Long Flights ... iPod 'em!
If you want to see the world or need to travel for business you know that long, boring and uncomfortable flights are a matter of necessity. How do you keep from getting restless and agitated ... that caged-lion feeling? Let’s face it, tapping your feet back and forth like they show in airplane videos may be good for circulation at high altitude but without some good music, it’s a bad joke.
Unlike some lucky travelers, I have never been able to sleep well (if at all) in a sitting position. The nasty nature of most airplane accommodations, with barely enough leg room for even a small person and seats that seem to push your head forward, compound the problem of being comfortable. My best hope to avoid becoming an aisle stalker is to be prepared and keep as busy as possible.
In the past I have loaded every possible distraction and comfort device I could think of into a bulging backpack and computer bag. Two or three books, a few magazines, laptop and spare battery, travel sized games, a bean-bag neck pillow, and snacks galore. The first problem of having this menagerie arises upon boarding. Which things go up into the overhead and which go into the foot space? If I’m not on the aisle, whoever is will be burdened by any bad initial selection. Regardless, I now have enough leg room to suit a Basset Hound ... not the whole hound either.
Eating snacks to pass the time while sitting for hours just makes for a sore tummy. Add to that an airline meal, and you may have a real stomach ache to deal with. We all know that no sane person eats that stuff for any reason besides killing some time.
It never hurts to travel light! Security requirements are constantly changing to respond to every new potential threat. Sometimes the restrictions are ludicrous such as an eye-glass screw driver or “oversize” deodorants current being considered contraband. Whatever the prevailing details we need to cut the security folks some slack because they have a serious task. We also need to be smart about how we prepare for travel because nobody wants to be on the spot at the security desk. An iPod packs a lot of diverse entertainment into a small gadget.
A few years ago my wife gave me an iPod as a holiday present. I do love gadgets and music. But I first found that the iPod was best suited to skiing (highly recommended). Having a rugged pocket-sized music player that didn’t skip as I bounced my way down the mountain was great. I have been skiing with music gadgets since the 1970's. The early tape players were like lugging a hardbound copy of War and Peace. The iPod was and still is perfect for skiing and many other activities. But I am no longer in my twenties and find it hard to be entertained by music alone for hours on end. Thus, while the iPod was in my travel bag of gadgets it was not used enough to run down the battery.
Then came Podcasting and Audio Books! Trust me, iPods are definitely wasted on the young! If you are over 30 and think that an iPod is just another gizmo you hear your kids demanding, think again. Buy your kids the much cheaper Shuffle iPod and get yourself one of the better models. I enjoy Ira Flatow’s “Science Friday” on NPR but could never listen during the Friday afternoon broadcast time. Now I load up my iPod with all of the shows I’ve missed from the iTunes Store (these are currently still free downloads) and have many hours of interesting talk radio to catch up on while traveling.
The availability of audio books for download to an iPod is also great for traveling because one of two things will happen. Either you’ll become interested and time will fly by or you’ll fall asleep. Both are successful options for long flights. Of course this can also be of great value on a long car ride short of the sleeping part. The current top-of-the-line-iPods are also capable of playing movies and even previewing your digital photos on the way home. My older iPod still has some useful life to it but for no greater cost than my model was a few years ago, having the option of video is certainly a great added value.
With a little advance planning to load up an iPod for travel distraction, you will find that some of your foot space can be reclaimed and the flight time passes much more swiftly.
