Long Flights

Faiza said she's rather dreading her long flight to Dubai in a few months, and many others complain about long flights (such as my mom) because "there's nothing to do"..

I'm sure my friend Ozair, has his set of interesting activities on long flights.

Some of the advantages of flying Etihad are:

• You can pray anywhere in the plane, no one will stop you. In fact, the air hostess will even give you a blanket to pray on. I remember once I started praying, and the air hostess gently spread the blanket in front of me. Most of the crew is not Muslim. So, for those hesitant to do it on other airlines don't have to feel awkward about praying on Etihad. I've rarely prayed sitting in my seat for any flight, the times I did, it was probably because of turbulence. It's great exercise, Alhamdulillah.
• Along with the map, and other coordinates, the direction of the Qiblah is always displayed with respect to the plane. So you'll always pray in the right direction!
• Channel 1 audio is Qur'an recitation. Beautiful melodious voices.
• Of course, all meals served are halal. They do have alcohol.

I've made many friends in flight. This time flying to Toronto I met an old couple from Gujrat, who were travelling all the way from Gujrat to Bombay to Abu Dhabi (stayed the night) and then took the flight to Toronto, their final destination being Mississauga. I helped them with their bags, they were so happy talking to me, gave me their address and phone numbers in Canada and India.. I still have it in my wallet.

On a flight from Ottawa to Toronto, I met a girl whom I passed on an Islamic magazine I had. I always pray for interesting people sitting next to me!

Once a german girl, probably about 14-16 years of age wrote a cute letter for me on a postcard.

There's always something to learn from people you randomly meet.

If you're travelling with someone old, always request for the seat near the emergency exit since there are no rows in front of you and you can stretch your leg all the way.

1. I know many people are not talkers. Some people might get off an 8 hour flight without even looking @ the person next to them. But you might just meet someone you want to keep in touch with, no harm done!
   
   
2. I don't have patience with gluing myself to a screen, but since I don't have much choice while sitting in a plane, so sometimes I watch cartoon movies. I watched Garfield and loved it!
   
   
3. I like to show children how to play games on the screen. Often I've noticed when the older sibling figures it out, they don't share the information with the younger ones. That's where I come to their rescue :D
   
   
4. Most of my flights have a stop over. I generally aim for finishing a juz of the Qur'an in each flight. You can even try memorising a few ayahs, or revising what you already know.
   
   
5. I like to listen to the Qur'an channel and test myself if I know which surah they are reading. Most of my attempts are rather succesful, but oh the joy of getting the Surah right!
   
   
6. This time, I caught up with 2 Arabic lectures that I had loaded on my MP3 player. It was a bit awkward taking notes on the tray table, but I had my coloured pens out and the whole shebang. Considering I had over 20 hours of lectures to catch up, studying on the plane really helped.
   
   
7. I finished a few chapters of The Tipping Point (which... I'm still reading) It's my travel book. So generally I raed a book @ home, and I keep one in my bag that I read when "waiting" (such as when I take mummy to the doc or on road trips to Dubai)
   
   
8. Read duas from my dua card collection (coming soon...)
   
   
9. Write- a diary entry
   
   
10. Reflect... thinking about death is great! Also thinking about what change you're going to implement in your family for the better is great.
    
    
11. Work on your year plan- make resolutions, update yourself.
    
    
12. The inflight magazines are generally useless. But my one flight to Toronto where Jeewan was in the seat in front of me mentioned a great article in there on energy saving in Abu Dhabi.
    
    
13. In flight exercises: Very important for your circulation, air pressure and muscle relaxation. Stretch whatever you can, and rotate whatever you can. Basically.
    
    
14. I almost forgot, the best part, sleep! This time on my way back from Toronto, the girl sitting next to me was Pakistani, I barely spoke with her, she slept all the way from Toronto!
    
    
15. Sometimes there are people who don't speak English, or read and write it. You can assist them with their customs forms or other material.

And I'm sure googling will help you with more of your type of tips :)

And if you want some Airport Survival Tips, read this.