Travel Etiquette :: Flights

{Thank you to The Sky Steward, plane etiquette expert, for the above sneak peak at your Jetiquette Card. More info and the full card below!}

Unless you're flying in Singapore Air's all business class plane {yes, please}, air travel can test your patience.

Whether it's the stinky guy sitting beside you, the lady with a toddler a day shy of 24-months sitting on her lap while eating off your tray table for an entire 8-hour flight, or the dad who abandons his wife with a screaming baby {all situations that I've witnessed or been on the receiving end of}, plane etiquette is important as far as extending common courtesies to the people you're riding with for up to 15 hours. So, let's make it great.

Plane Etiquette Aside from our regularly scheduled content, this month's feature is travel etiquette. As part of the series, two weeks ago we gave some travel tipping suggestions, last week we discussed hotel guest etiquette and this week we're broaching plane etiquette. Here are the dos and don'ts of passenger air travel:

Overhead Bins

• If you follow airline baggage requirements, you should be able to fit your carry-on suitcase into the overhead bins straight in, wheels out and down. Don't put your bag in sideways and make poor use of the bin's precious real estate.
• At all cost, put your bag in the bin directly above or slightly in front of you, so you don't have to backtrack when everyone's exiting the plane.
• If you're able, offer to help someone who is struggling to get their bag up or down.

At Your Seat

• Don't be a kicker or knee-er of the seat in front of you.
• Share the arm rest with the person beside you. It's generally accepted that the person in the middle seat gets both armrests, since the outside seats have a little more space.
• When reclining your chair, double check the person behind you doesn't have water on their tray table, etc...
• If you like to drink a lot of water, opt for an aisle seat for frequent trips to the washroom.
• When it's time to sleep or watch a movie, close your window shade.
• When you land, don't get on your cell phone and have a lengthy conversation when you're surrounded by people. Unless you're Lady Gaga, no one wants to hear about your personal life.

Bathrooms

• Be courteous about the amount of time you spend in the bathroom.
• Men, put the seat down when you're done, no joke, it happens every flight I'm on.
• Clean up the toilet seat.
• Empty the sink's drain.

Overall

• Don't wear bear feet. Gross.
• If you like to fly sans shoes and wear travel socks like me, bring washable slippers for wearing in-flight and to the bathroom.
• Make sure you are recently showered, nobody wants to smell your armpits for 10 hours.
• Go easy on the perfume, cologne or smelly lotion.
• Don't bring on smelly foods like tuna, opt for blander foods so the entire plane doesn't feel like they're eating your lunch with you ...

Check out the great visual air below. For more information about the Jetiquette Card and all things Jetiquette related, check out The Sky Steward, a flight attendant, media presonality and flight etiquette ambassador!

[Images by The Sky Steward]

Travel Trends :: Get a Room

[trip style = urban + beach + sun]

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Unless you're booking the penthouse, you never know what type of hotel room you'll get until you check-in, go to your room and open the door. Until now. The newest evolution in our obsession with the fine-tuned details of travel is a website {so new, it's still in beta} that can suggest a hotel room based on your preferences and distinguish between the view of a concrete wall or a sunset-drenched cityscape.

The Seat Guru of Hotel Room Search A little while ago I wrote about Seat Guru in Go-To Travel Sites of 2010, indicating it was a fantastic resource to research the best seats on a plane---down to the most granular detail like if the tray table is in the armrest. Someone took a cue from the popularity of this site {owned by Trip Advisor} and decided to create a similar model for hotel rooms. Smart.

Not All Rooms Created Equal Room 77 is working on the premise that not all hotels rooms are created equally, and I'd agree having stayed in some ugly, mediocre and awe-inspiring rooms. Launching with 425,000 rooms in 16 major cities including London, Honolulu, Maui, Miami, Seattle, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco, Room 77 is setting out to create the world's first database of hotel rooms. Who wants to pay the same price for a room beside the elevator versus a quiet, corner space at the end of the hall? Not me.

Testing 1-2-3 Once you choose your hotel and desired room category, you can search by parametres like floor height, view, proximity to the elevator and connecting rooms. Doing a search in Seattle at a hotel I've stayed at a few times {The Fairmont Olympic}, I'm pleasantly surprised by the level of detail the website renders: room recommendations tailored to my search criteria, a map of the hotel, a picture of the view I could get, and some general tips for room numbers that could offer partial ocean views. Done and done.

Athough still in its infancy, this is a site I'll be adding to my Trip Styling arsenal, because even in beta mode, it's already a stellar resource.

{Travel Trends are published three times a month on Thursdays. Find them all here.}

[photos by Room77]

Travel Beauty :: In-Flight Essentials

When I get on a flight, I have a full on beauty routine that begins as soon as I sit down. I think of those travel hours as valuable beauty time, and a chance to try new products. Here are some of my tried and tested favorites that allow you to walk off a plane feeling and looking totally pampered!

