inside plane

Five Tips on How to Stay Productive on a Plane

5 Tips on How to Spend Time on a Plane Usefully

People travel across the world daily for different reasons. It could be for vacations, business meetings, conferences, tourism, functions, etc. Faster and more convenient, flights are a go-to means of transportation for many people. Whatever your daily schedule in life is, you should know that flight times is not what you would casually come by daily, hence, the need to maximize each time you get. Far distance flights can be quite exhausting and very boring at times. If you grab a number weekly or monthly, you must have activities you engage in to make the best of your flight’s hours.

There are tons of ‘on-air’ things you can engage in. A number of them are not particularly limited to age or type of interests. You might have to make adequate preparations for certain activities before you go onboard, and there are others that you can spontaneously decide on during your flight. Whichever option you resort to, what matters is that you spend your time on the plane as productively as you possibly could.

Can I Be Productive During a Flight?

If you have been searching for an answer to this question, you are reading the right post. To be candid, if you are one to travel a lot by air, you may lose track of your time a lot. You stop giving too much thought to how much time you spend in the air. However, if you would give yourself a minute or two to think about it, you would see that all these several hours put together do eat into the time you could have used for other productive things in life. This is why you cannot afford not to make your flight hours count! Let’s see how long sometimes it takes to travel by plane:

Flight RouteTimeDistance(KM)
New York to Singapore (Singapore Airlines)18hr 40m15,347
Auckland to Doha (Qatar Airline)18hr 05m14,525
Perth to London(Qantas Airways)17hr 45m14,499
Auckland to Dubai(Emirates)17hr 10m14,194
Los Angeles to Singapore17hr 50m14,096

Here are some reasons why you need to be productive on the plane:

  • Physical constraint: Other than needing to take a toilet break, you are physically confined to your seat while on the plane. Since this is the case, you already have a restricted workspace. This can help you to focus on a single task like completing a report, preparing a presentation, or doing some editing. You might not necessarily complete such a task before arriving at your destination, but you would at least make feasible progress.
  • Little or no internet connection: I think it is high time we appreciate ‘airplane modes’ more. When you travel by air, your internet is limited or sometimes totally unavailable. By implication, you are not distracted by calls, text messages, or social media platforms for several hours. Rest assured that you will make the most of whatever activity you choose to spend your flight time doing without these distractions.
  • Anonymity: I am confident you can enjoy this for two reasons during long-haul flights. First, if you travel alone or without someone you know. The second is if you are not a celebrity. Now, when this is the case, you would want to use this to your utmost advantage. Fellow travelers will mostly not speak to you because they don’t know you, except you probably come across a talkative seatmate. On the other, there also isn’t any friend to gist with or colleagues at work to bother you. When you get off the board, you will likely boast of at least one thing you effectively engaged in because your flight was void of conversations.

If you have earned some conviction from the above points that you can be productive on a plane if you choose to, then let’s dive right into activities that can help you achieve that goal.

Play Games

This is an option people do not consider when making the best of their time during flights. Board games like Scrabble, Chess, or Monopoly can be nice if you travel with family members that can play them with you. If it is a solo trip, you also have endless options, from video games to crosswords, puzzle cards, etc.

If you prefer online gaming, you can resort to using offline platforms that can afford you such luxury during the flight. There are also mobile casinos that offer free slots to play for fun.

In case you are wondering how playing a game makes flight time useful, it not only helps to engage your brain, but it is also an alternative to keeping your mind busy if you are the type who finds it difficult to sleep during trips.

pin map

Make a Destination Plan

Some trips tend to be on a last-minute basis. If it is not, you may have probably been busy before embarking on it. Plane time is just the perfect time to plan things you will be doing at your destination. It is not enough to know what trip it is. Making clear-cut and feasible plans of things to do at your destination will go a long way to propel your productivity.

You can create a list of fun activities and places to visit if you are going on a vacation. For a destination you have not been to before, you can use the flight Wi-Fi (if available) to check out locations on google maps. You can also carefully put together a proper schedule if it is meant to be a busy business trip.

Another advantage is that planning this on the plane can give you room to factor in emergencies and also prepare for them. Ensure you have everything written in a journal or saved up on your device for recollection and easy access.

plane window

Read a Book

You can never go wrong with reading a book during a flight. Imagine the feeling of resting your back with noise-canceling headphones on and an interesting new book of your choice in your hand for a couple of hours in the air? Exactly. Flights are also a good time to catch up on that book you have been struggling to finish.

Whether you choose to go the kindle e-reader way or you would rather have a hard copy paperback, reading during a flight is fun, relaxing, and can help you drift off into sleep.

Get Creative

Expressing your creativity during flights is another good way to spend time usefully. It is a great way to achieve self-gratification and entertain yourself during the trips. There is no limit to how much you can get crafty on the plane from drawing, knitting, writing a book or music, etc.

You can choose not to engage in a craft you already know. You can connect to in-flight Wi-Fi, surf YouTube, and learn something new. Here’s a tip, try putting on some music while at it and discover how exciting and speedy learning and getting crafty on a plan can be!

Listen to a Podcast

Over the last few years, podcasts have become quite popular. If you are a radio lover, you don’t have to be disappointed you cannot listen during flights. There are different genres of podcasts that you can listen to during flights depending on your interests. If you are a TEDTalk person, the podcast versions can suffice for your trip, and you can watch videos later.

If you plan to listen to a podcast, you need to factor in a limited internet connection or that there might be no in-flight Wi-Fi. Hence, streaming might be difficult. You can resort to downloading offline episodes that can last you through the entire trip.

Conclusion

Do not limit yourself to thinking these are all you can do to make your time on the plane useful. There are tons of beneficial things you can do while on the plane. You can also challenge your creativity and come up with your ideas! Don’t forget; the goal is relaxation, entertainment, and productivity!

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