• I spent two weeks backpacking through Europe for the first time in October 2022.
• I found that it wasn't the glamorous, romantic adventure it often looks like on Instagram.
• While backpacking, I was disappointed by overnight train rides and crowds of tourists in each city.

With a passion for fashion, traveling with just a backpack never appealed to me before 2022. There were always too many layers, accessories, and shoes I wanted to pack.

But since I began traveling more as a travel reporter for Business Insider four years ago, I've realized I needed to lighten my load to make it easier to hit the road for longer periods.

I prioritized the minimalist travel style in August 2022, when I spent a week backpacking for the first time through Eastern Canada. It turned out to be much easier — and more efficient — than I'd originally thought. 

So, when I planned a two-week train trip through four European countries two months later, I pushed myself to fit everything I needed into my backpack again.

I spent two weeks backpacking across Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland while exploring the cities of Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Milan, and Zurich. It was my first time visiting each country and backpacking in Europe. 

I slept in shared train cabins and budget Airbnbs, and initially, I felt like I was living the life of young adults on a gap year or post-college students on a big adventure.

But I quickly realized it wasn't as glamorous as I expected it to be.

On Instagram, I've often seen epic photos of an empty nature scene save for the backpackers with a caption about life being an adventure.

After backpacking Europe, I found that the travel style was full of hardships I rarely see posts about. 

First, I found that my biggest backpack couldn't squeeze in all the clothes I wanted to bring.

I picked my largest bag — a 32-liter backpack — for my trip to Europe.

I wasn't sure how well this bag would work for a two-week trip, so I practiced packing as lightly as possible to ensure I could fit everything. 

I started with my essential work gear — a laptop, cameras, lenses, and a notebook. Then, I packed chargers, toiletries, and snacks before realizing my work gear and other essentials were taking priority over clothes.

I hoped to bring two packing cubes full of clothing, but I could only fit one. This cut my proposed wardrobe in half.

I ended up packing two polos, one T-shirt, one long-sleeve T-shirt, three pairs of pants, a sweater, a blazer, a dress, and two light jackets.

Although I impressed myself by packing lighter than ever while still having everything I needed for the longest trip I'd ever taken, I couldn't help feeling disappointed in my limited outfit choices. 

Because I could only bring a few garments, I had to do laundry at nearly every accommodation.

I've never seen a backpacking social-media post about doing laundry, but I found myself washing my clothes at nearly every Airbnb I stayed in.

I stayed in each accommodation for just one or two nights, so to ensure my clothes would be dry before checking out, I had to prioritize doing laundry as soon as I checked in.

I brought my own laundry soap and used sinks and bathtubs to wash each garment before hanging them up to dry.

This was a bummer since I often arrived at each accommodation feeling exhausted from travel, and washing my clothes was the last thing I felt like doing. 

Coming home to tiny Airbnbs with wet clothes everywhere stressed me out after a day of exploring.

From a converted wine barrel outside Zurich to an Airstream trailer in Vienna, most of my Airbnbs were tiny homes with less than 100 square feet of space. So, the slightest bit of clutter made them look like a total mess. Having my clothes hanging to dry made the spaces feel even more chaotic.

Each time I returned to my accommodations, I was greeted with a disheveled space that made me feel stressed out. Since I'd worked hard to keep my apartment looking spotless at home, I wasn't used to living in a cluttered space. I found it hard to relax in these rooms after tiring days of exploring.

I thought a sleeper train would be a smart way to arrive in new cities and maximize my time, but these shared cabins felt cramped and uncomfortable.

I booked two overnight trains during my trip to free up daylight hours for exploring.

But I didn't anticipate how challenging it would be to get a good night's rest in a small, shared space.

To get from Vienna to Venice, I booked a bunk in a shared cabin on an overnight train run by the Nightjet rail line, which operates overnight routes between Austria, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

Since I booked a shared room with up to five others, I expected to feel slightly cramped, but I still thought I'd have some space to move around the room.

However, the 74-square-foot cabin didn't feel like enough space for myself and the other travelers, especially with everyone's luggage. Our cabin only had four people in it, and I thought it would have been even more uncomfortable had it been fully booked with six people.

There was space for bags above the beds, but not enough for everyone. I couldn't do much more than sit in my bunk and quickly became disappointed by my choice to travel this way.

