A lot of my travel tips have to do with automation: packing the same snacks, wearing the same outfits, and keeping the same sleep routine so I stay mentally grounded. When I fail to follow those routines, I slip into one or more of the following: anxiety spirals about the upcoming trip, scrolling through secondhand clothing sites and making questionable purchases, or binge eating alone in hotel rooms. Obviously, none of these things provide lasting comfort. I'm working on that.

 

Given the environmental impact of air travel and the added stress on my mind/body, I’ve been trying to travel a little less in general, too. You know the saying "This meeting could have been an email"? I'm trying to be more mindful of when in-person rehearsals could have been a Zoom. Still, there's no substitute for attending rehearsals leading up to a premiere or important performance, and workshopping music with live musicians brings me a lot of joy. It's all a balance. I'm working on that, too.

 

A disclaimer before we jump into travel tips: I’m not linking to anything I recommend below. I’m aware of my own tendency to click mindlessly on links (see above link to questionable clown pants, which I now own), so if you want to look up any of the items mentioned, I trust you’re smart enough to use Google.​​

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BEFORE THE TRIP: ANTICIPATING TRAVEL

 

Sleep

Last July, I started waking up between 3:30-5:30 a.m. nearly every morning, and my solution—retreating to the couch to watch Gilmore Girls reruns for an hour or so on my computer, until I finally passed out—was not optimal. Since then, the biggest change I’ve made to my travel routine is figuring out how to sleep well at home, then bringing what I've learned into travel situations. I combine one or more of the following:

 

• a blackout sleep mask (the "3D" kind, with room to blink)

• a headband with headphones in it (mine is the cheap brand Musicozy, but I'm sure there are better ones out there)

• sleep earplugs (mine are from Loop)

• a white or pink noise playlist

• my Kindle

• one of those podcasts that's supposed to bore you to sleep

 

I haven’t found a combo sleep mask/headphone headband that I like, but that would look less ridiculous than what I do in hotel rooms, which is to wear the headband and sleep mask together.

 

I sometimes still try to fall asleep "naturally" (reading nonfiction library books on my Kindle), but I have my headband headphones, sleep mask, and a pink or white noise playlist if I have trouble falling or staying asleep. When I travel, I default to that combo automatically, and I’ve been sleeping better than ever in hotel rooms. 

 

Itineraries

For work trips, I make an itinerary with hotel or AirBnb info (address, check-in code, wifi, etc), flight times/numbers, and a day-by-day schedule with where I have to be and when I need to show up. (Often, my project manager makes this itinerary for me—thank you, Laura.) I save that info on my phone somewhere I can easily access it without wifi.

 

I try to book early, direct flights out whenever I’m flying to a gig, because they're less likely to be delayed. On the way back, though, I’m fine leaving later in the day or having a layover, especially if it means I can avoid LAX and fly into a smaller airport instead.

 

When I'm booking a trip, I block off a day before and after the trip in my calendar so I can't schedule meetings/rehearsals/Zooms. A decade ago, I’d fly back from a trip and teach a piano lesson or drive to my nannying gig that same afternoon. Now, if I try to put something in my calendar for those days, I have to first override the past self who wrote BLOCKED DAY in all caps.

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PACKING

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Clothes

I’ve started taking pictures of work outfits that I like, so that when I’m packing I can refer back to those pictures and pack the whole outfit, without any debate.

 

I also wear more or less the same outfit every time I fly, unless I have to go straight to a rehearsal. The night before a flight, I set aside that airplane outfit: a T-shirt or tank top, zip-up sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers (or the bulkiest shoes I’m traveling with), an optional scarf, and compression socks. I like the compression socks from Bombas; they look cute and normal rather than therapeutic.

 

Thank-you card

If I’m staying with a friend or doing a homestay, I’ll bring along a blank card so I can write a thank-you note before I leave. Sometimes I’ll bring a little gift to leave behind, too, if I find something I hope that person would like.

 

Little bag

I have a little “in case of emergency” bag for flights that holds a pack of tissues, True Lime packets (more on those below), tea bags (chamomile and decaf green), a pen and pencil, mints, cough drops, tampons, lip gloss, a protein bar, Advil, Benadryl, and Pepto-Bismol. Like a Mary Poppins bag, only in miniature, with no lamps.

