Do we need in-flight entertainment?

ANYONE who knows me can attest to my love of gadgetry, especially on long-haul flights.

I’ve got it all: noise-cancelling headphones, an iPod, a laptop and a backup iPodTouch in case the other two run out of juice.

Taking all my gadgets has become as essential as taking my passport.

The reason I do this is because I don’t enjoy watching in-flight entertainment.

I flick through the colossal collection of movies, music albums, audio books and games. When I finally make a choice, I sit back to enjoy a film only to be disturbed by a “cabin announcement” every 5 minutes.

Just try understanding Chris Nolan’s cinematic masterpiece Inception on a tiny screen this way.

So it got me thinking: Could I survive a flight without them?

On a recent flight from London to New York, I made a decision: No iPods, laptop or wife-cancelling… sorry, noise-cancelling headphones.

My only indulgence on the seven-hour journey was a book.

So how did I fair in the ‘In-flight Chastity Challenge’.

Movies

As my wife flicked through the in-flight magazine to choose which movies she wanted to watch, I felt like I’d been invited to Sea World but forgot my swimmers.

Flying and watching films go hand-in-hand for me; it’s a place I can catch up on the movies I’ve yet to see or watch genres my wife doesn’t like.

And they help pass the time by knocking a couple of hours off a flight.

Being unable to enjoy the simple pleasure of watching a film was the hardest aspect of the challenge.

Music

Not only do I listen to music for pleasure on the plane but it also helps me fall asleep.

With this denied, I found my senses heightened and unable to drift into the semi-sleep state you fall into when listening to a favourite album on a plane.

It was definitely harder for me to nod off with the cabin buzz as my only soundtrack.

Interaction with other passengers

I’m not a fan of interacting with my neighbours on flights.

As well as having to put up with my wife mocking me by giggling her way through every films, my neighbour made me repeat everything the captain announced over the tannoy.

Once or twice was fine but on the 10th or 11th time, it was starting to get to me.

At one point, I thought of answering her “What did he say?” with: “The woman in 32C will be shot by a federal air marshall if she keeps asking questions” but thought better of it.

Having earphones means you don’t want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, I was travelling without that protection.

Book

My sanity saver.

Without this I’m certain I would have asked the air steward how to unlock the cabin doors somewhere over Greenland.

I can heartily recommend The Race of a Lifetime, a rip-roaring behind-the-scenes look at the last US election.

Conclusion

In some ways it was a liberating experience - not having to worry about loading films onto a laptop or making sure chargers and wires were packed in my hand luggage.

Just having a book to read was simple, old-school and when it’s a great book, time doesn’t go as slow as you might think.

However, nothing beats the on-board selection of "entertainment" - even if it is to grumble at how bad it is and still use it.

How many times are you actually forced to sit down and indulge yourself in something you enjoy: listening to a good album, watching a film you’ve been wanting to see, or reading a long magazine article you haven’t had time to look at before?

Why deny yourself a personal entertainment experience when the opportunity rarely comes around?

In what is becoming an increasingly more stressful way to travel, it’s perhaps the only enjoyable part of flying left.

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