I was also surprised by the lack of privacy inside the shared bunk cabin on the train.

Before my trip, I imagined each bunk in the shared cabin on the sleeper train would have a curtain for privacy. However, the beds were completely exposed, so I had to go to the bathroom to change into my pajamas privately.

I also had to wake another traveler using the top bunk in the middle of the night to use the bathroom since the room's lock was only accessible from their bunk.

After this experience, I don't think I'll ever bunk with strangers on an overnight train again, especially since some Nightjet routes have private cabins.

"Offering our passengers a high level of travel comfort is an important concern for us," a representative for OBB Nightjet told BI. "We are constantly working on improvements to our product and also take into account the requirements of our customers."

My experience was even worse on the other overnight train I took, where I booked a regular seat and didn't sleep at all.

On my other overnight train from Berlin to Vienna, I had an even harder time sleeping. I sat in a seating carriage room with six seats facing each other, which is Nightjet's version of standard coach seating.

During my leg of the journey, three travelers were already there when I boarded, and two others arrived within the first few hours. Right away, I thought the room was cramped and lacked enough legroom for each traveler.

The seat appeared slightly wider than a typical train coach seat, with two cushions. It also reclined, though not fully. I reclined mine as much as possible, but I thought the gap between the seat back and the bottom of the seat made it tough to get comfortable.

When I tried to sleep, I found it impossible with the constant bumps on the ride and so many people around. I ended up staying up until the morning and regretted traveling overnight. 

"The quality of travel depends not only on the carriages but also on the route," OBB Nightjet wrote in a statement to BI. "We recommend the sleeper or couchette car for night travel. There is enough space to stretch out. Seated carriages are recommended for shorter journeys."

While some influencers might like this type of travel, I'll stick to daytime routes next time if I can't sleep flat on a bed in a private room. 

I often arrived in each country feeling exhausted from lack of sleep, which made it harder to enjoy my time in each place.

Because I had so much trouble sleeping on both overnight train rides, I often arrived in a new city feeling depleted instead of excited and ready to start exploring.

When I got to Vienna at 7 a.m. after a sleepless night in the seating carriage, I was so exhausted that I looked for any hotel that would take me in so early in the morning. I thought this made the overnight ride ultimately not worth the time saved since I didn't do anything when I arrived other than sleep.

When I got off the train in Venice, I had enough energy to explore since I got some sleep in the bunk, but I still felt fatigued, and it took away from how much I could enjoy that first day.

As a result, my first day in both cities felt disappointing, and my plan to save time and energy backfired. I couldn't help thinking I wasted two days that could have been spent feeling more appreciative of the city surrounding me had I gotten enough rest. 

In fact, a lot of my trip was more physically draining than I anticipated because my backpack made my body sore.

On travel days, I had to carry my backpack for long periods. I wore it on the go to catch my train. When I arrived in a new city, I had to keep it on my back until I could check into my accommodation. And then, I'd repeat the entire process when I checked out before catching a train to my next destination.

Each day, after wearing my backpack while walking for extended periods, my muscles felt incredibly sore.

In these moments, I was surprised to find myself questioning if a backpack really is more convenient than a carry-on suitcase. Sure, a carry-on suitcase is larger and often needs to be wheeled around, but after lugging around my backpack all day, I felt it would have been easier and better for my body. Plus, I'd be able to pack more.

Large crowds made having a backpack even harder. I thought traveling in October — the end of shoulder season — would help me avoid this, but I was wrong.

In most photos of backpackers I see on Instagram, it looks like they're completely alone in a dramatic scene, whether it's a scenic landscape or a major tourist attraction.

However, even though I visited during the shoulder season, this was not the case. From Rome to Zurich, I trudged through places that were overrun with tourists.

Throughout my trip, I stood on tippy toes to see popular historic sites above rows of heads obscuring my view. Even getting just one photo of myself at tourist hot spots, like the Colosseum in Rome, felt nearly impossible. And since I'm 5-foot-3, I found it hard to see over the heads and smartphones of the people around me. 

I also wasn't used to the weight and size of my backpack, which made it challenging to get around. In crowded spaces, I kept forgetting that the backpack made me about a third larger than I typically am. I bumped into people with my pack in busy streets and train stations before realizing I needed to reconsider how I was taking up space. 

