal distress and eliminates bad coli-bacteria, so get yourself some in your travel case.

Mint drageés are ALWAYS a must onboard (off-the plane too) - so i always keep some sugar-free ones on my to make me swallow more frequent and balance out the pressure on your ears. 

Almost never do i leave the house without a carry-on bottle of sanitizer - when on a plane, you need it more than anywhere else, believe me. On long flights, i even bring a spray with me and make sure to swipe over the TV screen, the remote, the table and the buttons moving the chair up and down. I would probably not do this only when i fly on the the private jet of some sheik or king or president... Until this happens, i will politely spray on with my Sagrotan.

After long flights, i always, simply ALWAYS put some patches on my sour eyes - the ones of Magicstripes are really good and give your skin just the right feel to kick-start into a busy day of urban adventure. If i can't find them while being abroad, i run to the next Sephora and get their no-name alternative - not amazing, but still ok. 

I don't drink coffee, but even if i would, i would rather die of thirst than drink the in-flight coffee or actually anything poured up with aircraft-water. No matter what they say about boiling it and so on, if even flight attendants don't drink it, i am passing on any hot beverage as well. 

There is always a weirdo on every flight, who wants to upgrade himself into Business Class, hates his seating neighbor, disrespects a screaming baby, but none of these can be as unpleasant as the "sweaty" type of seating neighbor - always, always, simply always have a mini deo, some kind of stick or a sample-version of a fragrance. 

The air in the air is dry and simply awful - that's not new; it makes your skin suffer, so give it some glow and hydration with with a small flacon of thermal water or facial mist. The ones i have on me are either the Moisture Surge ones by Clinique, but to be honest, i started cheating on those with a jewel i just recently discovered and was surprised to not know yet - Dr. Barbara Sturm. Not only am i in love with the packaging and bottle-design, as it matches my monochrome bag content, but i truly like the magic it does to your skin. No idea if Dr. Sturm herself would approve, but i sometimes mix her different serums and drops into an actual mask and put a thick film on my sad face after flying over the ocean. Works quite good.  

Considering how much stuff I always bring along, this story can turn into an actual 300-pages book, so I will stop here, as i need to pack my bags and hit it off again. 

No idea, how you travel and what you learn after every other trip, but in all these years of flying, i did not manage to learn one thing in particular: to travel light. 

I hope some day I will be proud to include this into my routine en route - it will surely save me a lot of stress and excess baggage costs. 

Über den Autor:

Julian Daynov ist ein wahres Fashion Victim, ein Serien-Netzwerker, eine ganze Welt für sich. 

Er arbeitet als Trend Scout, Einkaufs-Consultant und Kommunikationsstratege für Marken aus den Bereichen Fashion, Art und Lifestyle und reist ununterbrochen um die Welt auf der Suche nach spannenden neuen Brands für die Sortimente seiner Retail-Kunden. Zur Zeit arbeitet er für den US Kaufhaus-Giganten Saks Fifth Avenue und der Einführung seines Premium Off-Price Ablegers Saks Off 5th in Deutschland.

Als guter Freund und treuer Fan von So-Sue schreibt er hin und wieder als Gast-Autor für uns und kommentiert alles rund um die coolen Dinge des Lebens.  


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  • Kommentar

    <p>Omg - er muss Meilenmillionär sein ? Wie alles von Julian sehr lesenswert. Mehr davon!!</p>

  • Kommentar

    <p>I Love you Julian!!!</p>

  • Kommentar

    <p>Was für ein Leben. Hut ab, wenn man so etwas meistern kann. Viel Energie dem jungen Mann noch. LG. Christa</p>

  • Kommentar

    <p>Ui, leider vollkommen egal, wie viele Nüsse du isst, mein Lieber - so viel Fliegen ist eindeutig ungesund, lass es dir von einer Pilotenfrau sagen - hihi. Hauptsache du bist glücklich dabei. Schöner Artikel, auch trotz Englisch.</p>