Long Haul flights - groan!

faceman

Well im off tomorrow on an 11 hour flight to the far east with Air France (Aarrrgh no boards for a day!!!)

According to air france, im flying one of those fancy 777-300ER planes which apparantely have loads of leg room and a great in flight entertainment system. In sure reality will differ

I hate long haul flights. I can rarely sleep on a plane and i find the only way to make the time to pass is to sleep.

So im looking for suggestions on what to do, or how to relax. I'll have a fully charged ipod and iphone with me but there is only so many movies i can watch for 11 hours on a small screen cramped in a chair.

any suggestions or survival guides?

kaimera

etch-a-sketch

decent book

psp/ds

Sleeping pills

jameshayes

You could try figure out how to wire your ipod to the planes electronics to maintain it's charge, that could take a few hours..

spinandscribble

draw the clouds you see.
write your autobiography.
try to solve all of the worlds problems.
keep the airhostesses busy during meal time. you 'need' extra butter for the excuse of a roll.
introduct yourself to other passengers on board.
draw these passengers to unnerve them.
see how much water your body can handle.
count your freckles.
question why you dont have as many freckles as the person beside you.
question why you have more freckles then the person on your other side does.

these are examples of what i've done on flights. by the time i've done most of these i sleep like a baby.

c - 13

On my last flight (8 hours) -
Ipod
PSP (W/ Loco Roco and Breath of Fire 3 UMDs)
2 Books
1 or two hours doze

Trampas

I did 13 hours last year and watched a few films.

Walked around every so often.

It was the middle of the night so 75% of people where a sleep.

I did a short hop flight 4 hours to get on the 13 hour flight with a 2 hour stopover. Took off from Taiwan and flying to Frankfurt it decided to fly by South Korea and around the top of Russia and I was like if we crash we are in the middle of nowhere. Fly nearly 2 hours the wrong way. It was mad.

You can always look at the map of world to see where you are in the world. They had a camera underneath the plane also you could at the clouds below.

A good book is what you need

blah

I'm flying to LA in 2 weeks (yay)
Flight's at 10 in the morning so I intend on staying up all night beforehand playing GTA
Also I'm going to bring foam earplugs to block out the engine noise, i've never tried that before. As well as that, i'll try a book, a magazine and the IFE.
I suppose you could get something like travel scrabble/monopoly/connect4 and play with the person next to you.

random_banter

I feel your pain OP. Flying back from LA last year nearly drove me mad. I brought a DS with a few games, a book, magazines, Ipod, .. and I lost all interest in any of these activities as soon as I boarded the plane.

If theres a good entertainment system you could watch a couple of movies to pass the time.

I usually end up staring out the window for hours on end.. however I start to go pretty mental about halfway through a longhaul flight.

Earplugs will defo help you with attempting to sleep. You could also try some sleeping pills and staying up all night the night before so youre really tired.

Also, I always find that the meals somehow help to break up a long haul flight.

Ruu_Old

Hopefully there will be some sort of entertainment, if not then MP3 player, laptop dvd (if you have one) and make sure to walk around plenty. Get a nice, comfy neck pillow so your neck won't be stiff if you fall asleep.

what2do

Two glasses of red wine always send me to sleep!

ibh

Print off a copy of the Lisbon treaty and read it on the plane.
Guarantee you will have a nice peaceful sleep..

I always bring lots of books. Watch any good films that are available and spend the rest of the time reading.

cson

Value pack colouring book.

Lil' Smiler

Join the Mile High Club



... oh come on, you know you were thinking it :P

vorbis

I took a 777 from Boston to London a month ago. The inflight entertainment is decent enough, you have your own screen and (speaking about AA now), there was a good few movies to watch. Legroom did feel better than with Aer Lingus.

Hawk Wing

get drunk and fall asleep always works for me

The Artist

Get your favourite popstar to sing away all through the flight,id love to get Eminem!:D
As for the long haul flights i could not hack it as id be cold turkey from fags.A smoking area on the plane would be bliss for me with a pint.:cool:

Gran Hermano

Have a read of this thread.
and this thread

I've found inflight service with Air France to be lacking at times.
Might be worth stacking up on snacks/water in the airport once
you're air-side and before you board the plane. Nothing worse
than finding yourself mid-flight and dying for something and not a
trolley-dolly in sight.


As for smoking related pangs, that's what nicorette patches were invented for
Whilst they don't cure the cravings the help take the edge off the air rage.

Sherifu

Sudoku.

Pythia

My flight to Egypt was 5.30 hours and I spent about 5 of them watching the map on the screen above to see where the plane was. It was entrancing.

Sundy

Pythia wrote: »

My flight to Egypt was 5.30 hours and I spent about 5 of them watching the map on the screen above to see where the plane was. It was entrancing.

The other half hour in the toilet?

Oilrig

No easy answer to this, complement the ipod with a decent book or two. Get up & walk around every few hours. I'd avoid the drink TBH. Try get a window seat so you're not disturbed & have something to lean on should you snooze.

777 is a pretty airy cabin. Enjoy the trip.

faceman

thanks to all for the comments, made me smile

i bought a DS today to tie me over. I get anxious on long haul and done sleep so i like to keep occupied. Ive always had some great noise cancelled headphones too.

If i dont post again, it means the plane crashed!! :eek:

The Artist

quote=faceman;55882322
If i dont post again, it means the plane crashed!! :eek:

jesus dont say that faceman!
Enjoy the flight and see you soon.

Ruu_Old

Pythia wrote: »

My flight to Egypt was 5.30 hours and I spent about 5 of them watching the map on the screen above to see where the plane was. It was entrancing.

Those are cool, sometimes they have the plane speed, temperature outside(brr), altitude, etc.

