I’m 11,000m high, en route to San Francisco as I write this so it’s apt I talk about how to not only survive a long-haul flight but actually arrive your destination useful. I’ve done more than a dozen such flights so I’ve learnt a few things. Hope these tips will be useful when you fly.

The most important thing to me is to sync myself to the destination time zone. I chose a 9am flight, laying over in Seoul at around 4pm SGT / 1am PDT. My plan is to stay awake til the second leg of my flight and sleep at 1am PDT as soon as I board. It’s important the cabin crew knows your plan so they don’t wake you up for meals. Fasten your seat belt over the blanket so they don’t wake you for turbulence either.

LIGHT The human body decides to sleep when the eyes stop receiving light. When the light dims, the brain secrets a hormone called melatonin, which causes drowsiness. I need as much light as I can get in my eyes to stay awake so I turn the reading light on, watch a move, and blog! If you’re in a window seat, lift the shades to let in some natural sunlight. I also went to bed late last night and woke up early to create a sleep deficit. I’m very sleepy now…

When the time to sleep comes, I’ll dim all lights under my control. For those I can’t control, there’s always eyeshades. Ask for a pair from your friendly air-stewardess. I like those from Lufthansa. They are dark blue and the rubber bands on them are long enough to fit my large head. Singapore Airlines tend to have smaller ones in sand colour.

DRUGS Melatonin is a drug. You can buy it from pharmacies or nutrition stores such as GNC. If you buy it elsewhere make sure it’s pharmaceutical grade. It’s not sleeping pills and it won’t knock you out so you need all other tricks for the plan to work. It’s also rather safe but do speak to your physician if you’re concerned. Seeing that my bedtime will be 4pm SGT, I’m going to need it. 10mg sounds about right for my size. YMMV. With luck, I should be able to sleep at least 6 hours. That brings me to 7am PDT and I’ll still have 5 hours more to fly.

Enter my second drug, caffeine. This one should need no introduction. Just don’t overdo it and wreck your sleep in a hotel bed.

MORE LIGHT I planned my landing time to be midday San Francisco time. Despite all the sleep I get aboard I will still be tired so I must stay outdoor to get light. No sunglasses, sear those eyeballs.

Needless to say, dim your hotel room before bed. No screen 30 minutes before sleep so finish up email early.

MORE DRUGS Another 10mg melatonin sounds good. One drug that must be avoided is alcohol. Alcohol helps you fall asleep but it affects sleep quality. If you drink before bed you may wake up in the middle of the night. Plus, it dehydrates your body, which is the last thing you need after a long flight with very little water intake and dry air.

CONCLUSION Hopefully this is enough to make flying more pleasant (I still like flying like when I did the first time at 11 years old). This scheme works pretty ok for me in the past so I hope it’s going to help you too.

SUNDRY Another flying tip: drink spicy tomato juice (tomato juice with black pepper and Tabasco) aboard. What we usually think of as taste is in fact largely smell via the retronasal olfaction. When food molecules enter the mouth, get warmed up and vapourised, they become air-borne and nerves at the back of our palate pick up the signal to give us a sense of what we are eating. Our tongue simply detects the 5 basic tastes - sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Because of dry air and low air pressure, our sense of smell is muted and most food and drink taste bland aboard. That’s the reason airline foods are heavily spiced and salted. A notable exception is tomato juice, which actually tastes better in the sky. That is no accident because, like mushroom and cheese, tomato has a high level of glutamic acid, a close chemical relative of MSG. Is there any surprise then we make pasta sauce with tomato and mushroom and top it up with shaved cheese?