I got used to flying oversea flights after a while. Let’s take my aupair travel month, for example: During two weeks I was flying from Boston to Hawaii, from Hawaii to Miami, from Miami to New York and from New York to Germany – 24 hours pure flight time in total and of course none of those flights were nonstop flights. So, I kinda developed my own on-flight routine which I’m gonna share with you.

Most of my flights are in the early morning or at late night to avoid crowded airports and to have more time for exploring places during the day. Usually, I spend around two hours sleeping, another (at least) two hours watching movies or series on the screen in the plane. If you have Netflix you can also bring a tablet/notebook like me and download your favorite shows/movies to watch them while you’re in the plane. Make sure to download some songs or playlists on Spotify, too but not on the same device in case the battery dies after watching a movie for two hours.

Also, very important: Bring a (charged!) portable charger. You might be thinking that there must be plugs in every plane but nope sometimes there are no plugs – not even at the airports. Without a charger all your mobile devices are useless and you’ll be bored. In case that happens or if you just have enough of staring at a screen you can simply buy a book or magazine in advance. Sometimes it’s also very nice to have a short convo with your seat neighbors until the meal is served. I find it’s so interesting to hear about different people’s stories, where they come from, what they’re doing and where they’re heading to. When your notebook is charged you do everything with it – you just need to be prepared. Once I downloaded all the important information I needed in advance so I could study for university three hours on the plane which saved me a lot of time after.

Since I love photography you can also use the time to edit your pictures or simply to write a travel diary or a blog or whatever comes to your mind. You can also use the time to plan your trip and write a schedule or a ToDo list. If you’re on the way back home you can use the time to write postcards that you might’ve bought on your trip (I always do that so I can hand them over to people in person and to save the expensive post stamps). If you’re a fan of crosswords or sudoku (or whatever game): bring it with you! I love learning more about new languages and cultures so you could also bring a language study book or something like that on the plane to prepare for your trip and refresh your language skills.