Tips for a halal friendly and comfortable flight

We at Serendipity love everything about travelling, from meeting new people and seeing new places to trying new halal food, but for us the fun starts as soon as we reach the airport. Some people see flying as a chore but we think it’s a pleasure. How often do you get the chance to really switch off from the world around you and just relax while being conveyed somewhere new? As we travel so much, we like to think we’ve got it down to an art so, here are some tips to make your time in the air blissful (and halal friendly too).

Before you get to the airport, try to check in online 24 hours before. Not only do you get to pick your seat, but you might also be able to skip the queues at the check-in desk by going straight to bag drop. We like to go for the very last row, as the back of the plane is usually emptier and you might get extra seats. Be warned, though, that as there will almost certainly be toilets nearby, it can get noisy if people congregate. If you haven’t already done so through us, you can also go online to request a halal meal as not all airlines offer a fish or veggie alternative as standard.

Another useful thing to try doing before you even leave the house (after checking for the millionth time that you’ve arranged for someone to feed the fish and you have your passport!) is gather all your liquids, pastes, gels etc into a see-through bag, as this will save you the time and hassle of trying to do it while shuffling through passport control.

It may sound obvious, but by the time you’ve reached security, make sure you’ve emptied your pockets of keys, coins, phones and anything else you may be carrying, as well as removing all jackets, jewellery and high heels or clumpy boots. As well as avoiding the potential embarrassment of being sent through the machine again, it means the people behind won’t be shaking their heads and tutting at you for holding up the queue. Just in case you do have to remove your shoes, it’s a good idea to wear matching socks!

Once you’ve had your fill of duty free, buy a bottle of water on the way to the departure gate. If you have a long flight, buy two bottles. You’ll be amazed how much you’ll drink, as flying is dehydrating for the body and skin. We also like to pack at least one good book, a small toothbrush and toothpaste, an extra shawl in case it gets cold, warm socks so we can kick off our shoes, an eye-mask, earplugs and noise cancelling headphones so you can get some shut eye. If you wear a hijab, it’s also a good idea to carry a soft hat so you can remove your scarf and wrap it loosely around your neck when you want to sleep. Other essentials for us are Vaseline and hand cream (again, to combat dehydrated, dry skin) and antibacterial wipes as we like to wipe down all the hard surfaces to get rid of any stray bugs. We also take chewing gum, as it helps ‘pop’ your ears as the plane ascends and descends.

To make your flight more comfortable, leave glamour at home and wear flat shoes and loose, comfortable clothes (try to avoid jeans), glasses instead of contact lenses and don’t bother with makeup, as by the time you reach your destination it will have all been rubbed off anyway! If you’re travelling with young children, pack a large towel that can double up as a blanket and colouring books/pencils to keep them entertained at least some of the time.

What are your top travel tips? Share them with us, and we’ll include them in a future post.

Serendipity Tailormade take care of making your journey a halal friendly one. For more information visit http://www.serendipity.travel

Praying in the clouds…

The Singapore based firm, Crescent Ratings, launched their beta version of their air travel prayer calculator earlier this month. The online tool takes data such as prayer times in the country of origin, the destination city and in countries on the flight path and uses an algorithm to plot exact prayer hours during a flight.

This gadget is pretty cool, super useful and innovative to ensure Muslims manage to pray on time 30’000 ft up in the air. This always poses a challenge when you’ve just taken off and suddenly the sun is setting a couple of hours into your flight. It messes with your head a little, because you have a set routine and are generally comfortable with that. The algorithm may not be minute perfect, but it’s an impressive step towards solving a dilemma few have even thought of addressing.

To my knowledge only Saudi Arabian Airlines offer a small space at the back of the plane for praying. You can see why as so few planes actually have enough space in the cabin to accommodate the cattle it’s ferrying, so most of the time Muslims have to settle for praying sitting in their chair. It would be nice however for maybe a few more airlines to dedicate a tiny oblong of cabin space, particularly on pilgrimage routes.