Next time I plan a trip to Europe, I'll visit in the offseason for fewer crowds.

While it wasn't a picture-perfect adventure, backpacking through Europe made me realize that you can't plan out every second, and maybe that's a good thing.

While there were a handful of hardships, backpacking in Europe was also full of good surprises.

For example, I initially thought seeing so many new places in a short time would make them blend together in my mind, but each city felt genuinely unique and left me with distinct memories. And without my backpack, I probably wouldn't have been able to travel to as many places in one trip.

I'll never forget how alive Berlin felt with its lush pockets of greenery, dramatic murals, and street performers, or how Vienna's garden mazes and fairy tale architecture made me feel like royalty — even with a turtle shell on my back. 

Ultimately, I thought the good surprises outweighed the bad, so I would definitely backpack in Europe again. But next time, I'll avoid shared accommodations, overnight rides, and the busy season. 

• Jon Stewart's impassioned "Daily Show" monologue ended with an on-air injury.
• Stewart began by suggesting ways that DOGE could cut costs and save money.
• As he criticized government-funded pharmaceutical subsidies, Stewart smashed his mug and cut his hand.

Jon Stewart's fiery "Daily Show" monologue criticizing DOGE's cost-cutting measures briefly went off the rails, leaving the host with a bloody hand.

In his Monday night monologue, Stewart called out the recent actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is run by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

"Cutting money shouldn't be this hard," Stewart said. "I'm starting to think that we as a country don't understand where the real waste fraud and abuse in our system really is."

"Let me join DOGE. I'm gonna see if I can noodle some ideas here," Stwart said, putting a bunch of props, including a "word's most dad" mug, a calculator, and a notepad, on his desk.

"How about we just take $3 billion in subsidies we give to oil and gas companies that already turn billions in profits," Stewart sarcastically suggested. "How long did that take?"

The host didn't stop there. Instead, he continued to offer alternative ways to save money.

"Oh, wait! How about we just close down the carried interest loophole on hedge funds? That's $1.3 billion a year," Stewart continued. "How about we stop the $2 trillion dollars we've given to defense contractors to build a fighter jet that blows, when everybody knows the next war is going to be fought with drones and blockchains, whatever that is! Holy shit! I can't believe it! I just saved us billions of dollars in 11 seconds!"

Stewart said that pharmaceutical companies receive plenty of government funding, and in exchange, people pay "the highest drug prices in the Western hemisphere."

"But you know what's so horrible about our system now? And the corruption that lays within it?" Stewart asked. "We're so fucking numb to it, we actually tout tiny cracks in that exploitation as victory."

Stewart showed an old clip of former US President Joe Biden celebrating negotiations with Medicare to lower the cost of 10 drugs to illustrate his point.

"Ooh, can it be? The companies we subsidize with billions of dollars are allowing us the privilege of negotiating the price of 10 of their drugs," Stewart said sarcastically.

"And 10 is all of them, right? It would be embarrassing if it was a small drop in the bucket and that the American people didn't expect that we should negotiate for all their fucking drugs! Because we've already paid for 'em with our subsidies!" Stewart said, smashing his mug with his right hand around the 17:00 mark of the monologue.

Then, Stewart briefly glanced at his bleeding hand and hid it behind his desk to continue the segment.

"I'll be going to the hospital soon," he joked, before continuing with his rant about pharmaceutical companies. Later, near the end of the monologue, Stewart pulled his hand back up on the desk, and the crowd reacted to the sight of it completely covered in blood.

"It's fine!" he yelled with a laugh.

Whatever happened to his hand, Stewart has seemingly lived to tell the tale. Stewart poked fun at the mishap on X, writing: "We're back! New Daily Show tonight! It's a bloody good episode…emphasis on bloody…I'm an idiot…"

• A WalletHub analysis found Mississippi spends the highest share of its median household income on groceries among US states.
• West Virginia and Arkansas ranked second and third, while New Jersey came in at No. 50 on the list.
• The three states that spend the lowest percentage on groceries also have the highest earnings.

Retail food prices have increased across the US, but Mississippians are arguably feeling it the most at the grocery store.

WalletHub, a personal finance platform, recently released an analysis examining the share of median income residents of US states allocate to groceries, and those in Mississippi, West Virginia, and Arkansas are spending the highest percentages.

