Passing time on a plane

[Doubleshadow]

I get to go to Spain this June and do not want to be bored out of my mind. Last time I was on a long flight, it was an approximately 3 hour flight to Utah and I had nothing, no music, no books, no one to talk to, nothing. I passed the time by watching Lost in Translation wihtout any sound and the little map that show you where you are along the flight path. Torture I tell you! : Since I don't want that to happen again, I need to know some tried and true strategies for traveling, especially for someone who dislikes sitting still for that long.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I was on a planetrip for about 8 hours or so going to germany (or was it 10?) to a connecting flight to Poland

Bring a handheld gaming device, or a laptop or some books. You can always sleep =D

[RubyJewelStone]

Ouch that sounds pretty bad. I usually write stupid little stories and listen to music. Puzzle books might work. I'm never touching sodoku again since it made me sad...
Magazines might work or maybe that's just me since I'm really girly.

Actually I usually burn an hour being excited about going somewhere and looking out the window. Seeing that my flights are usually 3 hours, that's an hour right there. Then theres the custom paper that I have to fill out towards the end of the flight 15-30 minutes for me right there. I'll take my sweet time drinking my juice and eating my snack so there's a 30-45 minutes. Looking at the tv thingy might by 5 in all and then the rest is reading, doodling, and writing. The last 2 are REALLY annoying to do with someone nosy near you.

I remember on my Costa Rica trip me and my friends were laughing about the silly little dutch cartoon that they were showing.

[Mangafanatic]

Sleep. That's what I did. Sleep.

If I were you, I'd ATLEAST bring a set of head phones so you don't have to struggle through figuring out what's going on in the movie/programming that's shown on the flight. But, if you forget the head phones, I imagine you'll still be more considerate than me and Yumie about it on our flights to the Dominican--

Yumie *yelling*: WHAT'S THIS PROGRAM ABOUT!?

Me *also yelling*: I THINK THAT KID RIGHT THERE IS AN ARTIST. OR A MURDER. IT'S KIND OF CONFUSING!!!!

XD

If you can get your hands on a laptop and a bunch of movies, that would be my first choice for entertainment. Oh! I know! Borrow all three of the extended Lord of the Rings films from someone. That right there should have you covered for about any flight.

[Linksquest]

If you can get your hands on a laptop and a bunch of movies, that would be my first choice for entertainment. Oh! I know! Borrow all three of the extended Lord of the Rings films from someone. That right there should have you covered for about any flight.

ROFL!

I was on that same flight as MSP... As others have already said, sleep is always good. The whole time difference thing will get to you, so it might be good to be a step ahead of it by getting some rest.

Music is good... manga/anime. ^_^

[Debitt]

I morph into a book monster on planes. I devoured Howl's Moving Castle and The Vampire Lestat to and on the way back from Japan.

I also bring my iPod, well charged and ready to go.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Bring music. LOTS and LOTS of music

And extra batteries. Maybe even strike conversation with the person sitting next to you

[Locke]

Bring music. LOTS and LOTS of music

And extra batteries. Maybe even strike conversation with the person sitting next to you

Last time I tried talking to my seat buddy they told a tale of government conspiracys and terrorist plots.

I hate airplanes >_>

[Puritan]

My strategy involves lots of reading material and a CD player or an MP3 Player (generally the latter for the really long trips). Last trip I took I burned through about half of the Fruits Basket manga (and a book) between Chicago and El Paso and several books on the way back, and that helped the time pass quickly. My music also helped, although it can be really hard to hear things with a regular set of headphones. If you have some money to burn and already have a music player I would suggest trying to get a pair of noise cancelling headphones, I find that they help a great deal as well.

[Ashley]

I've been to 8 countries and 50+ flights in my life, so trust me, I feel your pain! Here are my tried and true methods:

- ipod (headphones, don't forget to fully charge!)
- library books/magazines
- hand held games
- puzzles/crosswords
- reading EVERY word of EVERYTHING they give you
- sleep (I've even drugged myself to sleep through a 16 hour flight)
- write letters
- draw (carictures of the stewartesses are great!)
- word magnets

[TheMelodyMaker]

Cool! ^_^ Now you'll get to see if indeed the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plane. (Sorry, had to get that one in there. )

[RubyJewelStone]

Last time I tried talking to my seat buddy they told a tale of government conspiracys and terrorist plots.

I hate airplanes >_>

I love ariplanes. Maybe because I haven't sat next to a stranger.
But I'm the weirdo fighting for the chance to stare at the monotonous clouds.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I've been to 8 countries and 50+ flights in my life, so trust me

......Really Ashley?

I've only been on a flight twice. (not counting roundtrips and connecting-flights) 50 flights... that is a LOT.

[Locke]

I love ariplanes. Maybe because I haven't sat next to a stranger.
But I'm the weirdo fighting for the chance to stare at the monotonous clouds.

Its just that eveytime I fly (5 times a year) something weird happens, the crazy government lady was the first, then my luggage went missing, THEN the instrument i brought from Brasil was totally destroyed >_>

[RubyJewelStone]

Its just that eveytime I fly (5 times a year) something weird happens, the crazy government lady was the first, then my luggage went missing, THEN the instrument i brought from Brasil was totally destroyed >_>

Oh wow. That's messed up. I'm sorry about your instrument, I know I would be really ticked.

