We (well, some of us) have all been there. International travel can be the biggest pain in the butt (no pun intended) due to restlessness and boredom, and it's no comfortable position (yet again, no pun intended) to be in for long periods of time. Thinking back to my flight home a couple weeks ago and in anticipation of my flight back to school, I thought of some fun things you could do on a plane when boredom strikes.
1. Strike up conversation with your seat partners (best not to bring up anything awkward, otherwise you'd be stuck sitting next to them for the rest of the flight).
2. Watch every single in-flight movie and TV show offered on the plane, even the really bizarre selection of documentaries they for some reason always have.
3. Challenge passenger 43B to a game of in-flight trivia.
4. Keep challenging other passengers until you triumphantly win against one of them.
5. Nonchalantly walk past the passenger you just beat. Give them your fiercest side-eye.
6. Run some laps around the cabin (when the seatbelt signs are off, of course).
7. Try to figure out the different languages you can hear while walking around the plane. How many people can you make eye contact with that were watching an inappropriate scene? How many screaming children are there? How many parents look like they're about to open the emergency exit and free fall down to whatever's below? Make it a game.
8. If your carry-on luggage has wheels, ride it down the aisles.
9. Start a yoga group at the back of the plane (remember to do your sun salutations towards the rising sun!)
10. Play a game where you have to pick out the thing you would rather buy on every page (you have to do it EVEN if there is nothing you want aka basically everything is ugly) from the sky shop magazine in the seat pocket in front of you.
11. Proceed to cry at how ridiculously expensive and undeniably useless they may be.
12. Try to get some work/assignments done on your laptop.
13. Proceed to cry again because of how impossible it is to stay still in your exceptionally cramped seat (yours truly has actually written papers and articles and turned them in on a plane).
14. Convince the cabin crew to do a toilet paper race.
15. Try and see if you can find people in the heat of an argument, then live tweet it as it happens (note: must have in-flight Wi-Fi for this).
16. Skype your friends (must also have in-flight Wi-Fi for this).
17. Rap to the beat the ungodly child in the seat behind you is kicking the back of your seat in. Record your new fire mix-tape. Give them to stewardesses to pass out to passengers with their in-flight meals.
18. Proceed to cry yet again at how horrible your in-flight meals are.
19. Draw on your air-sick baggie.
20. Try to start the ~wave~ with your fellow passengers.
21. Ask if they have coloring books and colored pencils. Snatch them up before the same child who is kicking your seat asks for them.
22. If your neighbor is reading a book, ask them for some recommendations. You might be surprised at what you might learn or like from them.
23. Play a round of truth or dare with surrounding passengers.
24. Might as well turn the entire plane into a huge sleepover party (I mean, that is what it essentially is...)
25. Get together the cast of The Lion King to entertain you.
26. Or have your Lion King squad battle the Aladdin squad at your gate when you've been delayed for 6 hours.
27. Or just whip out your violins and cellos, kids!
28. Cry because you just want to see things to scale and stand on firm ground again.
29. Go to sleep.
30. And always, always ask for ice cream.