The company studied the prices of 26 common grocery items, including meat, dairy, fruits, and cleaning products, across all 50 states. It then combined the costs and compared them with the median household income in each state to identify where residents spend the highest proportion of their income on groceries.

Mississippi ranked No. 1 on the list for highest spending on groceries relative to income, with the cost of groceries reaching 2.64% of median monthly household income. West Virginia ranked No. 2 with 2.57%, and Arkansas ranked No. 3 with 2.49%.

You can hover over the map below to see the percentage of median monthly household income residents spend on groceries by state.

Despite Mississippi ranking highest on the list, the report said that "grocery prices in Mississippi are actually relatively low," with the state having the ninth lowest grocery prices in the US. WalletHub said in its findings that Mississippi is among the 10 least expensive states in 15 of the 26 products measured in the study, including items like margarine and dishwashing detergent.

However, a more significant factor is that Mississippi had the lowest median annual household income in the country, at $52,985 in 2022 dollars, per Census data spanning 2018 through 2022. That was well below the national median of $75,149.

"So even with relatively low grocery prices overall, Mississippians are spending a higher percentage of their income on groceries than people in any other state," WalletHub said.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo told Business Insider that the study compared the prices in each state to median annual income because it seemed to be a better indicator on a statewide basis than solely looking at grocery prices. Lupo said that the cost of grocery prices in New Jersey "won't mean anything to someone in West Virginia."

The report said that West Virginia is "around the middle or bottom of the country" for some of its grocery prices, although some products, like eggs and potatoes, tend to be more expensive. Still, West Virginia had the second-lowest median household income in the US, bringing in $55,217 annually.

Similarly, while Arkansas, which spends the third-highest percentage of its median income on groceries, is in the top 10 states with the cheapest groceries in the US, it has the third-lowest median household income, with $56,335 annually.

Meanwhile, New Jersey ranked No. 50 on the list, meaning its residents spend the lowest percentage of their income on groceries, with Maryland and Massachusetts placing right above it. All three states have the highest median annual household incomes in the country and spend between 1.5% and 1.54% of their median monthly household income on groceries.

Lupo suggested that those who want to see their spending go down should buy store-brand versions of products, buy in bulk, and look into reward programs for grocery stores they frequent. You should also budget carefully — and try to stick to it, Lupo said.

"That will keep you from splurging," Lupo said. "And most importantly, from making those impulse buys."

• On Monday morning, screens at HUD briefly displayed a fake video of Trump sucking Elon Musk's feet.
• Later that day, the monitors began displaying soundless videos of Trump signing executive orders instead.
• As of Tuesday morning, HUD monitors were still showing Trump signing executives orders.

It's a toe-tal switch-up over at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where monitors are no longer showing fake videos of President Donald Trump sucking Elon Musk's feet.

Instead, TV screens throughout the agency on Tuesday displayed clips of Trump signing executive orders on a loop, a HUD worker said and union officials confirmed.

A worker at HUD said that the screens began showing videos of Trump's signings last night. The worker noticed the videos showing as they left the office for the night, and as of this morning, the clips were still playing. Business Insider viewed recordings showing the videos being played on at least two monitors; both appeared to be playing without sound or closed captions.

"It's making people uncomfortable," the worker said. "It's like state propaganda."

Two HUD workers said that the monitors are generally used to convey information, not broadcast videos. Both said the toe video was the first time they'd seen the monitors used to show video.

On Monday night, the press office for HUD Secretary Scott Turner released a statement on the day's excitement.

"The monitors at HUD are now showcasing the wins of the Trump administration, including action to lower the cost and expand the supply of affordable housing," the statement said. "We expect the media to cover these historic achievements with the same level of detail and immediacy as other frivolous stories."

The White House and Turner's office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the executive order videos.

HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement Monday that the Trump-Musk video was "another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources."

The toe-sucking video hit the monitors inside the agency as bargaining unit employees at HUD officially returned to office on Monday morning. The agency is facing potential cuts amid the Musk and Trump push to efficiently slash the federal workforce, with the Associated Press reporting that half of the agency could be on the chopping block.

Federal workers this week have also been asked to account for what they've been doing on the clock. The Office of Personnel Management sent out a weekend email asking workers to reply with five bullet points on what they had worked on in the past week. However, some agencies later said that a response was voluntary or that they'd reply on behalf of their workers.

