Travel Safe Activities
In recent weeks, there has been increased concern over airline safety. This has resulted in necessary restrictions to what you can do while flying. It’s now quite possible that you won’t be able to leave your seat during the last hour of your flight, use electronic devices, or have anything at all on your lap. But this doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun.
There are all kinds of Travel Safe Activities (TSA) you can still engage in during that last hour without using your laptop, getting out of your seat, or using the bathroom. This list will grow as more of us travel and make that last hour into the highlight of the trip!
Pocket Scavenger Hunt
This is a particular challenge when passengers are forbidden from accessing any of their carry-on bags, so items being sought should be limited to what can be found in pockets, the back of seats, or even on the floor. A list will be passed around to all passengers. Those who are successful in possessing or obtaining the most items from the list will be declared the champion.
Light Wave
This can be every bit as much fun as when people do “the wave” at a stadium, only there will be no standing up here for obvious reasons. Instead, simply power on your overhead light, wait for the people in front of you to power on theirs, then turn yours off. A truly beautiful spectacle once it gets going.
Inflight College Courses
We all know something that others don’t know, and that last hour of the flight is the perfect time to share this knowledge with others. It can be something traditional like a history lesson, or something a little different like how to embezzle funds from a large company that you happen to work for. Whatever your field of expertise is, there is an opportunity to share here. Instructors will normally have as many students as are within earshot, typically around a dozen, so the opportunity exists for multiple courses to be going on at the same time, just as in a real college.
Marco Polo
Be the person on your flight to suddenly shout out “Marco!” during that last hour when others are looking for things to do. It might take a few tries, but eventually someone somewhere on the plane will respond with a “Polo!” if for no other reason than to shut you up. Entertainment achieved.
In-flight Sketching
Not only can you find out if you’ve got a bit of Picasso in you, but you can save a good amount of money by not enrolling in art school to find out. One passenger serves as a model and those in the immediate vicinity do their best to sketch them. For those flights where writing pads have been defined as weapons, the back of an unused barf bag will do.
Touch The Lavatory
As actually visiting the lavatory is now verboten, there is still a way to include the bathroom in your airline adventure. Passengers on one side of the plane link arms until someone is able to actually touch the door of one of the lavatories without unbuckling their seatbelt. Those passengers not willing to participate are defined as obstacles and must be routed around. The side with the least amount of links wins. Mathematical skills and agility are pluses in this competition.
Pre-landing Meditation
We’ve all seen people doing stretching exercises,walking up and down the cabin, and trying to stay fit in other ways. Since this will no longer be allowed, passengers can still try to attain inner peace through collective meditation. If you can figure out how to cross your legs while keeping your seatbelt on, Nirvana is right around the corner.
Cabinwide Singalong
Everyone loves a rousing song during those long drives where time would otherwise seem to crawl. There’s no reason this can’t become a regular part of your otherwise mundane flight. The last hour of your trip can be used to perfect the multi-chorus verses of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (great for the kids) all the way to something more sophisticated like the chorale movements from Beethoven’s Ninth. We heard of one flight that performed the entire score of Hairspray which continued on for ten minutes after landing.
Barf Bag Puppet Theatre
A good puppet show has been a crowd favorite since the medieval days and people had a LOT more time to kill back then. As this can be especially entertaining for the kids, we suggest being creative with the design of your characters on the barf bags. Unless a horror show is being planned, avoid those sick sacks that have already been used.
Pass The Beach Ball!
There’s nothing like bouncing a beach ball around the cabin to make that time really fly by. This activity has been known to work effectively at rock concerts while waiting for the band to show up. True, you won’t achieve the same height due to the existence of ceilings, but you can certainly get some distance with a strong forearm.