How to Make a Non Decadent Flight Enjoyable

I recently took a flight to a conference The flight was not decadent since it was an airline that my company works with and its seating arrangements were unusual to me (not preassigned seats). But react, adjust and adapt. So while on the flight, I decided to write a blog entry about tips that I found helpful for flying.

I can never sleep on a flight. Yes, I have dozed off a few times on extremely long flights (e.g, Europe or further). So since I can never sleep on a flight, it’s critical to be well prepared and provide a variety of activities for myself during the flight. Here are some tips I found helpful; some pertaining to better planning for next time. Since I don’t sleep, these are critical for my sanity.

Create

Blog , write, or create something. Writing not only reduces stress while riding in the sky but it also helps renew passions. What better time to blog than when there is not much else you can do.

I would have also worked with some of my photos but since the seats are too close, I didn’t feel like browsing through all my albums.

Wifi-Connect to the World

Although you don’t necessarily need wifi to create, it’s a handly feature.

Check periodically to see if magical wifi appears; hope while flying is crucial in many aspects. Wifi on the way to my destination did show up as a choice, but it didn’t work.

Then, on the way back, I realized I can buy wifi. I wasn’t listening much en route to the destination. They said I need to refer to some magazine about how to connect to wifi. I did pay attention on the way back, so I was able to follow the steps to pay and connect.

Wifi of course is not full wifi (at least on this flight). It is sufficient for social media and surfing the internet, but not watching HBO Go, Netflix, Amazon Prime or other streaming services. The Airline had some channel that you could stream some limited choices from. Since I’ve flown, Netflix now enables movie downloading, so planning here goes a long way. Download some movies or shows

Also, wifi downloading was device specific. Choose your device wisely. I enabled wifi on my iPad and then realized that I didn’t enable WhatsApp (to communicate with non Apple users) on my iPad yet. So that didn’t work too well. Plus the iPad version of WhatsApp doesn’t enable video, just chat. So for this reason, it’s probably best to enable wifi on your iPhone or mobile device. Either way, the wifi was worth it. It’s also nice for tracking your flight and letting friends and family know how your flight is going (on time, early, etc.).

Music

Listen to Music -iTunes….this is a no brainer. Listen to your music, watch a video on your iTunes so not only will this cut out the airplane noise but also some conversations that you may not be interested in. In my case, two retired gentleman were talking loud. While it was not annoying like some kid screaming and crying, having four hours of time with no demands, I wanted to hear myself think instead.

Another tip, even with wifi, if your iTunes song is in the cloud, good luck listening to it. It didn’t work consistently for the most part. So it’s best to make a playlist and ensure that the music is on your device. Spotify of course didn’t stream on the limited plan wifi.

Here were some songs I didn’t hear for a while but happened to be on my iPhone, not in the cloud.

This song I haven’t heard in years, and it reminded me of the decadence of some older Bond movies. Times where intercontinental flying was an elegant experience.

And again to conjure up images of decadence, think of Diamond Life where the Smooth Operator moves in space with minimum waste and maximum joy.

And of course for some Contemporary Decadence, Savvy J

Also, if you fly frequently, use some noise cancelling headphones. On the way back, I switched a lot between wifi, iTunes and so forth. Although this time I had window seat vs. middle seat, the guy int he middle snored non stop. Yes, I know worse things can happen (negative externalities that you cannot avoid or dull with earphone), if I flew more often, I would invest in some noise cancelling earphones.

Recharge

There are multiple ways to do this. If your laptop is already open, use it to recharge your iPhone. Save the battery recharger for times when the laptop is closed. Battery life is still a challenge for mobile devices. So recharge on your laptop when you can. The flight I took was not a transcontinental flight so my MacBook Pro didn’t need to be recharged.

Other Activities

Use iPhone Facial Recognition to browse photos – picked some loved ones faces and browsed photos. Brought back good memories and realized how deeply bonded you are with some. If you have children you see how fast they change in a couple years.

Other

Go the restroom when the person sitting in the isle seat goes. Some do sleep on the plane, and since they are already awake, may as well.

And take photos for your blog. You never know what to use. You can also use unique photos for your social media accounts and be reminded of your flight.

Here are just a few I took: