I remember when I saw the first advertisements for in-flight Wi-Fi. People applauded and cheered. I now see tweets from people complaining about flights that don’t have it.
Recently, I was flying out to BlogWorld and some of my fellow companions on the flight were shocked to learn that I hadn’t logged in during the 6-hour journey. It was then that I explained to them why I don’t do it.
As a workshifter, it is in our DNA to always be connected. While we may mentally unplug to do some activities, the refresh button on our Twitter stream or inbox is a quick click away, and most of us are a slave to it.
I look at flights as blocks of completely uninterrupted time that I can do whatever I want with. I’m usually traveling alone and thus have the entire flight to reflect on my own thoughts and goals.
Here are some things I usually do with this magic time:
Catch up on email.
I download my mail before boarding. I’ll respond to those emails that I’ve been neglecting as well as file things that have been sitting in my inbox. When I land and reconnect, everything syncs up.
Write a few blog posts.
We all have those topics we’ve been meaning to write about but for whatever reason never get around to. I try to write a few of these while I’m in the air. Having no distractions means I can focus better than when I can sitting at my desk.
Read.
We should all be making the time to read every day, but even as I type this, I’m laughing at myself since I always seem to forget it. My Kindle is full of books that I want to get to, and I’ve always got a stack of magazines I want to read. I try to make sure that I take at least some of it to read while on flights. I’ve never heard anyone say they read too much.
Relax.
On a flight, pure relaxation for me is watching a movie or television show. When was the last time you watched something without a laptop or phone nearby? Trust me, this will do a world of good for you (especially on a long flight).
I’d love to hear from others out there. Am I the only one who enjoys being disconnected while flying?
