In the past I've pre-downloaded and read PDF's of topics that interest me, watched films, done programming challenges, connected to the super-slow in flight wifi and tried to work. What do you do?
It is truly one of my most enjoyable guilty pleasures.
I prefer to watch Netflix offline. Although Altered Carbon had me cradling my iPad mini so my fellow passenger couldn’t see all of the erotic scenes.
I’m wondering what the legality of the situation above is.
1. On 8-12hour flights there is a zone of about 2 hours, where the mind is clutter free. I usually use this time (use paints a intent, but usually this auto-flow) to contemplate about things that need sorting in life, and write it down. On re-read it has a texture that is different than how I think when I am on ground.
2. Since I do not have time to recuperate from jet lag (I work on both ends of the flight), one recent habit that has helped me is starvation in-flight (I drink lots of water). Some of my flights are 15-hours non-stop. Same rule. I find this to have helped my jet lag the most. There is some evidence this works for others too (1). Since my company flies me business, it is tempting to say know when the cheese and dessert cart rolls in, but I would rather skip it than suffer a few days of being a zombie :)
(1) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brain-clock/skip-the-pret...
I usually find anything that involves too much thinking pretty hard on a plane; instead, watch movies, read, or listen to some music - really listen to it - undistracted by the other things that often relegate it to background noise (hopefully you have some good noise cancelling/isolating headphones)
1) Fly in a couple days early where possible. Sightsee or work remotely before you hit the meetings etc you're over for.
2) If you have to hit the ground running, sleeping tablets. I use short action ones so it gives 4hrs sleep (and usually more naturally once you are asleep) which is a game changer for my brain function getting a >3hr which can happen without. Obviously speak with your Dr etc. And probably not best if your a frequent traveler.
Other than that, Sleep or Read. I've a ton of books on my Kindle to read.
And when not sleeping, I try and get up and walk around. It's quite nice to hang around either at the bar, or at the back of the plane if in economy.
My trick for sleeping though, is to plug in and listen to Orbital on my shuffle. Works really well.
If you score business class, then it’s easier to just sleep and even get some work done.
The ideal situation for these long hauls for me is to leave the evening local time - sleep a fair bit of the flights (maybe half at least) but then you still arrive tired enough in the afternoon-evening of the destination time that you can sleep most of the night. That seems to work the best for timezone reset for me.
If you arrive at your destination in the morning to early afternoon - leave the hotel and walk around preferably outdoors in the Sun as much as possible until at least about 5PM preferably 7PM. If you didn't sleep much (or even if you did) and you have a bed nearby there's a good chance you'll end up sleeping until about midnight and then you're double jetlagged :)
Got in around dawn; walked around until about 4pm; fast asleep by 6; woke naturally around 8am. Slept 10 hours again the second night, but was comfortably on local time for the rest of the trip.
I also like to watch movies or TV on the little entertainment center (which, 90% of the time, is running some version of Linux -- I know this because of all the crashes I see) or play video or cellphone games.
Also, I recently learned about and used melatonin for sleep aid and found it very effective at getting me to sleep when I am not tired. I plan on bringing some for some flights in the near future to help me sleep through them.
If it is a daytime flight: I just watch movies, read books, and play games. Make sure to plan out battery requirements for your devices.
Note, the few work related flights I have done I was not expected to program or anything during that time I was commuting so I just tried to make it as painless as possible using the processes previously mentioned which I do for all personal flights.
The opportunity for this perspective is worth more to me than anything else I might do.
It helps to have had some earth science and geology and to have some sense of geography -- to think about what I'm seeing.
Then, there is the magical feeling of soaring and that perspective -- also on the nature of modern flight.
Also I found podcasts / audiobooks better than reading on long flights.
I like to try and sleep as much as possible.
One thing I’ve learned recently is the business class lounges are really nice for long layovers. Consider paying for a lounge pass even if you are not flying business class is you have a long layover.
Trying to be productive and do work on a plane doesn't work for me.
1) Tackle a difficult problem in my mind or on paper. 2) Sleep 3) Read a book.
Get a window seat and listen to beautiful music while looking at the clouds from above.
Sometimes listen to audiobooks or lectures through sound isolating earbuds.
But mostly, try to rest.