Keeping busy on long flights

How To Stay Entertained When Flying

After you have read the safety manual and sky mall booklets multiple times, you might be thinking how am I going to burn the time?  After all, what are you going to do with the Skymall magazine full of things that you find useful, but yet cannot quite pinpoint when you would use it?  Some people, like me, sleep very little on flights.  For those in my position, here are some ideas below.  Some are obvious, but I try to include some other none conventional yet effective thoughts.

Here is a list of things to do when flying:

• Read a good book or magazine (get it before)
• Listen to music (Ipods have some music games to guess, which song played. This is a  fun option especially if you have some old school music hiding that you have not heard in a while)
• Journal
• Plan your trip (like what you would like to do)
• Get to know your neighbors (people sitting around you)
• Write postcards
• Play computer games
• Fill out your customs card
• Watch a movie or catch up on all those shows that you missed last season
• Respond to emails (If WiFi is available)(If not, you can still write them out)
• Write a business plan (Why not?)
• Study a language
• Sudoku or crossword puzzle (Sporcle would be a nice addition with internet access)
• Draw (Watch out for the turbulence)
• Write as many countries and capitals as you can
• Name all the countries of people who you have met in your lifetime
• Write out your life goals 5, 10, and 15 years out
• Practice speaking a language with an attendant
• Write a book
• Think up your future dream vacations or trips, make a list or game plan for when you will go on them
• Write about your 5 favorite things to do (Ask yourself what you enjoy so much about them)
• Plan your finances or a create a financial plan
• Anything else that you can conjure up.

Remember, depending on the duration of your flight you will likely end up doing multiple things.  I hope this list has given you a few new ideas on things that you can do to pass the time when flying.

Do you have any suggestions to add? What do you do on long flights when you are not sleeping?