So another turn for halal-friendly travel? Lets hope so, and lets hope it’s not another reason for the few ignorant travellers who are scared of even flying with a Muslim on their flight to get the jeepers. “Oh my, what is he doing nodding his head like that every few seconds?!?”  We can see it now cant we? Thankfully the majority of people are cool enough to realise it’s all kosher…well halal.

 

 

 

 

Travel Tale #5 – The stale bread versus the Chinese cracker-pot

Travel Tale #5 – The stale bread versus the Chinese cracker-pot

The “Moslem” halal meal on British Airways was supposed to be today’s topic but I’m saving that for another day. This travel tale all started when a friend of mine shared his concept of airline food. I honestly feel that sometimes there is a vendetta against airline food, and in most cases I can understand why. The nostalgic aroma of economy tin foil over molten hot cauliflower is often one that doesn’t dissipate with time. I particularly enjoy the bits on the side though, and have a quiet liking to uncovering the desert which tends to be a no-no in normal life, but because you’re stuck 30’000ft in the air, its acceptable to indulge in double chocolate mousse otherwise you will die of starvation. The little bread roll that comes on the tray has somewhat petrified my friend, so much so that the mere taste may in fact put the whole meal in jeopardy. This made me think, in what kitchen in the world is that scarily perfectly round roll made to taste exactly the same on whatever flight you go on? I want to know, and I will find out the secret to the most consistent bread roll on the planet. Watch this space.

My favourite story though is one a colleague told me about on a China Air flight in business class. She loves the crackers and cheese, but for some reason the cheese outnumbered the crackers. You may think this is well…crackers, but she kindly asked for one more cracker to have the remaining twenty five pieces of brie left on her foldable tray. When she asked for this extra cracker she was met by the Chinese air steward’s frown saying – “only one packet per person”. My colleague was a little shaken by her abrupt defiance in extending one more 12p packet of crackers to her business class client. If she was asking for a kilo of camembert she would understand, but the 12p packet of crackers was the tipping point of this rather irate stewardess. After a bit of banter, the answer was still the same as the initial one – “grrr…only one packet per person…grrr”. So the lesson learned here is don’t annoy a Chinese air stewardess otherwise you will be frowned at for six remaining hours of flying, and that China Air has a one cracker policy  – who would’ve known.

Travel Tale #1 – The dreadlock conundrum

Travel Tale #1

Let me introduce to you our travel tales, a collection of events that we’ve encountered on our travels. In all honesty, we think it’s what makes a travel experience. The unexpected weirdness is something that often makes a journey memorable, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

It was May, and I was on my way back from the Caribbean; Trinidad to be exact. The night flight is around 10 hours long, on a nice new Virgin Atlantic plane. Now the last time I took this flight is was a touch bumpy, and I expected a bit of turbulence for a few minutes here and there. I never expected hours of turbulence. No kidding, it was probably about six of the ten hours of gentle bumpiness to violent bumpiness. I don’t mind it too much, and as long as you understand what is actually happening to the aircraft there is little worry about. Clear Air Turbulence, or CAT, is where moving air in a jet stream rubs along still air. Aircrafts are apparently built to withstand twice the worst turbulence possible, so with that piece of knowledge in mind I had no problems getting through the flight. However on this particular flight I was wedged between two fellow Trinis. On my right was a burly fellow with dreadlocks down to the armrest, who knew that each dread would be bouncing around when it got a bit bumpy. On my left was a lady who wouldn’t stop talking, to herself. “Ya know why dem planes be going up and down like dis, its ‘caus its not supposed to be up ‘ere” and blah blah blah with only a few hours of sleep to stop the onslaught of chatter.

I learnt two things from this trip. Airlines should put a little memo in the seatback pocket explaining what turbulence is, to stop old ladies scaring themselves. The other is that my halal meal on the return flight was from a well known takeaway in Southall (it had their sticker on the front). Spicy food and bumpy air equals another version of turbulence. All in all it didn’t bode well having to climb over my dreadlocked friend twice an hour for the next eight hours to visit the lavatory.

Live Happy Travel Happy – The halal friendly travel team