We will be travelling to Italy in early September and haven't travelled a long distance for many years. We're wondering about any tips to make the trip easier and whether in-flight entertainment is free or if you have to pay. We're travelling on United (a 777-200 airplane).

In-flight entertainment is free, but I strongly suggest bringing your own earbuds or headphones to use instead of the freebies the airline gives you. You will be much more comfortable.

SO travels long distances frequently, and he always carries his iPad as a backup because it has happened to him that the screen and/or system at his seat was broken. You can watch the in-flight movies on your own device, is my point, so if you have one, you might consider bringing it.

Go to seatguru.com to see what options are available on your flight. The 777, 787 and A380s are all relatively new so they will have seat-back monitors for video and allow you to choose the form of your enervation. If your flight gets switched to a smaller plane (767 or 757), you may get stuck with overhead monitors, which provide no options and therefore suck.

Bring other entertainment in case the airline's provisions are uninteresting or fail. Seriously, you don't need to consult this website to figure out to bring a book, ipad or both.

Yep. Ambien and Cabernet Sauvignon. .

Thank you everyone! We'll bring at least one iPad and books. The cabernet sounds good, too!