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471 points tosh | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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drewg123 ◴[] No.41862238[source]
For air travel, I really like my Xreal Air glasses now that I have a newer iPhone 16pro. Just plug in the USB-C cable, and you have a virtual 60" screen in front of you which works perfectly for Netflix, etc. And they cost less than 10% of the cost of an AVP, and are not limited to 2-3 hours of battery life (they get power from the phone).

Note that if you have an older (lightning) iPhone, don't bother with these. They require a pair of dongles. Not only does that make things really awkward, but one of the dongles ends up apparently blocking HDCP, and prevents you from using anything but ... your own... downloaded content.

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JKCalhoun ◴[] No.41863850[source]
As I get older, a gin and tonic (or two) is what makes air travel more relaxing.
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derefr ◴[] No.41864576[source]
Taking a flight as an opportunity to indulge in a moment of blissful idleness is great... on a three-hour flight.

But on a 14-hour trans-continental flight, you've gotta have something to do. If nothing else, to distract you from how uncomfortable it is to be effectively confined to your seat + a few feet of narrow walkway for that long. That's more confined than a prison cell!

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sho_hn ◴[] No.41864930[source]
Nah. I do Europe-Korea frequently, and I've definitely slowly settled into a happy optimum of sleeping 7-8 hours inbetween the meals.

Killing time is a rather slower flight experience than being unconscious.

I'm very happy WiFi continues to be an expensive opt-in product. If it was always-on, I'm sure I'd break the above habit.

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nox101 ◴[] No.41864965[source]
Good for you. I can't sleep sitting on plane. The only times I've been able to to sleep is (1) getting a free upgrade to 1st class where I could lie down (2) a mostly empty plane where I could stretch out across three seats.
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sho_hn ◴[] No.41865415[source]
I couldn't sleep on planes my entire life until one year I did Europe-Korea 8 times and it became so routine it started working.

The routine part, I think, is what took the "I won't sleep on this long flight" anxiety away somehow, because I started learning the rhythm of the flight. For example, there is no point to try and sleep until the initial meal is served, you'll just get woken up anyway. So now I just spend that time thinking and daydreaming and being bored, then I quietly eat my meal but stop at feeling overly fully, and by the time it's over I start to get tired.

I also realized that a sleeping mask is a great aid for me (on the other hand, I don't need earplugs/earphones). This came as a great surprise, as I don't typically need darkness to sleep well, but something about the sensory deprivation in the plane setting seems to do the trick.

What I'm saying is, I used to describe myself as the "I don't sleep on planes" guy for a good decade, but then it started working; don't give up yet.

BTW, to give this a software dimension: I was recently on a flight with an airline I hadn't used before, and I really liked a UI in their in-flight infotainment that showed the entire flight as a timeline with all meaningful events penciled in (when the meals are, etc.) and a recommendation during which blocks to sleep. That was really nice and thoughtful.

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HolySE ◴[] No.41865582[source]
> BTW, to give this a software dimension: I was recently on a flight with an airline I hadn't used before, and I really liked a UI in their in-flight infotainment that showed the entire flight as a timeline with all meaningful events penciled in (when the meals are, etc.) and a recommendation during which blocks to sleep. That was really nice and thoughtful.

Do you recall which airline this was? Given similar pricing, this seems like a useful differentiator that would sway my decision of which airline to pick.

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seb1204 ◴[] No.41865608[source]
Not sure why not mention the airline in the post directly. Is this some kind of avoiding advertising for the brand? Really curious. Can't be click bait or SEO on hn.
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1. sho_hn ◴[] No.41865647[source]
Ironically, probably just sleepiness - I was posting from bed with an infant that wakes up periodically. Sadly WiFi is not opt-in in my bedroom :-)

It was Finnair from Berlin to Seoul, via Helsinki.

Edit: I found a YouTube video showing a version of this feature from 8 years ago, but I think the one I saw was a bit more refined: https://youtu.be/5-CrsPAZslg - still, interesting that it's this old and I haven't seen it anywhere else.