Are you a federal worker with a story or tip? Contact this reporter on Signal at julianakaplan.33 or via email at [email protected].

• Apple shareholders reject proposal to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
• Its board advised against the proposal, citing business strategy management concerns.
• Apple aligns with Costco, opposing the trend of scaling back diversity programs.

Shareholders at Apple have voted to reject a request to cease its diversity, equity, and inclusion moves.

In their proposal to cease DEI efforts, the National Center for Public Policy Research said the program "poses litigation, reputational, and financial risks to companies." During Apple's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, holders voted against the request. The company didn't immediately provide a breakdown of the vote.

Ahead of the meeting, Apple's board recommended that shareholders vote against the "unnecessary" request. The tech giant said the proposal "inappropriately attempts to restrict Apple's ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, people and teams, and business strategies."

Their decision stands in contrast to many major companies that have chosen to scale back their programs. The National Center for Public Policy Research cited some of them as examples that Apple shareholders should seek to follow, including Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft.

Instead, Apple is joining companies like Costco in standing behind DEI efforts. Shareholders for the grocery giant overwhelmingly rejected an anti-DEI proposal last month.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January ending DEI programs in the federal government. As the shift becomes more widespread, many major companies are examining their own policies.

• I stayed at a resort in Sidemen, a more rural part of Eastern Bali, for under $50 a night.
• While in Sidemen, I enjoyed a private bike tour and incredible waterfall views.
• I'm happy I chose to skip more popular spots in Bali, which helped me avoid crowds of tourists.

Before I visited Bali, I was convinced by posts on Reddit and TikTok that it was little more than a crowded playground for influencers trying to get the perfect photo for Instagram.

Knowing that many of its popular areas, like Seminyak and Kuta, have struggled to deal with high levels of tourism (and the pollution and damage that can cause) in the past few years only added to the image I'd created in my mind.

I don't travel just to snap photos, and I enjoy getting to explore without crowds, so when I finally visited, I decided to head to a less popular and more rural region of Eastern Bali: Sidemen.

I'd heard about Sidemen from a friend who had visited Bali a few months prior. After seeing images of the area's lush green landscape and reading about its incredible waterfalls and laid-back feel, I was sold.

My resort in Sidemen felt like an excellent value

When I arrived in Sidemen, I was delighted to find the lush valley was filled with rice terraces, artisan silver workshops, and otherworldly landscapes.

I stayed at Cepik Villa Sidemen, a resort where I paid $45 per night for an air-conditioned bungalow with a king-sized bed and complimentary breakfast each morning.

It had a pool, a rooftop spa, a yoga pavilion, and a restaurant where I had the best nasi goreng (an Indonesian fried rice dish) of my entire trip.

The luxe-feeling hotel, which only has six rooms, was surrounded by rice terraces. It looked immaculately maintained, and I even saw staff walking the grounds multiple times a day to tend to the wide variety of tropical plants.

A highlight of my stay was a private tour of the area with a local guide

My favorite activity at Cepik Villa Sidemen was a private scooter tour of the area with a staff member at the hotel who was born and raised in Sidemen.

Early in the morning, I hopped on the back of his scooter, and we drove about five minutes to the local market, which was already bustling before 8 a.m. I bought and tried things I'd never heard of, like snakeskin fruit, a sweet-and-sour fruit with scaly skin.

After exploring the market, we hopped back on the scooter and wove through the beautiful surrounding scenery until we reached Gembleng Waterfall.

My guide dropped me at the base of it, where I walked up a steep series of steps to access a few small pools that the waterfall feeds into.

I didn't see a single other person hiking up the steps or lounging in the pools during my visit. Looking out over the valley with the sound of the waterfall behind me, I was struck by how beautiful the area was and how lucky I was to have the view all to myself.

After that, we stopped to taste locally brewed Arak (a strong Balinese liquor) and visited Pertenunan Pelangi, where I watched crafters go through the complex process of designing, dyeing, and weaving colorful fabrics.

Choosing the right spot to base your stay in can make all the difference

As it turns out, I'd underestimated Bali and how much it has to offer.

Much to my delight, Sidemen felt so much different from the crowded, influencer-filled Bali I'd expected — yet it still felt luxurious and beautiful.

