Writer's Block: Up in the Air
May. 22nd, 2010 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tabular_rasa[Error: unknown template qotd]
It's never even occurred to me to use the Internet or make a phone call while on a plane flight, except using my cell phone once the plane has landed to see if whoever is picking me up has arrived. First of all, I fly internationally just as often as I fly domestically, and until recently you couldn't use the Internet or make phone calls on those flights. However, now that you can, it's expensive to hook up to their network-- at least on the flights I've been on. I might enjoy using the Internet if it were free, but I still don't think I would use the phone because that seems rude to the other passengers around me. But I also just don't like phones.
On domestic flights, I usually treat myself to a trashy magazine and make sure my ipod is charged. That usually holds me.
On international flights, like Europe or the nine times I have flown back and forth from Japan to the US, I treat myself to several trashy magazines, a novel, a fully-charged ipod, and hope to God they have the personal movie screens on the back of the seat in front of you rather than the one big screen at the front, because I like to be able to choose my movies and not have to crane my neck to watch them. However, it's interesting; I think my zoning-out skills have gotten amazing in the time I've been in Japan, because on my last flight to and from the US I didn't do much of anything except sit there listening to music and waiting for the flight to be over-- and it was strangely one of the shorter-feeling international flights I've been on!
I cannot sleep on planes. I wish I could-- dear God, I wish I could-- but I can't; I've accepted that about myself and have stopped trying.
When I fly with my family obviously I talk to them, but I've noticed the protocol about talking with passengers is different between international and domestic flights. On international flights, there are often so many nationalities and languages represented that you can't be sure the people next to you will understand you. Also, there's just this vibe that you should be quiet, because a lot of people sleep through the flight. However, on domestic flights I've often talked to the people next to me, even if just a short conversation before takeoff. I also once sat at the very back of a small plane, right next to the single flight attendant's jumpseat, and she chatted with me for practically the whole flight, lol.
It's never even occurred to me to use the Internet or make a phone call while on a plane flight, except using my cell phone once the plane has landed to see if whoever is picking me up has arrived. First of all, I fly internationally just as often as I fly domestically, and until recently you couldn't use the Internet or make phone calls on those flights. However, now that you can, it's expensive to hook up to their network-- at least on the flights I've been on. I might enjoy using the Internet if it were free, but I still don't think I would use the phone because that seems rude to the other passengers around me. But I also just don't like phones.
On domestic flights, I usually treat myself to a trashy magazine and make sure my ipod is charged. That usually holds me.
On international flights, like Europe or the nine times I have flown back and forth from Japan to the US, I treat myself to several trashy magazines, a novel, a fully-charged ipod, and hope to God they have the personal movie screens on the back of the seat in front of you rather than the one big screen at the front, because I like to be able to choose my movies and not have to crane my neck to watch them. However, it's interesting; I think my zoning-out skills have gotten amazing in the time I've been in Japan, because on my last flight to and from the US I didn't do much of anything except sit there listening to music and waiting for the flight to be over-- and it was strangely one of the shorter-feeling international flights I've been on!
I cannot sleep on planes. I wish I could-- dear God, I wish I could-- but I can't; I've accepted that about myself and have stopped trying.
When I fly with my family obviously I talk to them, but I've noticed the protocol about talking with passengers is different between international and domestic flights. On international flights, there are often so many nationalities and languages represented that you can't be sure the people next to you will understand you. Also, there's just this vibe that you should be quiet, because a lot of people sleep through the flight. However, on domestic flights I've often talked to the people next to me, even if just a short conversation before takeoff. I also once sat at the very back of a small plane, right next to the single flight attendant's jumpseat, and she chatted with me for practically the whole flight, lol.
