Travel Sanity: Your Activity Pyramid

By Lev Novak

I get antsy during travel.

A five hour bus-ride can sap your sanity. It’s super boring; a flight or the train is the same. So how do you stay sane? Read on the pyramid. The early things are the base, and the higher up ones are to be varied in as needed.

1. Music

Ultimately, this is the #1 base of all traveling. Listen to music. It makes everything better, and if you’re just sitting on a bus, you’re going to lean heavily on music.

For maximum success, though, plan ahead. Download albums you’ve heard good things about- think Danny Brown, or such- and listen to them all the way through. Now you have a “thing” to do, and it’s productive. Plus, that’s an hour of no-stress activity. Shuffling through aimlessly doesn’t kill time as well.

2. Smart-Phone Success

Twitter, texting, and iPhone games are the next best thing, but they take a lot of battery and require your eyes. Music is the best because you can slowly nap while you listen, but if you’re playing Bloons Tower 5, that’s a commitment. Also, there’s the downside that you might get car-sick, or that your Twitter pals will be sick of you.

3. Resting

Napping should be number one in a perfect world, but it’s a dangerous game. Can you really get quality sleep on a bus? Is it worth expecting?

The answer to both is no. But you can rest, and just vibe out- without music- for a few bursts. At best, you get a nap in. At worst, you take a break for your ears and eyes, keeping them fresh for more phone and music playing later.

4. Paper Goods

Can you read on a bus?

If so, use it sparingly. Get a book of Sudoku’s and take it with you in your backpack everywhere, and every single long trip you take for the next ~10 months is going to be slightly more fun.

5. Humans

Talking to the people near you on the bus is the most dangerous game, but it can be awesome. I’ve made bus friends, and it’s a great distraction. Just be sure to stop talking to them every ten minutes or so to make sure you’re not being creepy and over-bearing. They’ll come back if they want, or maybe not, and whatever. You have albums to listen to anyway.

6. Food and Drink

Eating or drinking on a bus is a great way to kill ten minutes- and to obsess, in advance, about those ten minutes, but boy is it a hassle. Better just to charge your phone better.

7. Ice-Breaker Games With The Bus-Driver

Do not do this.

8. Sing Alongs

“Wheels on the bus goes round and round” is the best- and only- option. You’ll be a legend, but at what cost?

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