Unlike some of the other places I visited in Indonesia, Sidemen offered me a unique opportunity to connect with the landscape and the people.

I don't think I could've had the same personalized, private experiences in a more crowded place.

Although I don't necessarily dislike "touristy" destinations, I think there's something to be said for straying from the most popular recommendations online and seeking out something a little different.

I'm sure there are many reasons Bali's trendiest destinations draw so many visitors — but I feel my choice to spend time in a lesser-known part of the province was a good one.

• My friend and I boarded a 10-hour economy flight between Denver and Munich.
• Like most long-haul flights, the journey was filled with highs and lows.
• We celebrated an empty middle seat and dined on OK plane food.

Long-haul economy flights are a roller coaster of highs and lows.

I hate cramped quarters but love plane food. I struggle to fall asleep but crave an excuse to binge movies for hours.

Jet lag is a nightmare, but the stomach drop from taking off and gaining a bird's-eye perspective on a destination are two of my favorite things.

My most recent long-haul flight was filled with similar highs and lows.

For the first time in years, I wasn't traveling solo. I had a friend by my side. Together, we were heading to Italy's Dolomites for a week of skiing — a high.

To get there, we had to embark on a 10-hour Lufthansa flight from Denver to Munich in economy — a low.

Here's how we spent every hour of the journey.

Hour 1: A TSA hiccup

Like any long-haul flight, the journey starts long before stepping on the plane.

Thankfully, dropping off ski bags was a breeze, and my friend and I were eager to zoom through TSA PreCheck and get to the Capital One Lounge.

Like any plan, something is bound to go wrong. I was supposed to have PreCheck, but it wasn't showing up on my boarding pass. After getting turned away at TSA, I waved farewell to my friend Emma and headed to general check-in.

It was no big deal. Then, the TSA agent's face filled with confusion when she scanned my passport and boarding pass. The name on the screen and my passport didn't match.

She sent me back to the Lufthansa desk, where they printed me a new boarding pass. Two lines later, I was in front of a new TSA agent. Again, the incorrect name popped up.

After flagging a supervisor, they let me through with no explanation.

My friend and I have no theories about what happened or how a completely wrong name could be attached to my profile. We ultimately shrugged it off, attributing it to Denver International Airport's many quirks.

The fiasco reminded me that I needed to get to the airport early. Many things are out of your control when you fly — from traffic to technology issues — and creating a buffer for things to go wrong is always key when traveling.

Hour 2: A quick lounge bite

Our planned lengthy break before boarding turned into a quick bite.

My friend wrapped up a last-minute work assignment, I sent off an email, and we toasted to making it through security.

As I sipped my spritz, I sat in disbelief that I had gone years without lounge access. Late last year, I finally caved and bought a travel credit card with lounge perks. It only took one trip to make the card worth the cost, and now, every time I fly out of Denver, I drink and dine for free.

Our time in the lounge flew by, and after about an hour, we both realized our flight had already started boarding.

Once again, stress set in. We scrambled to shove our laptops in our bags, use the bathroom quickly, and pack a few lounge snacks for the flight ahead.

Hour 3: A race to our gate

Emma and I rushed to the gate. I often travel alone, so I was thankful we had each other for reassurance.

"Boarding doesn't end for another 7 minutes," we reminded each other as we hopped on and off moving walkways and darted between passengers to get to gate A45.

We were some of the last passengers to board, and as we looked around, we noticed the back of the plane was practically empty. No one was seated in our middle seat, and the row in front of us was empty. There was plenty of overhead storage for our carry-ons and personal items.

My unpopular opinion that the back of the plane is the best place to sit was proven right again. Later, when I walked to the front of the cabin, I noticed a much more crowded area.

After settling in, Emma and I celebrated the legroom and extra space.

Then, we eyed the pros and cons of our Lufthansa A350-900 aircraft.

The seats felt a little bigger and comfier than my other long-haul flights. We had TV screens and larger tray tables. What we didn't have were outlets, so getting work done was going to be a challenge.

Still, as the plane pulled out of the gate, I felt the giddy excitement of starting an adventure.

Hour 4: Skeptical about a new travel pillow

I've been on the hunt for the best travel pillow. I tested an inflatable one on a recent 33-hour travel day and didn't love it.

