Things to do on a plane?.......

[NaNi]

114 days to go and I'm finally flying back to New Zealand!

But that also means that I have a 13 hour, 9 hour and another 3 hour plane ride ahead of me.

So my question is: What do you normally do on a plane?

I normally try to watch their movies, listen to music or I'm all excited about the meals. I cannot sleep though, I don't know why. I once dozed for like 5 minutes and when I woke up I was wondering why everybody else had their meals infront of them.

I also sometimes get up and walk around because my legs always start hurting after awhile.

I can't relly concentrate on anything though really. I just want to arrive fast and safe.

[Rosebud]

My favorite things to do on long plane trips are draw and write Either by writing in my journal or by working on one of my short stories or novels I have going on in the works. It's wonderful inspiration to be stuck on a plane with nowhere else to go so I'm sort of forced to actually get it done, haha. Same works for homework as well since it's nice to get that out of the way before a trip and not have that hanging over your head while you're on your trip. And on every trip we take my cousin always brings a book or two so reading is also fun.

I guess mine are kinda boring but aside from my mp3 player I'm not much on the up and up of all those newfangled technological games you kids are playing these days.

[MissShortie]

My last trip I bought magazines to read on the plane, I only needed 3 magazines and time flew by
I went to the Library and got a CD book and had it on my iPod to listen to.
I also am a very big kid and have my Nintendo DSi to play on which I LOVE haha!
Or I listen to music on my iPod
I also take my Kindle to read any book I have on there.

[toggle]

i always watch the movies on the plane, and then in the airport i read books and listen to my i-pod. I slept on the 2nd flight last time though because I was so exhausted from travelling. The worst time was when there was such bad turbulance going over canada and i couldn't concentrate on the movie. i was so scared but everyone else didnt seem to bat an eyelid! Times like those it sucks travelling alone when all you want is your SO to comfort you!

[mllebamako]

Strangely enough...I prefer long flights, easier to get settled it
I usually read a book until dinner, then eat while I watch one of their movies. Then I usually keep watching movies for another hour or so until I fall asleep. And then I try to sleep until breakfast time. And then read until landing.

Sorry..no original ideas here!

[Jonesonaboat]

My flights tend to be in the morning, so I usually go without sleep the night before, because I'm usually travelling to the airport all through the night. So, on the plane I'm usually ready to sleep =) Which is great!

Apart from that I watch things on my ipod, listen to music and read!

[justbreathe]

I'd bring books, either paperback or my ereader. Listen to music of course and take advantage of the movies.

I just had a really random idea, since you said you can't really concentrate on much, I'd bring a coloring book! You might get weird looks but hey, at least you'd be having fun! With coloring you don't really need to do much thinking, you can mindlessly color and think about your upcoming trip ! What about hobbies like knitting, crocheting? That'd be a way to keep your hands busy.

[13000km]

I just had a really random idea, since you said you can't really concentrate on much, I'd bring a coloring book! You might get weird looks but hey, at least you'd be having fun! With coloring you don't really need to do much thinking, you can mindlessly color and think about your upcoming trip !

That's a great idea! A lot of planes actually have colouring sheets and crayons on the plane to entertain the children, just ask the flight attendant for some. (: I think I might next time!

When I have long flights ahead of me I make it a point to deprive myself of sleep the day/night before so I'd be exhausted on the plane. If I'm not by the window I get air sick, so I take some pills to help with that and those cause drowsiness, making me even more tired. My flight to the US was 11 hours then 9 hours, I think. I slept, woke up for breakfast, watched part of a movie, fell back asleep, woke up and watched some vampire diaries, was served some snacks, fell asleep again until landing. On the second flight I made an attempt to respond to the japanese man who tried making conversation with me but gave up because we could not understand each other, had my lunch, slept some more, walked around the plane then sat in an empty aisle seat so I wouldn't wake the sleeping japanese man, got more food when I returned to my seat, tied knots in the blanket to create a little pocket for my legs to keep warm in and went back to sleep, then woke up and spent the last 20mins of the flight staring out of the window and trying to figure out what part of the world/the US I was looking at. I guess I'm pretty fortunate to be able to sleep through the worst turbulence.

On a shorter flight I usually read, time passes so much faster when you're in a fantasy world.

[FadedSunrise]

A bit radical, but I might do what I did on the plane ride back to the US from China. Not sleep the night before more than 4-5 hrs, then get on the plane, be awake for the first meal, sleep 6-7 hrs straight, and only have about 4 hrs to easily game away with my DS and psp. I don't tend to read or watch their movies. Although I might knit or write next time.

[ClipitsWings]

i normally draw but there's also writing, reading, and videogaming to be done haha

although once as a kid i bought a cup of legos and played with them through a couple hours of delay time and sitting uselessly on the runway haha so that might be fun :P

i adore justbreathe's coloring book idea too

[Élan]

I know how you feel! My flights to Malaysia are 4 hours, then 15 hours, then 5 hours. I can't sleep on the plane either so I went to my doctor and asked him to prescribe me some powerful sleeping pills. He wrote me a prescription for 10 Ambien--more than enough for traveling. When I take an Ambien on the plane, I can usually sleep 4-7 hours. It's my saving grace!

During the other million hours on the plane, I watch a lot of movies. I don't eat on the plane (I get very, very sick), but a lot of people swear by taking at least an hour to eat each million. Savor every bite of that awful airplane food! I enjoy doing word search puzzles--they don't require a lot of brainpower like crosswords, but they still keep me busy. I also play with my Nintendo DS, write in my journal and read books and magazines. I always bring one "heavy" read and one "light" read so I can alternate on the flights.

I'm also that chatty flight neighbor that most people probably hate. If the person next to me is traveling alone, too, I'll always talk to them. On one of my flights, I must have passed 4 hours talking to my neighbor! We still email each other a couple of times per year.

[NaNi]

I'm not sure about sleeping pills because they actually tell you it's not healthy to sleep for that long on a plane, so I'm probably just going to fill up my iPod with lots of songs and hopefully there'll be good movies on the plane as well.

[Flora]

Ah I have the problem of can't sleeping on plane too... I have an 11 hour long flight to Texas and the very first time when I went there I literally thought that I gonna die there in the air And a plus thing that I hate plane food (really I just can't eat it. I usually just eat the fruit/cookies - great tip for everyone who doesn't like plane food too: order vegetarian food! They are usually much better and contains lots of salad and fruit that they can't make wrong! ) Anyway I usually try to watch movies (and except two times I always give it up, cause I just can't concentrate on it) I usually read books or magazines or last time I was playing games on my computer. Who care that the guy next to me was watching me playing Sims and stuff like these I would also try to craft something (such a great idea!!! Why I didn't think of it???) but do the allow the knitting pins or things like that on board? It's maybe a dumb question I am just wondering they are so careful nowadays with everything.

[NaNi]

It's interesting to read just how many people don't like the food on the plane! I was actually never fond of that food myself, but Qantas has actually really good meals. Spicy thai chicken with pasta, sausages and scrambled eggs for breakfast... mmm!