8 ways to pass the time on a long-haul flight
Qatar Airways has just announced a new route between Auckland and Doha - which, clocking in at around 18 hours and 34 minutes, will become the new longest flight in the world.
To put that in perspective, the average length of labour for a first-time mother is 12 to 14 hours. You could have had a baby in less time than it takes to fly on that route (and the level of discomfort is probably comparable).
But with air travel getting more efficient, plane tickets getting cheaper, and flight routes stretching further than ever before, we're not really complaining. Instead, here are eight ways to pass the time on a monster long-haul flight.
1. Watch several movies
On an 18 hour, 34 minute flight, the entertainment system is your new best friend (unless you have a particularly affable seatmate). According to Bingeclock.com, you could marathon all of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies in 17 hours and 12 minutes.
2. Read several books
The average adult reads at a rate of about 300 words per minute. If you're flying from Auckland to Doha, you have 1114 minutes to play with. You could get about halfway through Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, at 587,287 words. Or if that's slightly too high-brow, the Hunger Games trilogy totals 301,584 words.
4. Listen to a lot of music
You could listen the world's longest officially released song six times. It's called In The Garden and is performed by Pipe Choir, lasting three hours, one minute and 50 seconds. If pop music is more your thing, you could listen to Taylor Swift's entire 1989 album 23 times. Warning: if you do this, you will hear the phrase "shake it off" no less than 828 times.
5. Do two full days' worth of work
You are going to be in the sky for the equivalent of two whole eight-hour work days, plus two generous lunch breaks. Might as well try to be productive.
6. Play many games of Monopoly
One game of Travel Monopoly (which Amazon has hilariously described here as a "classic murder mystery game") is said to have a playing time of 45 minutes, so you could easily get through 24 games over 18 hours and 34 minutes.
7. Do many, many leg exercises
The risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis is real. On a long-haul flight, it is recommended that you do some light movements every 30 minutes, like circling your ankles, flexing your feet and lifting your knees. On an 18 hour, 34 minute flight, that equals 37 exercise sessions.
8. Contemplate alternative forms of transportation
Come on, flying's not so bad. Think of it this way - if you were heading between Doha and Auckland on foot (at a "purposeful" pace, no less) - the distance of 14,539 kilometres would take you 2151 hours to walk. And you would probably die.
Written by Siobhan Downes. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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