We're flying up to Port Douglas for a long weekend away from the cold in Sydney. Bit of diving, bit of rainforest exploring, bit of croc dodging, bit of beach time, lots of relaxing. Nice (as they say in jazz club).
This is the first flight I've been on since I succumbed to the lure of the iPad, and it's like they were made for it. So far I have read some articles I saved on instapaper, got knocked out of the Spanish Cup on FIFA and played as the Beastie Boys on NBA Jam, looked through a few photos I took recently, watched a couple of video podcasts and quite a few saved TED Talks (particularly good flight fodder). And now I'm writing this blog entry (while listening to my music of course). I was going to watch a film as well, but this slimline box of tricks has done such a good job of keeping me occupied that I've run out of time.
Ok, I'm not connected to the Internet, so I had to do a bit of 'homework' last night to download/save a few things to watch/read.
But in reality I'm always saving and bookmarking things as I come across them, and it's the constant distraction of twitter/facebook/email/mindless web surfing that stops me from ever getting around to reading or watching them. And flight mode does a pretty good job of removing those distractions.
And yes I could be doing all that on a laptop, but my iPad is smaller than the book I bought on board (which of course I haven't opened) and slips nicely into the seat pocket and sits nicely on a tray table.
It's not that I didn't already think my iPad was great (my already high pre-purchase expectations have been well and truly exceeded). But today it really came into its own.
If you do a reasonable amount of flying, I'd seriously recommend you get one. Unless, like my wife, you fall asleep the minute you sit down in any form of transport.
P.s. Jetstar (who we're flying with today) are just introducing rentable pre-programmed iPads for in flight entertainment on planes where they don't have seat back screens. Here comes the early majority.
