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Bored on a plane? Here's 17 things that’ll get you through a 17 hour+ flight

Hell, for some, can be defined as enduring hours upon hours inside an aluminium flying device where their economy seat is so cosy their arms lay cramped up by their waists and their knees rested against the seat in front.

Hell, for some, can be defined as enduring hours upon hours inside an aluminium flying device where their economy seat is so cosy their arms lay cramped up by their waists and their knees rested against the seat in front.

Although the overall purpose of a 17-hour+ flight is exciting, the actuality of it can be exhausting, uncomfortable and ABSOLUTELY boring (how many movies can one possible watch between forced naps?).

What’s worse, but also incredible, is that flights are getting longer as airlines focus on bringing the world closer together.

For example (and you knew this one was coming), there’s Qantas’ groundbreaking non-stop service from Perth to London, which runs for 17 hours, AND that’s not even the world’s longest flight! Qatar Airways owns that title with its 18-hour New Zealand to Doha flights.

18 hours! Did your chest tighten at the thought? Don’t worry ours did too until we realised that these flying devices are actually a playground of activities. Here are 17 things that’ll get you through your next 17-hour+ flight:

 

1. Write an in-flight memoir

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The name is ‘Confessions of a 17-hour passenger’ and it opens with: “In the first hour, I watched a woman struggling to recline her seat. I could have shown her how to do it, but this was much more enjoyable”.

 

2. Play eye-spy

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Preferably with a friend but if you have the ability to hide things from half your brain, then go ahead and try playing it on your own.

 

3. Match-make other passengers

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Warning: don’t actually unite the pair in person, just do it in your head – you’ll be a mad creeper if you try match-making complete strangers (or you might be the reason two people find love, hmmm torn between being psycho or Cupid).

 

4. Re-create the ‘Worst Idea of All Time’ podcast

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If you don’t know it, you’re missing out.

Friends watch the same movie every week for an entire year. After each viewing, they pick out the things they liked and the things they didn’t. It gets harder and harder each time and their answers become more and more hilarious!

Before the flight, download a season of the podcast and the movie they’re discussing, watch the movie during the first couple of hours in the air and then spend the rest of the flight laughing along to the podcast.

Listen to the podcast: www.worstideaofalltime.com

 

5. Walk 1,000+ laps of the plane

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Yes, be THAT person and see who notices you most. Also, it’s a great way to keep moving during the flight.

 

6. Take the world’s longest poo at 35,000-feet

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And suppress your laughter when making eye contact with everyone as you emerge from the lavatory.

 

7. Make 250+ new friends

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People act like they don’t want to socialise in the sky, and they probably don’t, BUT you could be that one person that dares themselves to talk to every single passenger onboard and get a selfie with each one – can you do it?

 

8. Hold your own Yoga session in the galley

LOL be THAT person!

 

9. Watch eight Star Wars or Harry Potter films

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OR see Crocodile Dundee 10 times.

 

10. Use the in-seat chat system

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Have you ever tried chatting with a random via the in-flight chat system?

TRY IT and then let us know if you end up in a mile-high situation.

 

11. Learn a new language

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Then find a passenger to test it out on (preferably a hot one). Seriously though, you’ll be practically fluent after 17 hours.

 

12. How many bottles of water is too many?

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See how many times you can ask for water before staff actually give you a bottle.

 

13. Hold a paper plane competition for the entire cabin

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Not sure where you’ll find enough paper for everyone (maybe the inflight magazines?) or how you’ll get everyone involved, but it’d be SO MUCH FUN.

 

14. Passenger shame

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Take sneaky shots of anyone breaking the loose ‘acceptable’ code of conduct.

 

15. Try & convince fellow passengers to speed-date with you

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Set up an in-flight speed dating session where single passengers (or people with ‘it’s complicated’ FB status’) swop seats and get 15 minutes to impress a new friend.

 

16. Stage a ‘guess where we are’ comp

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One person studies the flight map and the others have to guess the country currently being flown over. Could be boring for the first six hours out of Australia…

 

17. And finally, start a Chinese Whisper

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Make up a story, hang in the galley for hours and tell everyone who comes in the same story. See how fast it gets around the plane and when someone tells it back to you.

READ: How Qantas made a 17-hour flight to London bearable for Economy pax

READ: The world’s longest flight is off

What would you recommend to keep entertained during a 17-hour flight?