Miss Fluff

Whenever I fly longhaul I eat the first meal/snack and take a sleeping tablet, knocks me out for about 7 hours and it helps beat jetlag on the other side.

faceman

i hope i can access boards in china!!

The Artist

faceman wrote: »

i hope i can access boards in china!!

youd have to learn chinese!

faceman

davey180 wrote: »

youd have to learn chinese!

sad as it sounds, i downloaded a thingie for my iphone that allows me to draw the symbol and it translates it into english

and yes, after a few drinks i drew a picture of a willy and then some boobies.

The closest match to my pic of a willy was the word "almost" or "small table"

The boobies transalated into a black crowe.

Hours of fun, i swear!!!

The Artist

faceman wrote: »

sad as it sounds, i downloaded a thingie for my iphone that allows me to draw the symbol and it translates it into english

and yes, after a few drinks i drew a picture of a willy and then some boobies.

The closest match to my pic of a willy was the word "almost" or "small table"

The boobies transalated into a black crowe.

Hours of fun, i swear!!!

lol

Crumble Froo

Ruu wrote: »

Those are cool, sometimes they have the plane speed, temperature outside(brr), altitude, etc.

ooh, and the time and temperature where you left, and the time and temperature where you're going.

and yeah, davey, i accessed boards.ie and mymeteor.ie from hong kong airport. fuppin expensive though. specially after it being free in sydney.

keefg

This is always a great game to play on a long haul flight........fun* for all the crew and fellow passengers alike!

Shatner is king

Warning...such *fun may result in the aircraft being grounded and you being taken away by men in white coats

Sherifu

Shatner. Classic.

faceman

Well i managed to survive the ordeal of an 11 hour flight. Despite my initial expectations, it was quite a pleasant flight. Leg room was an expected but manageable until the person in the seat in front moved theirs back!

The in flight entertainment was great, the 777-300 are big buses with high ceilings!

I survived on my DS and ipod without resorting to watching The Bucket list or PS. I love you. My integrity remains!

Crumble Froo

nice one! doing the distance between ireland and new zealand 5 times in one year, by the last one, i was ****ing sick of superbad, ratatouille, and spent the entire two days listening to my mp3, playing solitaire (half the fun on the plane is the fact that the tray *just* fits seven cards across), and watching donald duck and hairspray on silent while listening to my mp3. i laughed at donald duck every time.

they also have a pretty cool 'bricks' type game... y'no... you have a load of bricks at the top of the screen, and a pingpong ball you have to keep up with a little line at the bottom of the screen. i has a high score on that on three different planes.

Rabies

I'm in the same boat as you Crumble. Long haul flights can be a pain.

I recently came back to Ireland, flew Auckland - Brisbane - Singapore - Dubai - Birmingham - Dublin.

Monster trip, but it was worth it to surpirse my mam.

Leave for Auckland on Wedneday, flying Dublin - London - Singapore - Auckland.

At this stage I must have flown around the world 4-5 times in the past 2 years.
Now I wish if I was a member of One World or what ever else is there to clock up the air miles

blow69

Im saving my last 2 Rohypnol for my 8 hour flight to Chicago at the start of next month.
Didnt really work when I had Insomnia but now........:D

And hopefully ill be sitting next to my friends.And if im not, im sure someone wouldn't mind switching to accommodate us, right?

Crumble Froo

yowch, rabies, that trip home looks monster alright! :eek:

though the one back is the same as my last one, except that after that epic journey, i was finally in new zealand... but had to wait another 6hours before i got to chch... that's just cruel, really. and the ho at air new zealand made me pay for the excess weight, even though the lovely ladies at aer lingus just waved me through on the free.

Oilrig

"Whenever I fly longhaul I eat the first meal/snack and take a sleeping tablet, knocks me out for about 7 hours and it helps beat jetlag on the other side."

Tried that once, Tylenol... flying Honolulu - Los Angelos - New York - Dublin.

Plan was that if I could sleep from HON to LAX it would sort out the jet lag once I got home... bad mistake. Wide awake to LAX, then fell into a stupor, took weeks to get over it - never again!

Miss Fluff

Erm tylenol is a pain killer though:cool:

Miss Fluff

Rabies wrote: »

I'm in the same boat as you Crumble. Long haul flights can be a pain.

I recently came back to Ireland, flew Auckland - Brisbane - Singapore - Dubai - Birmingham - Dublin.

Monster trip, but it was worth it to surpirse my mam.

Leave for Auckland on Wedneday, flying Dublin - London - Singapore - Auckland.

At this stage I must have flown around the world 4-5 times in the past 2 years.
Now I wish if I was a member of One World or what ever else is there to clock up the air miles

You can still claim any miles flown over the last three months as long as you hang on to your ticket stubs. Try www.asiamiles.com or just go on to your carriers main website to see how you go about it.

Crumble Froo

godammit! why didnt i know that before! like i said... done that trip (or thereabouts) 5 times in the space of one year! gah.

spurious

blow69 wrote: »

And hopefully ill be sitting next to my friends.And if im not, im sure someone wouldn't mind switching to accommodate us, right?

Check-in with your friends, or just after them and ask to sit hext to them.

elmolesto

Hawk Wing wrote: »

get drunk and fall asleep always works for me

+1

Don't sleep the night before, get hammered drunk. Get a bottle in the duty free, just to be sure:pac:

I'm usually asleep before takeoff.

When you arrive you will suffer from hangover but not jetlag:D

Crumble Froo

yeah, but low air density (or whatever), plus recycled air, plus alcohol... just a crazy crazy thirst while it goes to your head waaay too fast.

that, and quite a lot of people tend to snore while drunk.