Ask HN: What do you do on flights? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you do on flights?

5 pointsjairuhme9 comments

I have a few longer flights this year (4+ hours and 8+ hours) and was curious how everyone spends their time on the flight? I have usually just read or listened to podcasts, occasionally try to sleep.

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A combination of work play and rest depending on need. The effect of altitude on palete is remarkable: I don't drink bloody mary much, but enough to know it really does taste different at height. And food does, I am sure.

I know I am much more emotionally vulnerable on flights, I cry at the movies, often at the most ridiculous moments: Always been a snuffler for Charlie Chaplin poverty bathos but now, one glance from an actor can get the tears running. Crying at Stewart Little. Or Luke.. I am your father. Or Stewie and Peter having a hug. Insane!

I take frequent toilet breaks. I drink a lot of water all the time. It annoys the living bejesus out of everyone but there isn't much I can do about that and having had Kidney stones on an extended overseas trip I never want to go there again.

Kindles are gold. Better than movies mostly, If you can sleep with headphones on or in, then a kindle and gentle music can work wonders. I've slept through 5 CDs of Vladamir Ashkenazy playing chopin before now (actually, copied to minidisc)

But in the end, there's always Temazepam. 10mg. Some people say Melatonin works for them but my partner had horrid florid nightmares and restless legs. You don't need that on a plane.

Avoid over drinking the booze. And, don't be stupid. The crew have a job to do, and it doesn't include being chatted up, or dealing with your feet intruding through a seat on somebody elses space.

(used to do 10 a year, long haul/international, worldwide for 20 years)

Back when I flew more often (I've since quit altogether, because nothing I do needs teleportation and because I feel like I've used enough jet fuel thus far), including some round the world trips, I would sleep, read a book (this was before phones and ereaders), get up and walk around, look out the window, daydream, maybe watch a movie (or just start one, or effectively watch most of one playing in a seat ahead), maybe chat with a seatmate. I like the act of mass transit, in part because it's so final; if I forgot to turn in a term paper, oh well! Can't be helped, I'm on a plane now, just relax.

I take long international flights. Just took one that was 15 hours for a single flight. If I get the first class seat where it lays flat then I usually sleep. Often I can't afford that and I can't sleep in tiny seats because I'm over 6 ft tall. I watch movies and play my steam deck. Usually both at the same time. As soon as I board I usually look at the movie selection and pick out the ones I want to watch and in what order and then I use that to gauge the time of the flight until landing.

I read arvix papers and all the other tabs I have open that I've been meaning to read). These days, that means I need to purchase WiFi unless I take time to specifically download PDFs. (Because <gesturing vaguely around at the complexity of our current web stack from top to bottom>.) But it's a kind of work+pleasure that is usually a little more flight-compatible for me than, say, writing code or in-depth text.

I'm on a flight right now. So I guess I also read HN on flights. :-)

I have a difficult time relaxing on flights, so it's hard for me to sleep. However, I just flew around the world and had a few flights that were over 8 hours. Watching movies and writing relaxes me, so I combined the two activities.

I watched some of my favorite movies and would pause the movie after a good scene and reflect on it. It was a fun journal activity. When I returned home, I published some of the journal entires as blog posts.

I've had 13 hour flights. Unbearable!

By the time I got to my destination the first time, I had a severely thorough understanding of Lisp macros. There isn't much else to do, other than look out the window at clouds and ocean, or darkness as the time of day dictates. So I use it to learn things I otherwise "don't have the time for" but genuinely am interested in.

Sleep.

I tend to fast before any flight. This helps me to sleep easily, and also avoid having to eat on the plane. These are helpful as I have some medical issues which make travel complex.

A fun challenge - try and do nothing.

I did it on the way to Singapore and it was, eventually, bliss. No music, no book, no film, nothing. I just sat.

Read a book

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