malips

I will be flying to Maui from Houston in August. This will be the longest flight I have ever taken. We are expected to reach Maui at 3pm. I need advice: Do I sleep? Take sleeping pills; read? I find my self bored on 2 hr flights and really restless on 3hr ones. What is the best thing to do? What to wear? What kind of shoes?

Clifton

If you can sleep on the plane, do. The best way to kill time. Personally, I can't except when we go to Australia. That's a 24hr + flight for us and eventually the body gives up and sleeps. On 8 hr flights to Europe, I have yet to really sleep.

I get restless on long flights too. I tried Ambien, which some people really like and some, like me, get even more restless by taking. Xanax works wonders for me in helping me sleep, but I wouldn't take it if you have kids along.

Some people like to get a little dressed up for flights, ala the old image of the stylish traveler. I've also heard that approach will occasionally get a person to the front of the line for an available upgrade to business, but it's pretty rare. I wear loose clothing, in layers. That way when it gets warm, you can remove the overshirt, etc. Nothing makes me less comfortable and more antsy on a plane than being too warm. I discreetly kick the shoes off after the plane takes off. Think clean socks and only if your feet aren't... well, you know... going to bother your neighbors.

RachelG

Flight to Maui are in the daytime, so I try to bring a really good book and read, or watch the movie if possible. I do not try to sleep on this flight as it will only throw you off more when you get there--I like to arrive relatively tired, eat supper and go to bed, knowing that I'll probably wake up at about 4 am but will sleep well til then.
I wear layers, but for the opposite reason than the previous poster. I almost froze to death on a flight back from Maui once--airplane blankets were of no help--maybe if I had about five of them, they would have. Coming back from Hawaii--which is usually at night--I do try to sleep, but it's impossible if you are shivering violently.

cal776

You will be fine on CO's new 767-400 service from IAH to OGG. CO has good in-flight entertainment with individual seatback screens even in coach to keep you occupied during the flight. I'd strongly advise against taking a nap, especially a protracted one, on the way over because it is a daytime flight and a nap will mess up your body clock. And definitely don't take a sleeping pill on the westbound leg. If you can't bear the thought of having CO select the in-flight movies and programming, rent your own DVD player and bring some movies that you want to watch.

On the overnight return, a sleeping pill (Ambien 10 mg works very nicely) would be helpful. The flight is a little over seven hours so try to go to sleep immediately after take off (and skip the dinner service) so you get as much rest as possible.

gail

We took a 12 hour flight to Egypt - so excited on trip over - and it was at night, that it was tolerable. On the way back, I was ready to parachute over the Atlantic after about 8 hours I was so stir-crazy, bored and restless.

I hauled some old professional journals that I needed to read and rip articles out of (so volume of paper decreased to almost nothing after the flight), actually played with my kid's Gameboy (it really is addicting), read a travel destination book I had not had time to read before we left.

Whatever you wear, make it really comfortable and in layers. You might also bring some snack foods, since even on long flights food is kind of scarce these days.

TomT

We recently flew from Honolulu to Houston on Continental and it was a relatively pleasant trip. The plane was a very new and very clean 767 with all the amenities that the previous poster spoke of. The in-flight entertainment wasn't "in-demand" like some other airlines, but we still appreciated having something to watch to pass the time.

Note: If you are traveling as a pair, try to book seats on the outside aisles - the plane has a 2-4-2 or 2-5-2 seating arrangement (I can't remember which).