It’s no secret that long travel days can make you feel gross and not put together. Taking long flights or bus rides can make you look as exhausted as you feel, and, if you’re like me, it can ruin your travel photos! I always want get the perfect pic for instagram, but usually I go straight from hopping off the plane, to chasing all of my adventures right away. I rarely land, sleep, and then explore the next day. Because of my fast-paced travel AND desire to look good while doing it, I have found the best travel tips for women that will make you feel good AND look good. Trust me, they are game-changers.
Travel Tips for Women: Before Leaving
Prep for Beauty
I often travel on red-eye flights to maximize my short time in countries. One time, I even flew to London for a long weekend on a red-eye. This means that I do my best to sleep on the plane so that I can wake up and make the most of my day.
Usually, I slum it during travel, but sometimes, I just want to look good and fashionable so I can take some decent pictures during my short adventure. Here’s a few tips on how I make that happen AHEAD of time, so that I don’t waste time attempting to fix myself up while I’m at my destination.
Get your hair done
The day before I leave for my trips, I like to go get my hair blown out. Getting my hair blown out (with a nice curl on the ends), means that my hair will look good for at least three days with minimum to no effort. This allows me to just focus on enjoying my travel while knowing that my hair still looks good. It’s easy, blowouts are cheap, and it’s efficient for saving time and feeling good.
Get your nails done
Likewise, if I am really feeling gross or want to feel completely put together, I will get my nails down. This is just the last piece of making yourself feel completely put together. If I am going to skip anything, it’s this. However, there’s nothing like feeling completely put together.
Get some sun before you travel
I’m a pretty firm believer in the fact that a little bit of extra sun gives everyone a healthy glow. For me, I don’t regularly tan and am naturally fairly pale. I do however, get a nice sun-kissed glow when I spend a couple days in the sun. I know that for me, getting a little bit of sun or a light tan makes me feel like I’m already on vacation!
Read More: 10 Easy Tips for a Long Flight That Will Change the Way You Travel
Travel Tips for Women: During the Flight
Skip the heavy makeup
My advice is to wear little to no makeup at all on the plane. This gives your face time to breathe a little bit. Also, if you fall asleep on the plane, it will mess up your makeup anyway. I don’t know about you, but I love spending my time on planes sleeping. If you (like me usually), need a little bit of coverup, just put on a lighter version of makeup. Skip the foundation and use a tinted moisturizer or awesome BB or CC cream. Personally, I use this ethically sourced CC cream.
If you choose to go makeup-less, I highly recommend using your plane time to do a little face mask or eye de-puffing. I mean, you have the time, and it is a great way to feel refreshed!
Bring a change of clothes on the plane
Always, always, always bring a change of clothes with you in your carry-on. If you happen to lose your luggage (the worst thing ever), then at least you have one other pair of clothes to change into while you wait for your luggage to catch up to you or go out and buy clothes. And if that doesn’t happen (let’s hope!), then you have a fresh, clean pair of clothes to change into immediately after your flight. This will help you feel clean and refreshed.
Before you leave home, follow these safety tips in order to ensure that you are prepared to travel!
Use this moisturizer
I SWEAR by this moisturizer on planes. It’s a 72 hour “surge” moisturizer and my skin always feels amazing and refreshed by the time I get off. Planes are notoriously dehydrating to your skin and this moisturizer makes it easy to keep your skin hydrated and healthy.
Read More: My Travel Must-Haves
Stay Hydrated
I cannot stress the importance of this. Especially during air-travel, the ability to become dehydrated is always a very real possibility during travel. The experts say that you should drink .5 liters of water per hour of air travel. If you can’t manage that much, make sure that you at least bring a water bottle on board to sip on! Staying hydrated is one of the truly ultimate travel tips for women, and anyone really, because it will make it less likely that you get a headache, will keep your skin happy, and will keep you energy up.
Travel Tips for Women: After Arrival
Don’t use the first bathroom
This is hands down the best of my travel tips for women. Do NOT use the first bathroom available after getting off the plane! No matter how badly you have to go, just hold it five more minutes and I promise there will be another bathroom available. The first bathroom is always filled with a line of women. You will be pressed to rush, it will be crowded, and it may even smell! If you walk a little bit farther in the airport, you will come across a much less busy bathroom. You can take your time and freshen up at your own pace, and it will be a much better experience all around.
Change your underwear
I don’t care if your underwear is fresh as can be, change it! Putting on a fresh pair of underwear makes it feel like you are starting the day over. You don’t have the capability to shower, but you are able to do this little trick to feel so much cleaner! I promise, it will make you feel completely new.
Take Your Makeup Off and Reapply
The last tip that I have is to wash your dang face and start over! This washes off the germs of the plane and allows you to re-apply fresh makeup to your beautiful face. This will allow you to apply whatever makeup look you are going for in your instagram pics and give you a clean face to build upon.
I hope these travel tips for women help you look good and feel good during your adventures!
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These are great tips. I wouldn’t have thought to skip the 1st washroom. The ladies at my spa always know when I’m going on a trip. I go for a haircut, pedicure, manicure and was always right before I leave.
i love this! there were all really good tips! i personally try to never wear makeup when im flying but sometimes it happens, anyway thanks for sharing this 🙂
Love these tips. Totally agree with you about not having make-up or a little make up when flying. Having one set of spare clothes is so sensible, I always do.
Great tips! I never thought about changing my underwear, but you’re right that can make a huge difference after a long plane ride!
I’m probably a little too low maintenance for some of these tips, but I enjoy the read. Thank you.
I totally get that! I’m generally a low maintenance person, but I get so grungy and gross by the end of my trips that I like to start off looking good. That way at least some of my pics are post-worthy lol.
Great and useful tips! Every traveler can learn from this post. I really liked the “During the Flight” part! 🙂
Love this post! This is really helpful and well written.
These tips are very helpful. I want to try the moisturizer tip. Can you layer a CC cream on top if you need to have some light coverage?
Yes you can! It my not stay on all day though with all of the liquid properties, but I do it because my skin never agrees with me!
These are great tips! I think ladies have it harder while traveling, but you give some really practical advice for traveling for comfort while looking and feeling good. Guys need some tips too because everyone should moisturize and take extra care of their skin while flying.
You are so write! I may rewrite it to make it more inclusive!