Group Chat Litty: What's Your Go-To Travel Entertainment?
Are you a print, screen, audio, or rawdog kind of person?
My husband and I just returned from a few gloriously unplugged days in Marrakech, with a quick finale in Paris (which explains why there wasn’t a post last week, sorry!). It was our first-ever trip to Africa and our second to France as a couple, and both cities were full of great food, friendly locals, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
My top two highlights? Riding a camel in our best “Arabian Nights”-themed outfits in the Agafay Desert to celebrate our friend KP’s 40th birthday. The second was a romantic dinner with Tim of steak frites and champagne at Brasserie LIPP in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I realize that sounds obnoxious, but hey, this is a big reason why we work, right? I hope you’ve had a similar travel experience… or one coming soon to look forward to!
Our vacation involved four separate flights, with the easiest trek first and the hardest last. My favorite airport activity is stocking up on a fresh pile of magazines to plow through, but that has softened over the years as the racks have shrunk. At JFK, for instance, there wasn’t a Cosmopolitan or Women’s Health in sight—just limited-edition Hearst or Condé Nast bookazines for $13.99. Two local issues lined the hallway in the Delta lounge, but their perfect placement suggested they had no takers. I picked up The Atlantan (nice feature on Andy Murray’s “life beyond the tennis court") to rifle through as we waited to board.
What was far more prevalent at the various airport kiosks in any city we were in were best-selling books and headphones for your listening/viewing pleasure. The Air France lounge also touted an app for reading hundreds of magazines on your phone or tablet. But, as you could guess, when navigating the dimly lit aisles of our transatlantic flights, all I could see were sleeping bodies or the blue glow of a TV screen.
Recently, the trend of “rawdogging” a flight (hey, their word choice, not mine) has swept TikTok. Meaning: You don’t use any entertainment whatsoever, and in extreme cases, forego all food, beverages, water, and even sleep. It’s for mindfulness, practitioners claim, but as the posts have accumulated, it’s clearly for clout. (No one writes a caption with, “Just rawdogged a 7-hour flight” without expecting a flood of “🤯🤯🤯!!!” comments.)
I wanted to crawl out of my skin while starting movie #3 after 4+ hours of sitting in the same position, my coccyx aching and seat mysteriously and continuously uprighting itself from a reclined position. (Luckily, Tim is my all-time favorite person to travel with and knows how to keep me chill with free wine and witty flight attendant banter.) The idea of switching to a podcast or book wasn’t doing it for me. I could write or edit photos on my phone, but productivity also felt extra.
This got me thinking: I wonder how everybody else does it—and if there are any secret hacks I’m missing.
So, let’s fire up this group chat! Tell me: What is your go-to travel entertainment?
Is your choice different for airplanes vs. cars, trains, subways, or buses?
Have you ever dabbled in rawdogging travel, and what did you think of the experience?
What are you indulging in at airport shops? Candy? Snacks? (I had my first soda in probably a year and it was deliciously crispy!)
P.S. Next week, the Gas! Gas! Gas! column is back with a sparkly and fashionable entrepreneur who will inspire you to hustle for that dream business of yours. ✨