Shoot, to this day, I don't like American airline because of that crappy seat with the unadjustable stream of cold air (I hate cold), unmovable chair (to accomodate people that don't know how to pack a carry-on so the send it to the back of the plane), and some dinky bag of chips (our original carrier that we planned for actual gives real food so we were unprepared). We suffered with that because BWIA has issued with their workers and decided to go on strike the day of our flight....>.<



As I think back on travel expierences I've had bad luck with customs and I've learned things...
avoid studded pants
Do not lose that customs declaration paper unless you want to live in the airport
And even if it's a US territory any old photo identification won't always cut it.
And it's a no brainer but don't lose your passport *guilty* (Luckily a nice guy found it...)

[White]

My Advise Would Be Get A DS and Buy Some Good Games For It Like 'Nintendogs, Meteos ,Metroid Prime: Hunters and Mario Kart DS'

Also, Bring An mp3 Player and A Laptop To Watch Some DVD's...

[Lynx]

if you have a video ipod... you can put videos on it! i have lost on my ipod

[DragonSlayer]

My Advise Would Be Get A DS and Buy Some Good Games For It Like 'Nintendogs, Meteos ,Metroid Prime: Hunters and Mario Kart DS'

Also, Bring An mp3 Player and A Laptop To Watch Some DVD's...

Sadly as I understand it devices that senc out signles, such as cell phones over airwaves arent allowed, they say it messes up their flight instruments, or could anyway. But try to borrow like somone portable dvd palyer or somthing. I listened to Dragonforce albuam about 8 times in a row and wrote a bunch of stuff about clouds.

Cool! ^_^ Now you'll get to see if indeed the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plane. (Sorry, had to get that one in there. )

"The rainy in spainy, were Ani---Mani---Acs!"

[soul alive]

I tend to get horribly air-sick, so unless the flight is fairly smooth, I sleep. I had a 5 or so hour flight including a long lay-over for the last flight I was on. I slept on the floor of the departure airport, on the airplane, on the bench of the lay-over airport, on the next airplane, on the floor of the final airport waiting for luggage to come in, and on the 2 hour bus ride home. XD

Usually, when I am functioning, I read books. I have an old school Gameboy Color, and when I can find it, I bring it too.

To my continuing sadness, I have not been out of the country yet, so I have never had to experience entertaining myself for the duration of an overseas flight. Hope your flight goes well.

[Bobtheduck]

Best thing:

Laptop with games, DVDs and plenty of battery power (a spare battery or two would rock

OR

PSP with games and movies and a spare battery or two.

Second best thing -

Another portable gaming system of some kind

OR

One of those movie playing iPods.

Third best thing

A really good book... Maybe 2 or 3, and make sure you really want to read them (for me, next time I do a big flight like that (prolly to Japan) I'm taking one or two of the potter books)

Whatever you do, take frequent trips to the bathroom... It's annoying moving through crowds (if you fly coach, that is) but it's worth it to get up and move.

[dragonshimmer]

Everyone here has good advice. Personally, when I took a ten hr. flight to Italy, I drugged myself to sleep for the return flight. The flight there was a red eye and I didn't sleep, and there was no in flight movie. I did LOTS of journal writing, listening to music, reading and reading my Bible and spending time with God. That flight took forever. I strongly encourage Dramamine to make you sleep xD;

[Joshua Christopher]

How about releasing about 500 killer snakes? On a plane.

Snakes On a Plane.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Woah, who stole BigSleepJ's avatar? Impact is that you?


I've never actually been on a plane before or even outside Australia (travelled everywhere by car or bus).
I'm going to Japan on a mission trip in July and our timezone isn't that different from theirs - minimal jet lag. It's an 8 hour flight from Adelaide so I'll probably take a couple books to read, some cds to listen to and paper and pen to draw with.
Maybe catch the inflight movie also.

[Yahshua]

Eh one question how can one drug oneself to sleep?

[GrubbTheFragger]

i went from boston to california and that was like a 8hr flight i am glad i slept during it. also my cd player got alot of use that day

[Mave]

I've recently picked up two activities to kill travelling time: Knitting and sudoku while playing Mp3s. I've been ridiculed for the former but it works for me.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Sadly as I understand it devices that senc out signles, such as cell phones over airwaves arent allowed, they say it messes up their flight instruments, or could anyway. But try to borrow like somone portable dvd palyer or somthing. I listened to Dragonforce albuam about 8 times in a row and wrote a bunch of stuff about clouds.

Uhm.... even though they say such things. Their walls and equipment is resistent to that sort of stuff. So I believe it is actually okay to play them

[Puguni]

If you like games, and have a GameBoy Advance, play Fire Emblem. That game sure killed my time. XD

[Kaligraphic]

Sleep is good, as is an iPod. Try getting the whole plane involved in a singalong.

Or bring a laptop - but get an extended battery.

(Josh already said about what I was going to say here, so I'll give the boring response instead.)

[MomoAdachi]

Whenever I'm on a plane, I read, do word finds, watch DVDs on my portable DVD player, or once I bought these activity books in the airport gift shop called something like "Mr. Mystery". There were, like, all these little murder mysteries to solve and some different activities, all which used an invisible ink pen. I know it sounds corny, but I was so bored that I really enjoyed it.