to be bored on a long journey...

[redeyes1]

(posting here for traffic really as I don't think IABU.)

I have a long haul flight next week and I find these excruciatingly boring. I know I'm lucky as it is preceding a lovely holiday, but I'm flying alone and when I've done this before I arrive feeling exhausted. I think it is because I pretty much do nothing for 7 hours apart from flick through photos on phone and try to read/watch a film. (a day flight and I won't sleep at all).

I'm trying to think of a 'project' I can do whilst onboard that will keep my brain occupied and keep me alert. I can take a laptop but obviously won't have wifi.

I've just done my tax return otherwise that could have been a good thing to do :)

Would love any ideas of projects or things I can do. Am happy to break journey down, eg 1.5 hours watching a film, 1-2 hours reading, etc. It is a 7 hour flight.

Thank you so much for any ideas that might help me arrive less groggy and more alert.

Swap you!
I fly tomorrow. With kids. My iteniary is looking like:
Jump in taxi 3 hrs after kids bedtime (ie my bedtime).
Fight through a queue of hideousity to check in, with 2 small people wanting to be carried (they may be small, but they are too big for that).
Go through passport queue - usually an hour of more queuing in satan like heat.
Collapse at gate (it will be gate 23 or 24, I'm guessing, which have no toilets).
Herd 2 kids who have just dropped off onto a plane, at which point the big one will wake up, and I'll spend the next 8 hrs telling him to switch off the films, and sleep.
Get macdonalds breakfast at European hub.
Get on next flight absolutely shattered. Unlimited films for kids, while I pass out in 10 min blocks, because there will be food, drinks, headphone issues, toilet trips.
And, land mid morning, with a full day of grumpy tired kids, with even grumpier Mummy.

Seriously: film, eat, read, eat, film. Maybe an afternoon doze.
Sounds like bliss!

FreudianSlipSlide fuck off did you do yoga in a plane. Utter nonsense.
I love a long flight, all that time to do sweet fuck all before the hectic holiday. I read, watch a film, drink some beer/wine, sleep, look after child etc. for me it's the calm before the storm. What I hate is the airport bit before. The stupid scanners, shoe removal, liquid declaration urgh....I detest it.

Having just done a 9 hour flight, if anyone had been doing yoga by the emergency exit they would have been trampled by the unending queue of people waiting for the loo (probably because some twat was in there using up all their best beauty products)

Ugh, the yoga person, there's always one. We always sit in the emergency row due to very longlegged husband. We are not fans of the obligatory lady-doing-the-splits! have to do regular OZ - UK flights. Delay of several hours at Doha is a special level of hell. Find it hard to imagine 7 hours being so hard!

I like listening to audiobooks on flights, easier than wrangling books and reading glasses though I did read most of a novel last weekend on a 4 1/2 hour flight.

I think I’ve been on the same flight as Freudian a few years ago from New York.

We sat in the exit rows and a woman spent about an hour doing all kinds of yoga poses. It was so awkward - OP please don’t do this!

Valium? Xanex?
Or read I am Pilgrim. Totally gripping.

7 hours is 2 films, 4 G&Ts, a salty dinner, large bar of chocolate and a doze with a podcast.
Enjoy the luxury of doing nothing.

I'm surprised that knitting needeles would be allowed on board.

@Rununculusaretop you're my type of mumsnetter!

Well, watching the director's cuts of all three Lord of the Rings films back to back will take you just over eleven hours, so I'm afraid you don't have time for that. But two of them should be doable.

I would:
Download a number of episodes of a favourite series for comfort watching (I'm rewatching The Mentalist at the moment).
Download a series I haven't watched to see if I get into it (last long train journey I had, I downloaded North and South and loved it).
Take a new book plus a tried and tested old favourite.
Take some puzzles - sudoku or whatever floats your boat.