 

Drinks & snacks

I like Aloha bars and Biena edamame snacks for protein, plus Nature’s Bakery, Fody, or Lara bars. If you see me at a rehearsal, there are good odds I have a protein bar in my bag.

 

I’m also obsessed with True Lime crystallized lime packets. Alaska Airlines offers these with soda or sparkling water in lemon, lime, and grapefruit flavors, but you can just buy your own packets and put them in your Diet Coke, etc. no matter what airline you're flying (usually Delta for me, unless it's twice as much to fly them as another airline, which happens frustratingly often). The lime packets make a satisfying fizz when you stir them in, and they don't fully dissolve, which I find delightful.

 

Noise-cancelling headphones

I’ve had a pair of Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones for at least seven years, and they’re still going strong. These alone are not enough to drown out a crying baby or two coworkers chatting behind you at 2 a.m. on a redeye, but the headphones plus my downloaded sleep noise playlist will do it.

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TRAVEL ROUTINES

 

Before I leave

I almost always get up 15 minutes early so I can take a shower, regardless of the time. I’m much more functional and happy (and clean!) this way, even if it means waking up at 3:45 a.m. instead of 4 a.m.

 

I try to drink a glass or two of water before I leave for the airport, and I put my phone on low-battery mode even if it’s at 100%.

 

At the airport

I know which chain restaurants have reliable vegan options (Garbanzo, Chipotle, or even Burger King for an Impossible Whopper if there’s nothing else around) and I rely on the website VeggL if the airport is unfamiliar.

 

If I have lots of time before my flight, I’ll go sit at any mostly-empty gate until fifteen minutes or so before I’m supposed to start boarding. No need to sit at a crowded gate before it’s time, though I’m also keeping an eye on my flight to see if it’s delayed.

 

On the airplane

Sometimes it’s harder for me to get into a new book on a plane, so I’ll start reading a bunch of books before a trip, pick one or two that seem the most compelling, and save the last three-quarters or more of each one to finish on an airplane.

 

I use the same strategy for TV shows: Don’t start something new, but get two or three episodes in, then download the rest of the season to watch on the plane. Time has never passed as quickly as when I watched the last 3/4s of Severance, Season 1, on a 5-hour flight.

 

I had a professor in grad school who said he liked writing music on planes, because the ambient hum inspired him. I don’t do that. But editing—formatting, putting in lyrics and dynamics, or entering changes I’ve scribbled on a previous score draft—quickly passes the time.

 

I save a few activities for when I’m feeling truly exhausted or burnt-out from travel, or if I'm on hour 8 of, say, an 11 hour flight to Norway. I think I’m the only person still playing the game 2048 post-2014, but that always guarantees me at least half an hour of distraction. (I have the app downloaded.)

 

Sometimes I go back through photos on my phone and delete them; I just read a trick for that, where you search your photos for today’s date (month + day), then delete duplicate or unnecessary photos from past years. Do a whole week's worth of photos, and voilà, a nostalgic half hour has passed.

 

Seating

I love exit row seats not only because of the extra leg room (duh) but because the seats in front of exit rows don’t fully recline. If I’m planning to work on the plane, I like knowing that my laptop and I won’t get smooshed.

 

IN HOTELS

 

My mom got me a collapsible tea kettle one Christmas, and I bring it whenever I’m staying in a hotel. (I think it’s the Amazon brand T-magitic.) If you’ve ever tried to make tea using a hotel coffee maker, you know the water inevitably tastes of stale coffee. Not so with a collapsible tea kettle!

 

Along with the tea kettle and tea, I pack the McCann’s brand of quick Irish oatmeal packets, because I don't like overly sweet oatmeal, and these are more savory than sweet. I’ve also used the tea kettle to make ramen or instant soup cups. 

 

This is unforgivably Californian, maybe, but I really like to pack oranges: they generally travel well, plus they make your hotel room smell nice when you peel them. I have an orange tree in my backyard, and this time of year I can go outside and just... pick an orange. (I grew up in New Jersey, so this will always feel like a magic trick.) If we are friends and you come stay with me at the right time of year, I will send you home with fruit.

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Originally published in my newsletter, Winter 2026