When checking out onto a plane, leave your appearance at the departure gate...

In all my years of travel, whether with family or on my own, I never understood how some people manage to still look so good at the arrival destination, especially after 17 hours of flying!

No matter what, if I left the departure gate looking well-groomed with my hair full of healthy waves and my little bit of make-up making me glow and look 'fresh-faced', by the time I made it through arrivals my hair would be oily and messy, neither looking good down nor tied up, and my face would be dry with massive black bags under my eyes, and sometimes even, on really lucky occasions, I might even arrive with a new pimple on my face too.

I read all these articles on beauty and travel in fashion magazines which say to use this moisturiser, or this face-spritz, or this tinted moisturiser, or this face serum, and drink plenty of water, which of course underlines the obvious need to stay hydrated inside and out whilst in a tight air-space. Yet I use these products like the face spritz or the moisturiser and drink plenty of water (which adds the negative of having to go to the toilet more often than usual, making me have to face the exhausted state I now look in the mirror and which gets worse with each dragging hour).

Maybe it's because I fidget too much that my hair gets messy. Maybe it's because I use those heated face towels the air hosts and hostess' give you (which are delightful I might add) that ruins whatever make-up I originally had on. Maybe it's because I stare at the movie screen in the dark for hours on end that my eyes go all red and dry. Maybe it's because I get so exhausted at not being able to sleep comfortably that I continuously run my hands through my hair and sink my face into my hands that makes both my hair and face oily. Maybe I was never meant to have the talent to look good after 17 hours of flying.

But just once, it would be nice to walk through the arrival gates and have the other passengers think "She looks good, how did she manage to stay so well-kept after that long flight. I don't know how she does it!" - just like I think of so many of them who manage to pull it off effortlessly.