Plane rides to Italy and boredom!

AlyceInWonderland

So the army has assigned my boyfriend to go to Italy for three weeks. He's leaving this Saturday, and I want to make him a "going away" package full of stuff to keep him occupied on the trip to Italy.

So far I've gotten him:
-A rubik's cube
-Sneaky Uses for everyday Objects (book)
-Sneakier Uses for Everyday objects(book)
-Stikfas (Black ninja version)


I'd love to hear some of your ideas and suggestions! Thanks!

Hewn

Plane rides are ideal for music, reading, and gaming. You covered books and some little games, at least, I assume Stikfas is some sort of puzzle thing? *checks Amazon* A toy figure? I'm confused. Anyway!

You can get him new music, maybe an album that he always wanted or, and this is what I recommend, make a mix tape (not literally a tape, I just still call them that) of songs that remind you of him. He'll eat that up. You can supplement that tape with a letter explaining why each song is important or what quirky way it reminds you of him.

Since he is traveling, a nice light travel journal might be an appropriate gift as well. To add that personal touch, you could write the first entry about your thoughts and reactions to him leaving. Then he gets to pick it up from there!

So those are some time killers, with a personal touch that shows you're really thinking about this, as it appears you already are.

tech_hunter

If he has a DS maybe a new DS game that you think he will enjoy, and if there are others on the flight too maybe he can get some multiplayer going on. I think the FAA doesnt allow wireless devices to be on in flight have no idea what the military's policy is. You could also get him a hand held sudukou game or sudukou book if he likes puzzles.

AlyceInWonderland

I thought about making him a CD, but the thing is...he's not that huge on music. At all. A DS game would probably work though, but his DS hasn't been charged in ages, and he would get suspicious if I was like "Hey...charge your DS*cough*"

Keep the suggestions comin'!

bigpanda

Not sure what else he's taking/what your budget is, but here's a list of things that might make the trip easier

+ iPod (mix tape would kick ass) and comfortable headphones/earbuds

+ Nintendo DS games - charge it for him while he's not looking (Puzzle Quest is my current addiction)

+ Books - World War Z is what I have next to my bed right now, but the Harry Potter books I read straight through each time a new one comes out

+ Journal - If you're really crazy, check out Magnoli Clothiers for their selection of Indiana Jones replica journals, I bought one but can't bring myself to write in it. Time for another. https://host385.ipowerweb.com/~indyprop/osCommerce/catalog/index.php?cPath=22&osCsid=fce6d618035c7092332bba5448b4ed13

+ DVD player w/ movies - My work laptop which gets schlepped with me everywhere has a DVD player so it's perfect (maybe pick up a Y audio adapter so the person sitting next to him can watch and listen at the same time if they're interested)

+ Earplugs and a neck pillow- so he can get some z's

+ Some of his favorite magazines

+ Wordsearch/crossword puzzles

+ Coloring book and crayons

+ Notes from you - for God's sake the man's going overseas and is in the army, this is a must!

supabeast

Sedatives are a great way to make flights to Europe a little less dreadful.

RyakStorm

One of the best tips for long haul flights is sleep - I travel from LA to various places in Europe at least once a month - learning to sleep on long flights is so very nice. It's like teleporting heh. I'll usually stay up the night before, or cut my sleep significantly, my aim is to be asleep just after take off and wake up with bump of landing. It really helps with jet lag too I find.

With that in mind - sleep aids...

Neck pillow as mentioned - inflatable ones are good as they are easy to pack into hand luggage.

Noise canceling earphones, personally I like the white noise of air travel, sends me to sleep, but it's nicer with the headphones, they can be pricey though - forget about the $300 Bose ones - they aren't any better than $50 Sonys. The Sennheiser ones are nice, but still a bit pricey starting at $100ish (though it's been a while since I looked up pricing). They don't really cancel the noise of the plane, but they do lessen it quite a bit.

Over the counter sleep meds? (do those exist? Never looked...)

Sleepmask, the airlines provide them sometimes, but they are never as nice as ones you can buy.

Big thick warm socks, so he can kick off his shoes and still keep his feet warm.

I used to take a nice hip flask with me, the booze would help me sleep... I've not tried since the whole "LIQUIDS!!! On a plane... RUN..." scares. $5 for a drink on the flight is expensive, but if he drinks, throw some $5 bills in there.

Long haul flights are boring, so I highly recommend avoiding experiencing them - pro-tip :P

AlyceInWonderland

Oh man, these are awesome ideas.

He doesn't drink or anything...or like to take pills, so I suppose the flask/sleep meds and such are out, but the sleep mask, earplugs, neck pillow, crayons all that are great ideas.


Thanks guys! If any of you can think of anything else, that'd be awesome.

Sonos

i went to italy and it was the ds which made the 8 hours nothing at all. just dont get him pokemon so his army buddies make fun of him.

but get it for him later cause it's great.

AlyceInWonderland

Yeah, I did some investigating and found out that he will, in fact, be taking his DS along with him, so I'm going to get him a game.

Any recommendations? I haven't checked what's out there just yet.

KalTorak

Puzzle Quest can keep me going for much long than normal puzzle games b/c of the RPG elements, although Tetris is still a great standard. Also I just got into Phoenix Wright and it's been making my time disappear.

Not Sarastro

Er, some points that people seem to have missed.

One, if he's in the Army, whatever you give him has to be very small, light, and little of it. Extra shit to carry generally not welcome. Also, give it to him a day or two before he leaves, not at the plane, so he can ditch some of it without hurting your feelings (honestly nothing to do with you, just a simple matter of space and weight, the first of which he won't have, and the second which he won't want).

Two, if he's travelling by commercial aircraft, any of the above will do. If he's travelling by Herc (or whatever your transport aircraft is), then a very good and very comfortable pair of earphones are a must. Music isn't really much use, since he won't be able to hear it anyway without destroying his eardrums. Those planes are louder than a Spinal Tap amp. Neck pillow and such are nice ideas, but you are assuming he will be able to sit down to use them. If you really want him to love you forever, find something small and light which can be used as a lying down pillow - if he's smart, he'll get his doss bag out and sleep in that on the floor, and major problem with those is having your head hanging off the side without support.

Three, crayons? Nice idea, but see 'Army' and 'making fun of' above.

Four, chastity belt!

(I joke. Probably.)

AlyceInWonderland

Naw, he's on a commercial aircraft leaving from JFK, so he'll probably have no problem bringing the stuff along, but I plan on giving the package to him several hours before his flight so he can ditch whatever.

Chastity belt?....hm...there are hot wimminz in Italy....

Not Sarastro

Chastity belt wasn't because of the wimminz...

Commercial aircraft makes it better, but check with him what his kit list is. Don't know how you do things over there, but for a 2-3 week course we only take what we can carry on our back, and we take most of it with us everywhere, especially if it involves any time in the field.

RyakStorm

AlyceInWonderland wrote: »

Chastity belt?....hm...there are hot wimminz in Italy....

Along this line, give him some to take to remind him of you, a scrapbook of photos, something scented with your perfume, that kind of stuff... not really for the flight, but in general for while he is away from you.