How You Can Enjoy Your Next Long Flight
It seems recently that everyone only groans about flying and airlines so today I considered I’d share a few reasons why I do have some reason why I enjoy spending time up in the air and how I have understood to best deal with that much time.
I don’t need to tell you that there are a LOT of great things about travel.
Meeting new people…
Eating new foods…
Seeing new landscapes and cultures…
But if there’s one thing we can all agree, that we hate about travel, it’s LONG FLIGHTS.
You might be sitting on your butt for hours, but the one thing you’ll notice is just how exhausted you feel at the end of the journey, and it’s not just the lack of or disturbed sleep that’s the problem.
When flying at altitude, the reduced air pressure leads to an element of hypoxia meaning less oxygen is getting to your brain.
This can lead to a decline in cognitive performance.
We get jet lag because our body clock doesn’t sync to our new time zone straight away, meaning you may have a problem sleeping at the proper time, experience daytime drowsiness, and feel generally groggy or a bit “off” following your arrival.
It is more likely to be experienced when crossing a greater number of time zones.
But there are also some benefits. At least for me.
It’s like a therapy season for my mind
I know this sounds crazy, but I quite enjoy the time I have to let my mind wander. To be honest I had the deepest thoughts about myself and life in general on long-distance flights.
Especially when I was flying on my own.
I concluded that attending a long-distance flight is kinda like a therapy session for me.
I have the chance to interact with my own thoughts, I can’t run away from them. I made a lot of decisions while being stuck on a plane, which affected my future (most of them in a good way).
For me it has something soothing, to be far away from home, on your own, alone with your thoughts.
The first time I went on a long-distance flight on my own, was in 2011. I just turned 18 and I took a plane to Chicago, to attend a four-week language school.
Of course, I was a bit nervous the first time flying on my own, to a different continent, stuck in a plane without anyone knowing.
But after a while, a relaxing feeling overcame me.
I was finally all alone with my thoughts, and I had to think through a lot.
Additionally to that, I even become friends, with a girl sitting next to me.
She was on her way back to the states, after a language trip to Europe with her classmates.
At this moment I had the sense of being in the right place, at the right time. Sounds absurd, but that was what I was feeling.
The disconnection from the world
Sometimes I need to disconnect myself from the world. I think we would all need that sometimes.
So while traveling in an aircraft, no one could reach me and it’s forced time to concentrate on something other than Whatsapp, Instagram or Twitter.
Of course, as more and more airlines add WiFi connectivity to even their longest flights, I refuse to give in.
I need this time to build a little cocoon of comfort for myself; to read a book or watch a movie, or just sit there with my thoughts.
When I travel I tend to be busy and active once I reach my destination, so maintaining this precious time for my own, isn’t just nice, it’s something I need.
PS — Where are you headed next to?