Bliss Softening Socks The gel lining in these socks contains hydrating ingredients like Olive Oil and Vitamin E, allowing your feet to soak in moisture. For an extra treat, slather on foot lotion before the socks. Get it: Sephora or Sephora.ca

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream Nothing, I repeat, nothing makes hands softer than this hand cream! I worked at L'Occitane during college and fell in love with this product---there is absolutely no better hand cream on the market. I reapply it throughout my flight to keep hands hydrated. This hand cream comes in a travel-friendly size (30ml). Get it: L'Occitane stores

Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment I love this product because not only does it keep your lips ultra moisturized but it gives them the most beautiful flush of natural color. I like walking off a plane looking refreshed and this product definitely helps. Get it: Sephora or Sephora.ca

Alterna Caviar Overnight Hair Rescue This treatment is applied to dry hair and left on overnight (or "over-flight") to repair dry damaged hair. I like to apply it from root to tips, put hair into a ponytail, and wash it out that night or the following morning once I reach my destination. The result is very shiny, extremely soft, smooth hair, and it comes in a travel-friendly size. Get it: Sephora and salons worldwide

Evian Mineral Water Spray + Creme de la Mer My in-flight skincare routine includes a spritz of Evian Mineral Water Spray, which I let dry, followed by a thick layer of Creme de la Mer. This combo protects your skin from dry plane air and lets you walk off a flight looking radiant. Go to your local beauty counter and ask for a Creme de la Mer sample to test it out---it's a big investment so make sure it's right for your skin type. Get it: Sephora or Sephora.ca, Neiman Marcus or Holt Renfrew

{Want more travel beauty? Get your fill the third Wednesday of every month. Lauren, our travel beauty expert is already whipping up her next concoction post!}

Travel Apps :: Mad Libs

Not Just for KidsIn this post I'm going to talk about the kids word game Mad Libs, and yes, as an adult, it's still one of my all-time favorite games. Now there's an app for that.

The Best Game Ever If you've never heard of Mad Libs it's a smart game requiring you to fill in a series of verbs, adjectives and adverbs, which it then takes and inserts into a short story. You then read the finished product aloud and {hopefully} laugh at how the random words you selected make the story a little zany. Sound smart? It is. Sound fun? It is. Sound like a fun game to play on the plane by yourself or with others {including kids}? It is. Would you have got an A in high school English if you played this at the beginning of every class? Yes.

A Test Run I just played one of the vacation-themed games from the free app and here is the story, which I was also able to email myself {bonus}: HOW TO ENJOY YOURSELF ON THE BEACH When you go to the beach, you must take along a big blanket, a thermos bottle full of soy sauce {TYPE OF LIQUID}, lots of suntan smelly feet {SOMETHING ICKY}, and a couple of folding credenzas {PIECE OF FURNITURE (PLURAL)}. Then you put on your pantyhose {ARTICLE OF CLOTHING} so you can get a beautiful charcoal {COLOR} to last you all summer. You also should have a big hat to keep the sun off your big toe nail {PART OF THE BODY}. If you want exercise, you can find some boxes {PLURAL NOUN} to play volleyball with. Volleyball is America’s favorite shiny {ADJECTIVE} game. You can also bring a/an amazing {ADJECTIVE} lunch, such as hard-boiled dail-up internet {PLURAL NOUN}, a few crocodile {ANIMAL} sandwiches with mustard, and some bottles of redonculous {SILLY WORD} cola. If you remember all of the above and get a place near a/an checkered {ADJECTIVE} lifeguard, you can sunbathe boldly {ADVERB} all day.

Details

• Free {but fancier paid versions available for word-game enthusiasts}
• Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

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Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• Travel Etiquette
• Jetsetter
• Metr0
• Google Translate
• Instagram

US Phone Solutions for Canadians

A QuestionWhat do you do with your Canadian cell phone when you vacation or weekend in the USA? a) use it like you would in canada and deal with the charges when you get home? b) get an add-on US plan from your canadian carrier? c) turn off the data and rely on wifi?

iPhoning in the USA Every time I go to the US, I do the following: make sure my data roaming is turned OFF and depend on wifi hotspots for email, social networking and web surfing. Yet, because I cross the 49th parallel so often, it's frustrating to wait for a hotspot for these web-enabled activities. At some point in the near future, I think I'll get a US phone and sim card so I'm not always waiting to find wifi access...

The Hard Way Two years ago, I remember going into the US when I was right in the middle of a search marketing project, and it was super stressful not knowing what emails I was getting for a 3-hour period during the drive from Vancouver to Seattle. I'm all for taking a break from the world wide web, but sometimes working while traveling is necessary.

Getting a US Smartphone Since Canadian talk, text and roam plans are redonculously expensive, I've often thought about getting a US pay-as-you-go plan and/or phone. A friend of mine recently had the same conundrum, and after an expensive trip to Vegas {I'm talking about the cell phone charges}, he's now sourced a phone and plan for Canadians wanting to stay connected while in the US {see below}. But first, a few things you should know about US and Canada cell phones and their networks:

• US phone networks run on GSM & CDMA
• Canadian phone networks mostly run GSM {40%} and CDMA {60%}
• Note that even if you have a GSM phone in Canada and you want to use it in the US with a US sim card, you'll need to get your phone unlocked because most carriers lock phones to their networks
• As a result, if you want to communicate without hassle or roaming fees in the US, you need to either a) unlock a canadian cell phone and buy a US sim card, or b) buy a US {GSM} phone
• Unless you want to pay exorbitant fees {been there, done that} DO NOT let your Canadian cell phone roam while in the US or abroad

Buying a Pay-as-you-go US Phone {via itfusion.ca}

• The Phone: The LG Optimus V Android handset from Virgin Mobile USA. $149 - no contracts to sign and no commitment
• The Plan: $25 = month of:
  • 300 anytime voice minutes – includes calls to anywhere on the Sprint network in the United States
  • Unlimited text messages (including to/from Canada)
  • Unlimited data (including tethering for your laptop, iPad or iPhone)
  • Note: you will need to top up your account with a minimum of $10 so that you can make long distance calls ($0.10/minute to call back to Canada)

All in all, if you need to be connected while in the US, the above plan is a huge costs savings when you consider roaming, texting, talking AND the fact that many 4- and 5-star hotels charge between $10-$35/day for wifi.

PS - Connect to Skype on your canadian or US phone using wifi and phone/text for peanuts {ie not much money!}. Cross-border and multi-number phone management will be much easier if Google makes Voice available throughout North America.