I've tried traditional pillows and foot hammocks, and I'm convinced something better has to exist.

I packed a sleep mask that attaches to a plane's headrest for this flight.

Our journey had just started. Dinner hadn't been served, and we were less than an hour into the flight. But something about getting on a plane immediately makes me sleepy, or maybe that's just the lounge cocktails.

Thankfully, the eye mask was easy to set up. Emma and I laughed at how ridiculous I looked strapped in, but I wasn't too worried about that as long as it helped me sleep.

After getting it set up, I debated sleeping. There were still 5,000 miles left in the trip. If I slept now, would I regret it?

Instead, we watched the sunset. The striking sky and watercolor of pastels were gorgeous. It felt like a good omen for our trip, and I snapped images of the plane's wings.

"As if I don't already have enough plane pictures," I thought as I added about a dozen more to my camera roll.

Hour 5: Perplexing plane food

Suddenly, the plane cabin was enveloped in smells. Drink service started about an hour into the flight, and with eight hours left, food arrived.

Only the vegetarian meal was left when the flight attendants reached my seat.

I wasn't sure what I was smelling, and as I uncovered the aluminum lid, I was even more confused. The flight attendants didn't give me a description, and there wasn't a label on the tray. It looked like some sort of quinoa loaf.

I could pinpoint some ingredients. There was zucchini, I'm sure. The loaf was on a bed of rice, and there was a white sauce that I couldn't identify. My meal also included what looked like melted vanilla ice cream, but instead, it was a room-temperature mousse.

The meal was fine, but I was thankful I had dined at the airport lounge beforehand.

A Lufthansa representative told Business Insider that the airline is working on upgrading its food and beverage services.

Hour 6: Attempting to sleep

My desire to sleep had vanished, so I spent the next hour listening to a podcast and deleting old photos from my phone.

I knew I needed to attempt to sleep soon, so I headed to the bathroom for a quick break to stretch my legs.

I found an empty area, did a few calf raises, touched my toes, stretched my hamstrings, and returned to my seat.

By this point, most of the passengers were already sleeping. I strapped into my eye mask and hoped sleep would come easily.

Instead, I was restless. After about 20 minutes, I turned on a TV show.

Hour 7 - 10: Begging sleep to come

There were less than six hours left, so I turned off my TV show, strapped back into the eye mask, and willed myself to sleep.

I dozed off for a bit, but after about an hour, the pressure from the eye mask was too much. I ripped it off, grabbed my jacket, and used that as a pillow instead.

I continued tossing and turning. At hour nine, I mistakenly checked the flight's remaining time. Four hours remained, and sleep wasn't coming. I was antsy and ready to be off the flight.

In the past, flight attendants have shared tips and tricks for successful long-haul flights. I should've packed melatonin and had a healthy snack midair, and ultimately, I regretted not being more prepared to sleep for the journey.

Hour 11: Groggy with a grumbling stomach

I woke up dazed and more tired than I was 10 hours ago.

With less than two hours left, a new smell filled the plane's cabin. This time, I knew exactly what it was: coffee.

It was breakfast time, and I was hungry.

I was handed another cryptic tray, and I crossed my fingers that it would be better than the dinner.

Unfortunately, I thought breakfast was worse than dinner. There wasn't much flavor, and the textures felt off. The scrambled eggs were dry, and the hashbrowns were soft and greasy.

I longed for airport lounge food and regretted not packing more snacks for the flight.

Hour 12: Surviving and thriving

The pilot announced our landing, and my friend and I eagerly opened the plane windows to catch our first glimpses of Europe.

We were tired, hungry, and thrilled to be one step closer to our ski destination.

We landed in a dreary Munich and headed to our next gate, where a plane was waiting to take us to Venice.

Our ski trip was just hours away, and the dreaded long-haul flight was finally behind us.

I've taken plenty of long-haul flights, but each one teaches me something new

It's been a while since I've traveled with a friend on this long of a flight, and I forgot how much a travel partner can ease the stresses of flying.

Instead of panicking when my name was incorrect or when we were late for boarding, we reassured each other, soaked in sunsets, and celebrated the small wins of what is often the miserable experience of long-haul flying.

The flight also reminded me that long-haul flights require preparation. Next time, I'll pack the sleeping essentials, get to the airport early, and, of course, book my back-of-the-plane seat days in advance.