The time will just fly by - even without the yoga and face masks

Can anyone confirm you can take sewing needles on a plane? I fly long haul regularly and always check my cross stitch because I thought they weren't allowed. My next flight is sorted if they are.
Which airline are you on OP? Alot of them have Wifi now some free for a certain time where you pay for more, other you pay for any but it's often reasonably priced. That way you could do whatever you planned to do on laptop if it had wifi

Knitting needles can depend on the flight/security people. They say to put a lifeline in and not take your favourite needles in case they get confiscated.

I've taken wooden/plastic crochet hooks on. Tiny, really weak scissors to cut the yarn or you can buy a special yarn cutter from Clover.

(this may be out of date info, I haven't flown for a while).

Seven hours will fly by! It's really not that long.

I would do something like this:
While I have my pre-dinner drink flick through the films. I like to choose my viewing for the whole flight, usually starting with something newish that my husband wouldn't be interested in. I watched The Favourite on a recent flight.
Food will probably be served while that's on.
After that I tend to choose a classic that I have seen before (so I am not gripped to stay awake to see what happens next) and try to nap.
Then read/ puzzles/maybe a 30min episode of some comedy and you'll be coming in to land.

Generally you can take knitting needles and sewing needles on board, as well as small scissors.

^ I think it depends on the airline / country, Outtheforest. Just googled and seems to be OK in the US, but not elsewhere. Hard to find the info!

Regularly fly between NZ and UK.
I tend to read -and I love it. I find watching films too difficult but reading makes the time fly!
Also wear comfy clothes - there is a good recent thread.
Enjoy a glass (or 2) of wine.

I used to do quite a few, hanging around in the galley, making tea, chatting to stewards/desses and other forlorn passengers like myself. Once spent 2 hours talking with a couple from Oman, talking about East and West values

Don't worry, I would never talk to grumpy MNers. Only with people who initiate a convo

Also talked to a lady who asked if I'd "done" my cheeks (fillers? No just have naturally chubby cheeks) and what procedures she was planning.

Crikey, don't plan any trips to Australia so! 7 hours is a short jaunt by comparison!

True! We've not long done that journey. We tend to book overnight flights for long haul and generally sleep. On shorter flights eg 7 hours I am quite happy to read. I always wear ear plugs to cut out cabin noise.

Download all 4 series of My Dad Wrote a Porno and listen to that for an hour. It'll put you in a happy frame of mind! Then go to the toilet to stretch your legs.

Read a book for the next hour. Then have some food or a drink.

Next, watch a film. Toilet break.

So you're halfway.

Annother hour of podcast.
Play a game for an hour.
Food, toilet break
Read a magazine for half an hour.
Use the remaining time to sort out your bag, look out of the window, have a drink and get ready to land.

Have a great time!

I download a series on iPlayer and watch that on my iPad. You don’t need WiFi. Something light like Ghosts, Mum, fleabag, gavin and Stacy, line of duty, killing eve anything that’s a box series. Easy to watch on headphones and doesn’t need much concentration.

When I do a LH daytime flight I stay up the whole night before, so I can easily sleep a good 6 or 7 hours.

So something like
Monday: get up as normal
Monday night: stay up (I usually clean the house as I like to come home to it!)
Tuesday: fly.

I take logic and Hanjie puzzles. As well as a book and I always mean to write but usually end up watching a bunch of films and the flight map.

I'll download some episodes on Netflix too in case I don't fancy any of the films on board.

I’ve taken quite a few 12 hour flights and I find I can’t watch films as a 1.5 hr film feels long but takes up so little of the flight! I feel more frustrated and bored. I think it’s a psychological thing.

I have Netflix and there’s loads you can download in advance, so no need for the WiFi and I tend to have a few series on my iPad that I can just watch a few episodes of. I also read and do puzzle books. But mostly I also try to just sleep. I never really fall asleep properly but I do find I can sort of zone out and pass a few hours off and on that way. Even if you can just do that for an hour or so in between activities it does break things up.

Think I will pack a needle and some cheap thread cutters on my next flight and that way if they get taken it's not so bad