How I survive 12 hour flights

Big Macs don't hold up well, because the sauce goes best with a warm burger and is no longer palatable when it's been sitting on top of a cold patty. The shredded lettuce is already sad when fresh, and will inevitably get everywhere. Big Macs are not the item to buy.

Instead, their basic cheeseburgers and their double versions are far cheaper and more versatile, and provided you can peel them apart, they can be partially revitalized with some ketchup from a packet. If you skip the cheese, you will lose some flavor but greatly increase the chance that you'll be able to uncover one side of the patty to add ketchup later.

Their beef burgers with the bigger patty aren't worth buying if you're not going to eat them fresh. This is more true now that they've started cooking them from refrigerated patties, instead of frozen ones, although I don't know if that applies to airport locations also. (But if you know you'll have access to a microwave, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese microwaves the best out of all their beef items.)

But if you're going to be buying food from them knowing it will get cold, consider their chicken items. Nearly all of them will taste good and hold up better than the beef items.

Actual cuts of chicken that have been breaded and fried taste fine cold, so their premium breaded chicken sandwiches are good choice. Pair them with some barbecue sauce.

For even more flexibility, their chicken nuggets are fine cold, you don't have to eat them in one go, and they go well with the barbecue or sweet and sour sauce. In my opinion, their cheap chicken sandwiches have an unpleasant aftertaste that the similarly-constituted nuggets do not, so the nuggets are the superior choice among their cheaper chicken items.

This inflatable foot/arm rest is incredibly dorky (you feel SO SILLY blowing it up on the plane!) but it's been amazing for when I was traveling internationally for work frequently. It's my #1 tip for anyone on long flights- because it inflates you can custom-rig it into unique spots for a specifically shaped arm or footrest. I end up using part as a footrest and another part as a pillow against the window. https://www.amazon.com/Flypal-Inflatable-Blow-Up-Cushion-Fli...

The other key item I bought is this giant inflight blanket that compresses down to nothing but makes you so cozy and gives privacy- it also has a pocket for your earbuds and phone: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006LR6ILQ

On 24 hour flights SYDNEY-VANCOUVER-OTTAWA. Being able to slip out of my shoes while sleeping. Make sure you have thick woolen socks as I find planes do get pretty cold. Maybe its just me. And fluids every two hours. Lots of aloe based moist napkins. I hate it when my snot hardens in my nose. Choosing your seats carefully when booking by getting seat on a row that is empty although this is a bit of a gamble. And my fav although it might cost a few bucks extra is getting emergency exit row seats which gives you some extra leg space.

For years I tried staying up all night so I would sleep the whole flight. Massive mistake. It still takes me 6 days to recover from jet lag, all I did was make sure I got sick on top of it. Some flights I slept 11 of 12 hours, others barely 3 hours, at the end of the day the flights I slept through were not measurably better, they all suck equally.

I've heard your mucus membranes dry out and lead to a way higher chance of picking up a virus. And so you ahould bring a squirt bottle of nasal water. I haven't done this enough times to judge the efficacy but I used to get sick every long haul flight without fail.

A friend of a friend died of a blood clot. Always take an aspirin before your flight for safety.

My eyes were opened when I saw someone ask for a cup noodle outside of the meal/snack time. It never occurred to me you could do that. I still feel weird asking and have only done it once.