What else to do on long airplane flights??

Ahhh yes the goodie baskets!! A few hours before landing, I can usually get a cappuccino on SAS with chocolate. Thank goodness my flights aren’t too early… that’s really awful starting a long journey already tired.

Review your photos-delete, crop and edit for color those photos you keep and write any comments for photos. LOL I recommend only 10 photos per trip but can never edit that severely. The thought for 10 per trip is that is where people loose interest in your travel photos!

Watch movies.

Start writing my Trip Report for the Rick Steves forum!

Great ideas.

I have a chronic case of ants-in-my-pants at the best of times so sitting on a plane is challenging.. The length of flight and time of day plays a roll in my routine. Short flights of 3 hours or less I usually just read and maybe watch a couple of TV shows; rarely a full movie. An overnight flight to Europe I'll switch between reading, trying to sleep and walking up and down the aisle. On a flight home from Europe in the daytime I tend to watch a couple of movies, wander the aisle, and read.

I usually have my eyes closed for half of the trip - not for sleeping but to be anticipating the trip. On the way home, it’s reliving each of the days of the trip. I also listen to music on my old little iPod Shuffle. If I lost it during the flight it wouldn’t be a big deal. (I keep my iPhone safely contained in my luggage.)

And yes to writing up some of the trip report, too.

Not sure about all the airlines with their seatback entertainment but BA has games, and they're interactive with any other pax that wants to play. So when I returned from CDG, we had like 60 HS-ers (British equivalent) headed to NYC and the vast majority of them were playing one of these games together (it was a day flight so no one really expected to sleep much, so I wouldn't expect this to be ok on a redeye).

Going east...hopefully good movies, games and of course eating. Nothing to plan, already taken care of the first 24 hours upon landing. Try to sleep, usually unsuccessful.

Coming home...more movies, food of course, some games, but a lot of reviewing my daily log on my ipad to fill in some additional information as I relive my trip on the flight home. Funny how you can relive a 70 day trip in your head in a couple of hours by keeping a daily log.

I'm prone to motion sickness and even with medication I need to avoid reading/writing (two of my favorite things!). I envy my husband who sits there happily reading his ebooks. I'll either watch a movie or episodes of a tv series and then tend to close my eyes hoping to trick my body into being one of those people who can sleep on a plane; failing that, I'll just sit there with my eyes closed listening to music and thinking about the trip. I've tried listening to audiobooks but I can't focus on it for some reason.

Crossword puzzles ....the books of NYT ones (i.e. paper, not electronic)

Drink
Get to know my seatmate in excruciating detail
Drink
"Are we there yet?"
Drink some more.
Look out the window
Get cut off

That usually gets me to cruising altitude.

The next 9.5 hours I spend staring at the little map that shows you how a plane traveling at a significant percentage of the speed of sound somehow only moves a single pixel every half-hour.

Oh yeah, sometimes I'll watch someone else's movie through the crack between seats and MST3K it until my wife tries tells me to knock it off. That's usually good for about 3 minutes.

The worst part about flying is that my inner 6-year-old comes out and if I can't FIND entertainment, I BECOME the entertainment!

10 hours, man, 10 hours...

-- Mike

When all else fails

HA HA HA Mary. Good one.

The worst part about flying is that my inner 6-year-old comes out and if I can't FIND entertainment, I BECOME the entertainment!

Thanks for admitting what many of us really feel. LOL

Following. Brings back memories

Mike Beebe, if my husband is traveling with me, I will usually start reading the book he’s reading on his iPad. For some reason, it’s much more interesting than reading my own. And thinking of your comments, when he frequently doses off, I’ve been known to touch his iPad screen to take him back a page. It takes a couple of times before he catches on! Like you, just trying to entertain ourselves!

HAHA, such a wealth of great ideas & some 'gee you know what I REALLY do...'. The idea of watching someone else's movie reminds me, I always check out what everyone around me is watching, but rarely turn on the screen myself, huh. This trip from CPH there were 2 movies about Ferrari - One in Italian from and 'Ford versus Ferrari', I think 90% of the men within my view were watching those 2 movies.... And taking those walks around the plane means I can snoop at what lots of people are doing to fill the time! About chatting to seat mates in detail - This trip the woman across the aisle was coming back from her 2x annual trip to Italy, so I had a chance to quiz her about her favorite small towns, she'd just been to Bologna & loved it, & to chat about Palermo, next year's destination.

I loved some of the other ideas - yes to crossword puzzles, haven't done those in years, and editing photos reminds me I would like to make some Shutterfly albums - will download the app on my ipad for the next journey. Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone!

I don’t know why, but I have a difficult time reading a book on an airplane. I just can’t concentrate. Whether it’s an actual book or on a kindle, it’s a no go. I can manage magazines, which I bring. But what I definitely enjoy is podcasts. I download what I want to listen to prior to our departure. Sometimes it will lull me to sleep. Sometimes it’s just a relaxing or interesting way to pass the time.

Ah, thanks for the reminder, KD. I have the Calm app, lots of gentle guided meditative stories to lull me to sleep. Steven Fry's "Blue Gold" is also available to download from Youtube. And I forgot, I made it half way through the Decline of Civilizations, Byzantium - Last of the Romans (Part 1 of 2), finally maybe starting to understand the fall of Roman civilization!

Yes to podcasts and to episodes of Radio Lento, a British podcast where they go out and record nature -- rain falling, walking in the woods, a night train, etc

Sandancisco, I am a big fan of the Calm app for travel too. I like the white noise for sleeping, as well as the sleep stories and meditations. There are even flight meditations if you like that sort of thing. I was very thankful to have the app on recent bumpy landing into Las Vegas, which turned me an unnatural shade of pale green due to the turbulence. The flight meditation gave me something else to focus on.

Otherwise, I usually do a mix of reading, watching a favorite show like Ted Lasso, and listening to music or an audiobook. Some of my time is also spent doling out kid snacks or activities, though my kids are good travelers.

Well I've added a few ideas to my list so thanks everyone! Hey Meg, thanks, I checked out the Calm app airplane meditations, not something I need but I can see how they would be useful. It seems they have a series for fear of flying!
Skunklet1771 - I've told a few people about the video games you can play with others on the plane, sounds good!