• Whitney Synder, who has worked at HuffPost his whole adult life, is the site's new top editor.
• Snyder's predecessor left in January amid layoffs.
• Snyder says the audience at his left-leaning site shrank after the election but is bouncing back.

HuffPost has been around for nearly 20 years. Whitney Snyder has been around for almost all of it: He joined right out of college in 2008, as an assistant to cofounder Arianna Huffington, and never left. Now he's running the place.

HuffPost has named Snyder, 39, the site's newest editor in chief. He fills the slot vacated by Danielle Belton, who left last month as part of a round of layoffs. Huffington originally conceived of the site as a place for her famous friends to publish blog posts. But it has gone through several owners and iterations since then, and the lefty, populist site is now one of the remaining pieces of the BuzzFeed publishing business.

I talked to Snyder about working for BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti, gauging his audience's interest in Trump, and how it ended up with office space at the Pentagon. Here's an edited excerpt of our conversation.

Business Insider: Your boss Jonah Perreti just put out a memo explaining that he wants to fight back against something he calls SNARF online — that's "Stakes, Novelty, Anger, Retention, Fear." But then he also said that he wants HuffPost to use "SNARF for good.'" I'm looking at your homepage. Can you show me examples where you're using SNARF for good?

Whitney Snyder: I think that what we do is totally consistent with that memo. We have tabloid roots. We want to be journalistically responsible, but tabloids try to appeal to people in a lot of different ways, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

I think what Jonah's memo gets to is that doing that at the scale of these platforms that are using machine learning, along with an endless supply of content to optimize to an unhealthy extent — that's where it becomes a problem. But we want people to come to us.

You've had a lot of experience covering Trump, and satisfying an audience that wanted to read a lot of Trump news during his first administration. What is surprising you now, a month into his second term?

When we were planning last fall for the year ahead, we thought about a scenario where Trump wins and it's total chaos and, in some ways, kind of a replay of his first term. And then we also thought there's a scenario where he wins, and people are thinking, "You know what? I just don't want to be a part of this. I can't be in this headspace every day."

Anecdotally, I hear from a lot of people in that group.

Same here. But what's interesting is I feel like we've already gone from one scenario to the other.

We definitely did see, after the election, a lot of people checked out. We did see a drop-off in our audience. We felt confident it would come back. But it came back more quickly than I expected. I think that is in parallel with what's happening in the country.

The thing is, I still think there are people that are in that other place. That are sort of like "You know what? I'm not ready to read about this stuff every day." But from the numbers we look at, that's already a smaller number of our readers than we would have expected.

One surprising thing the Trump administration did is give you guys office space at the Pentagon, alongside some right-wing/conservative outlets. How did that come about?

I would love to have been in the room when that list was drawn up because it was news to us when it came out. We have credentialed Pentagon reporters, and we cover the Pentagon, but we didn't ask to have that space. We had no plans to use that space. Our assumption is that the Pentagon leadership wanted to punish a number of the mainstream media outlets that really do have a long history of in-depth on-the-ground everyday Pentagon coverage.

Did you accept the slot?

Our attitude is that if they want us there, we're ready to deliver and we have a reporter who's been there several times already. We're gonna rotate in some other reporters as well. We aren't planning on having daily news broadcasts from the Pentagon, as NBC might have. But we're happy to be there if that's what's asked of us.

Given that you didn't ask for it, and that you don't have a full-time Pentagon correspondent, did you consider handing the space back to an outlet that does do that coverage?

Our assumption is that if we did that, then they would just take it away.

You've worked at HuffPost for a long time, under several different owners: It was independent, then it was owned by AOL, then by Verizon, now by BuzzFeed. I don't want to ask you to comment on different owners …

I am kind of happy to cover the different owners. I think that different eras have had their own strengths and weaknesses.

I really like being owned by BuzzFeed. Because when we were at Verizon, for instance, we were a rounding error on a rounding error. And I think that really showed in some of the sort of investment and care that was put into what we do.

For instance, our front page really, really languished from a product perspective. Not that it just didn't get better — it actually got worse in our time at Verizon. Because we were just an afterthought. Understandably. The great thing about being at BuzzFeed is that we're actually a strategically important part of the whole business.