Travelling Guide for beginners!

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Are you travelling for the first time? Or a better question would be if you are travelling
internationally for the first time.

I remember when I travelled for the first time. My flight was from New Delhi to Dubai to Chicago.
And the Dubai to Chicago flight was 16 hrs long. Imagine sitting in a tube for 16 hrs, you never
get used to it.

There are a few things you need to be careful about. There are definitely tips to have a pleasant
journey when it comes to travelling for so long.

What makes me qualified to talk about all of this.

I have done multiple trips from the US to India and India to the US. I have travelled in United
airlines, Emirates, Qatar & Etihad.

Among all the airlines Emirates is one of my favourite airl​​nes. I am definitely biased towards
them as when I was flying to Sweden they upgraded me to their business class and that
experience was something I can never forget.

Alright here are my few tips.

1. Neck Pillow - Neck pillow is a must in long travel. Do not get the ones which you need
to inflate. Get the ones which are already full and cushioned up. You will realise the
importance of these when you are sleeping and your neck is not tilting here and there.
Something like this is what I would recommend you to get - https://amzn.to/2UuO9zY
2. Seat selection - I am 6’2”. Whenever I am taking a seat, I always request for aisle seat.
The reason is simple as I can stretch my legs in the aisle in the middle. Lately on longer
flights I have started taking window seats so I get the support of the side while I am
sleeping. This is definitely a personal preference. Try avoiding the middle seat as much
as you can. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice if you are travelling with your
friends. In that case, switch seats with your friends every few hours.

Window Window Seat Middle Seat Aisle Seat Aisle

3. Water bottle - Keep an empty water bottle with you when you are getting your tickets.
You can get a bottle like this which you can use later once you get to the US as well.
https://amzn.to/3qZkWco All the airports in the US have water fountains. I wouldn’t
recommend you getting a steel bottle just because it’s heavy to carry when filled with
water. You don’t want that kind of weight while travelling. I am always disappointed by
the amount of water airlines give out, that’s why having a bottle with you just gives you
that freedom. Make sure you don’t keep the bottle up in the overhead bin. Sometimes
 due to the pressure change the water bottle can leak. So make sure you take it out
whenever you are sitting on your seat.

4. Ear muffs - This is something the airline will give you if you ask them. I have never been
a fan of these things but I have heard it helps with ear pain due to altitude change.
5. Jacket (preferably with a chain) - Alright this is the key to be comfortable on a long
flight. Usually all the airlines give you a thin blanket when you are doing these long
international flights. But that thin blanket is not enough for people like me who feel really
cold most of the time. That’s why having a jacket/hoodie with a zip is perfect. That allows
you to open it easily if you are too warm and close it without moving too much around.

6. Should you wear slippers or shoes? - It all really depends on how much space you
have remaining in luggage. It’s simple shoes will take much more space than slippers. I
personally prefer wearing shoes that way I can take off my shoes and still have socks on
to walk around on the dirty airline floor. Now there is no shame in saying that some
people have bad odour when they remove their shoes, the best way to tackle that is
keep an extra pair of socks in your bag and just change it right away. Keep the old socks
in a ziplock bag so that everyone is happy around you.
7. Food - Airline food is okay. It takes a while to get used to it. If you are a vegetarian it’s
going to suck even more in some cases. But that’s alright as we don’t want to stuff
ourselves crazy. Imagine your body sitting for so long with so much food in your stomach
and no movement. Eat in small portions and have a pack of biscuits, chocolates and
 nuts with yourself in the bag. So that even though you might not like the airline food you
can still eat your own food.
8. Someone else’s stuff - Alright, this is a big no-no when you are travelling in any flight
anywhere. Do not ever let someone put an item in your bag if you do not know the
person. A few times I have seen people asking fellow passengers to put an extra item in
their check-in bag or their carry-on because they don’t have enough space in their
luggage. Straight up say no to that person. You don’t know who that person is, he/she
could be a drug smuggler or they could be carrying an item which is not allowed in the
other country. So as a first time traveler do not be the nice guy who is helping out others
by taking their items.
9. Carry on bag - Carry on bags are sometimes big, sometimes small. What size should
you be getting? You should be getting the one which the airline tells you to. I have been
on both sides. I had a big carry-on suitcase and a small one. I prefer the small one as I
never had issues on any of the airlines to put my luggage up in the carry on cabin.
Sometimes if the bag is too big they will take it and keep it in the regular baggage
compartment and you do not want that to happen. Because as we all are international
students, we carry important docs, food and other important items with us in the carry
on. Here is the link for a bag which totals upto 114 cms. Emirates has a policy of the
cabin bag to be less than 115 cms total (l+b+h). Here is the one I recommend
https://amzn.to/3wykaob
10. Bagpacks - Usually the airlines allow a backpack along with the carryons. They have
been pretty tight about having backpack with just documents and laptop as compared to
before when we used to stuff everything in there. Get a regular backpack whatever you
want to buy. I don’t really have a preference on that. Whatever you have right now
should work.
11. Pen - Carry one or two pens with you. Whenever you travel internationally, there is some
sort of form you will always have to fill out and having a pen is great during that time.
12. Powerbank - even though most of the flights have a usb port to charge your phone. I still
like to carry a power bank whenever I am travelling internationally. With all that travel
between cities and countries you shouldn’t be worried about charging your phones. This
is the one I recommend. I bought this one off in 2015 and still running great -
https://amzn.to/3wF1wuY
On the other side; at the US airports

1. US airports are much different than Indian airports. Indian airports are usually state of
the art whereas US airports I would call them more as an infrastructure requirement than
a travelling pleasure. Here are few videos I have made before which will give you a
better picture than anything.
US Airport Travel: Watch this before you do! | VLOG#50

2. Usually you guys would be doing a connecting flight. If you are doing a connecting flight
in Abu Dhabi which means you would be travelling with Etihad you will be doing your
immigration at the Abu Dhabi airport itself. Here is the link to read more about.
3. Whereas in all other cases you would do your immigration in the US itself. When your
flight is about to land a form will be given to you. Please see the picture below. Fill out
the form and give it to the immigration officers when they ask you later near the counter.

4. Once the flight landed. Do not rush to take your bags out. Once the flight lands it will taxi
for a while and then get to the passenger boarding bridge and then once the pilot will say
 that we are ready to offboard then only you can offboard the plane. Remember the
business class will exit first and then section by section.
5. Once you get out of the flight, then you can walk a little faster and go to the immigration.
Just a little bit faster walk will put in the line way ahead. Once you are at the immigration.
Take out your passport, I-20 and the custom declaration form which the airline
gave you. You only need to take out these three documents and then if someone asks
for more documents you can take it out but mostly they will just ask for I-20 & passport.
6. Once you go through this, either the airline will tell you that which belt your luggage is
going to come to or if you have a connecting flight to another destination then you will
just go to the baggage belt and get your baggage.
7. Once you get your luggage you go to the connecting flight check in counter and get a
boarding pass for your new flight. Since you have entered the US from one port and now
basically you are just travelling domestically.
8. Now there is whole concept of which port of entry is better or worse. There is no
difference honestly. It’s all one immigraation. Here is a video of me where I talked about
how I was stopped once in India and once in the US but these incidents are at totally
different times. It’s good to watch this, in case it happens to you this will help you not
freak out. ​ STOPPED AT US AND INDIAN CUSTOMS/IMMIGRATION | Experience
9. Once you pick your baggage, now you just exit the airport and welcome to the US
everyone! Uber works just like India in the US. It will be a bit expensive but make sure
you have your credit card or forex card loaded so that you can make that ride.