I travel a lot, but I generally find the whole experience an unpleasant necessity. My goal is always to get in and out of the airport as quick as possible, while doing as little as I can to inconvenience myself and others. A perfect flight involves getting on the plane, sitting down quietly, and then getting up to leave however many hours later.
The above list is all things I try like hell to avoid doing, unless unexpected circumstances arise.
International flights exempted. Or any flight over 5 hours really.
I don’t particularly like talking to strangers. I do it a lot for work, but I’m not a huge fan of doing it on my own time, so I generally don’t, especially when I’m stuck in a small space with them.
Also, having traveled frequently with small children who refuse to sit anywhere other than my lap, unless I’m exhausted and the person behind me won’t be terribly inconvenienced by me reclining the seat, I don’t. If the person behind me has a kid with them, I won’t recline whether I’m tired or not. Traveling with a small child sucks. Having been there with someone who practically reclined on my toddler, I’d prefer not to make it even more miserable for them.
International flights are an exception for me, too. Generally if I’m traveling internationally, it’s going to be at least a 10-hour flight, usually longer.
Boy, I wish more people would look around before reclining. Nothing sucks more than to be in the last row of the plane (which doesn’t recline), and to have the person in front of you recline all the way and stay that way.
I think next time that happens, I’ll do what I can to develop a good case of the sneezes. I don’t imagine they’ll keep their seat reclined all flight if I’m busy sneezing on their face!
Generally speaking, I try to spend the entire flight in a sort of self-induced trance. I’m mildly phobic, and it’s part of how I cope. As a result, I don’t do much of anything on a plane except sit there.
I will sometimes take an offered beverage on a long flight to keep thirst from disrupting my concentration, and I will speak to someone if they have questions or need help, but I generally try to avoid interaction. I take window seats by preference, so that people don’t need to get by me to move around, and I generally squeeze as far into the corner as I can and try to arrange myself to appear asleep. I don’t like to inconvenience or offend anyone because of my irrational quirks.
Bathroom? Only if I have to (see snacks and drinks)
Overhead bin? It’s not that hard to ensure the stuff you need during the flight is under your seat. I do not roll my eyes at people traveling with small kids however, they need more stuff.
Snacks and drinks? These I need - particularly the drinks. I drink a lot most of the time and more while in flight.
Reclining? Usually not.
Requesting comfort items? Never. I have a backpacking pillow and I either wear layers or bring a travel blanket. I am always cold on planes.
Talking to strangers? no thanks. Polite greetings and then it’s reading or watching something on my ipad. Pre 9/11 it was needlepoint. If someone persists I have been known to apologize and tell them that I am afraid of flying and need to quietly distract myself. That’s only failed once. That was a miserable flight.
I would add sleep. I wish I could it would be the ideal time to rest but I have a thing about sleeping in public. I can’t do it. No rest for me on planes, trains or busses.
Looks like I’m a bit unusual for not wanting to order drinks. Doesn’t anyone else just bring a bottle of coke/water/whatever on the plane? I hate drinking out of those little plastic cups.
I don’t get things out of the overhead bin or request comfort items, and I sure as hell don’t want to talk.
I used to spend the hours before a flight drinking as little as possible so that I wouldn’t have to use the bathroom…and not so coincidentally, I would lose at least one day of the trip to headache and vomiting. I finally made the connection between those two things and now I make certain I stay hydrated, take all the free drinks I’m entitled to, and get an aisle seat.
I just don’t use the overhead bin and I don’t like talking to strangers, except when I do. (Yes, I’m weird).
My SO hates checking his baggage and works really hard to have just one small roll of luggage (it’s this special thing that packs on the plane easily, it’s meant for it.) Whereas I can pack light but why should I? So I always check a bag, besides which i don’t want to carry it around. We’ve never flown together and we are planning to the first time this year and I am a little worried about a possible disagreement on this.
You have to buy it at their ridiculously overpriced shop past security, and I’d prefer not to. Can’t carry-on your own drinks–unless they’re in 3 ounce bottles or smaller, of course.
I read on the plane and that’s it. I used a plane bathroom only once, but that was because we had a tight connection and didn’t have time to potty without missing the plane. And yes, it was horrible. Clean enough I suppose, but ever so tiny.
I guess I’m a big freak because I like talking to strangers. I don’t necessarily start conversations on planes, but I’m a story person and like listening to other people. On a plane I might say one or two things to the person next to me and if they just give short answers, I put on my headphones and go into a zone for the rest of the flight. I have found that people are much more willing to converse as the plane is landing, I guess because they know the conversation will only last a few minutes.
I am quite an introvert, so maybe it’s weird that I like to talk to strangers, but I do; it may be because I’m a writer and collect stories and characters. Life is short and people are interesting. For those of you who don’t like to talk to your seatmates, why don’t you like to talk to them?
I do all of those other things, too, although I prefer not to use the restroom if I don’t have to. Usually I have to because I drink water all day long and especially when I’m flying, because once I became dehydrated on a plane, and that wasn’t pretty.
I’m not particularly bothered by having to use the airplane washroom. I definitely order drinks/snacks when available. I generally keep things that I think I might want under my seat, but if I need something in the bin, I’m not particularly ashamed of it, but the planning ahead means I rarely have to go up for something more than once. I don’t recline the seat completely unless there’s no one behind me, but I always knock it back a degree or two because that’s more comfortable for me, and I don’t feel bad about it. Why should I? If I’m on a flight long enough to want a pillow or blanket, it’s usually provided by the carriers I use, but I’m not afraid to ask - again, why would I be?
I generally don’t talk to strangers, but on the plane, most people I’ve sat next to don’t seem to want to chat anyways. I’ve had some good conversations in the airport with people, especially when flights are delayed. That’s how I met England’s Biggest Hockey Fan, and he helped me arrange for transportation from Heathrow when I wasn’t able to be met by my husband because of the flight delay and his work schedule.
Thing is, I love travelling by plane. I love getting a window seat and just watching the control surfaces move and listening to the engine sounds. I’ll read/listen to music/watch movies as well, but just the aircraft itself is fun for me. I can’t wait 'til my next trip! YUL-JFK-LHR in July!
Me too. Sometimes I want to be left alone, sometimes the person next to me wants to be left alone, but I’ve had some great flight conversations. One of them ended with
“Ooh, that’s a pretty lake! I wonder what it’s called?”
Jacked my knee on my last trip to Atlanta because of some jerk “reclining” right onto my patella. I’m usually high on Alprazolam and booze when I have to fly, so not much bothers me. Cans on the ears, booze in my gullet, book in my hand, ignoring person next to me.
