I recently visited friends who live in a European country and found myself travelling (and waiting for transport) for around 7 hours – that’s a long time to be waiting around without becoming bored. Although I know that making future travel plans can help boost your mood, sometimes I’m less-than-excited about the prospect of a long journey.
So, in anticipation of the long trip, I decided to download some useful solutions to keep me entertained while I was travelling and I thought it would be helpful to share some ideas with you, ready for your next trip…
1. Listening with noise-cancelling headphones
If you want to pass the time without bothering any other passengers, a solution is to try listening to something using noise-cancelling headphones – I wouldn’t want to travel without mine. They cancel out the noise of plane engines and train tracks so you can just relax and enjoy the journey. You can download podcasts, ebooks and music playlists to your phone before you leave home so that you don’t have to rely on a wifi signal to stream them.
But even better than that is the content I found on my mindfulness app, which has meditations to help you relax while travelling, ‘The Spark’ podcasts on interesting topics and sleep stories that will help you drift off to sleep if you’re finding it hard to snooze during the trip. I’ve tried a different mindfulness app each year and have finally found a favourite that provides everything I need during a long trip, plus it works in flight mode!
2. Playing games
If you love playing games, following live sports or enjoying card games online, it’s always a good idea to take a look at the latest offers before you travel to see if there’s a discount or deal available that allows you to enjoy your hobbies on your phone at a lower price. That way, you might be able to play games for free without having to pay to download a game or buy boosts or add credit to your account.
I personally am happy to play a game while it’s free, but I never succumb to in-app purchases – at that point, I step away from the game and try another entertainment option, such as playing a physical game with the person I’m travelling with. I usually take a pack of cards or Dobble to play a few rounds of a game while I’m waiting. They don’t take up much space in your bag and can be played on a tiny table if you’re on a train or flight.
3. Learning a skill
Another option is to learn a new language while you’re on route to a new country. Although you can’t repeat the phrases aloud if you’re on a flight etc, you can still listen and learn some new words using a language app. I particularly like the free ‘powerful phrases’ lessons from Bluebird languages and I can land in a new country being able to understand a few handy words.
Also, I learnt some new knitting techniques on my recent flight. I’ve been studying knitting with LearnToKnitOnline so I could follow along with the video lessons while I was travelling and used their free patterns to try a basket weave stitch for the first time.
By the time I’d landed, I had also created a little fairisle star using two colours of wool. The only thing to consider here is that some airlines don’t allow knitting needles on flights, so be sure to check before you set off – I used small plastic needles for kids and had no problems.
4. Watching shows
Although Wi-Fi signal is rarely strong enough to stream a show while you’re travelling (and you might be in flight mode, unable to access the internet at all), you can still watch a TV series or movie if you download it to your device before you leave home.
I like to load my tablet with a gripping BBC series such as The Traitors, where one episode leads you straight into the next with a cliff-hanger – this seems to make the time pass much more quickly!
5. Catch up on reading
So often, I think I will be able to catch up with some reading during a long trip – especially if I’m waiting for connecting trains or planes. However, if you’re travelling light, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to fit a bulky book into your backpack. That’s where ebooks come in.
You don’t need a kindle to be able to read ebooks while you’re away – you can download the kindle app to your phone and download whichever books you want to read there. Even better is a totally free option – the Libby app.
If you’re already a member of your local library, you’ll probably be entitled to borrow ebooks and audio books for free through the Libby app using your usual library card number. You can then download the full book to read while you’re away and, once you virtually ‘return’ it to the library, it is wiped from your device, so it doesn’t continue to take up any data space.
I hope these suggestions have given you some inspiration for making the most of your next journey, whether you’re travelling by train or plane. Let me know what you like to do to pass the time while you’re waiting for a connection in the comments below, I’d love to hear your ideas for staying entertained on a trip.
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This blog post reflects my own experience and the pink links in this post indicate an information source or service.
