I fly quite often in between
Helsinki and Brussels, and I have sort of created a routine for this 2.5 hr
flight. First play a game on my phone during take off, once on the cruising altitude I start watching a movie on my tablet and having a coffee & sandwich from the on-board trolley sales.
Despite 2.5 hrs is not really long
time in your life, you rather do something during that time instead just stare
the back of the seat in front of you, or the cloudy view outside of the window. Therefore I listed few ideas what to do onboard:
1.) Netflix!
Download some Netflix episodes on your tablet or smart phone and watch them. Please
note that people are kind of drawn into any kind of tv so most likely people
next to you will be every now and then gazing into your tablet to see what you
are watching. Therefore, I strongly recommend to think a bit what you will
watch, you don’t want the people next to you know what kind of weirdo you are.
So preferably R-rated happy movies, and no, I repeat no air crash movies – you
suddenly may find yourself having a panic attack or the person next to you having one. Hence to ensure a calm flight let’s not watch anything with airplane crashing.
2.) Having
a snack in the plane. Yes that is also sort of way to kill time while flying. At
least it feels like time goes bit faster when you wait for the trolly to come
by and placing your order and receiving your water, coffee, blueberry juice (on
Finnair) and your sandwich. Not to forget two tiny containers of milk and
sweetener.
3.) Knitting
and crocheting is also good past-time in the plane. Doing this you most likely
will get few concerned faces, as people maybe worried what you will do you with
your dangerous looking needles or a hook. But to decrease the level of people
anxiety towards your needles, please use wooden ones, slightly less likely
you’ll be albe to hijack the plane with them, than with the metallic needles. (I usually combine the knitting/crocheting with
the Netflix watching – yes I am woman and I can multitask.)
4.) Once
I get bored with knitting (still watching something on Netflilx), I
start playing Pet Rescue Saga on my phone. It’s a slightly addictive game that
I have been playing now for few years (I am on level 2262 now, just to mention). So
my advise would be to download a game on your phone that you can play off-line
too and is addictive & entertaining.
5.) Reading
a book is so old fashioned these days! And i am not so keen on it as it is tough to multi task
while reading a book, knitting or playing a game is quite tough while you need
to hold the book to read it. But if you are happy to do just one thing at the
time, book may be your thing. Just make sure it’s an engaging and interesting
one. Btw something funny to ready while flying is a book called “Air Babylon” –
really funny book about the world of commercial aircrafts (rather people in them).
6.) If
you are one of those super social people then you may find it entertaining to
talk with your neighbour in the plane, I am sure time will fly if you actually
like that kind of stuff – me being a Finn - that sounds quite horrifying to have
to speak for a total stranger throughout the flight. But I know there are people
who actually like that, just make sure that your neighbour is also into talking
– not just saying “yes” or “no” or “uhuh” while you keep talking about whatever
you find interesting, as that means that they are not interested on you or engaging into a conversation but just want to enjoy their ME-time in the plane.
7.) One
option is to bring your inner artist out and start drawing, taken that you have
your sketchbook and pen with you, or taking artistic photos with your phone and
Photoshop / Instagram them. ..while writing the previous sentence, I just
thought of an absolutely new business idea; portrait photography inside the
plane, I am sure you would spend a lot of time photographing all of your fellow
passengers, then using the Photoshop app in your phone (also works offline) and
after flight sending the pics to the people. I am afraid though that the
airline and the people in the plane might not necessary like it, so be very
diplomatic and super-duper friendly – and you MAY pull it off.
8.) You
could also practice another art, writing. There're not enough poets whose muse is an
airplane and people inside! “Flying is fun, with the sun. Holidays are too, and
the cow says moo.” .. Yea, not my forte.
9.) Working
is one of the most boring options, but sometimes you have to do that too in a
plane. So boring that not much to say about it either.
10.)
Shopping is quite limited on the plane, but it
is possible. I always gaze through the on-board shopping catalogue while waiting
for the take off, and sometimes end up buying from it. However, if you are very
bored in the plane, you can spend some time with the flight attendant when they
come down to your isle with their shop-trolley. There are plenty of products
there that you can ask to see and ask questions about the products, also you
can ask how many points they will accumulate to your frequent flier card.
In four days I’ll lfy again.. let’s
see what I’ll do there to keep myself entertained ;)
