What should teenagers bring on plane?
 

Besides books, and CD's any suggestions what teenagers and 10 year old like to do on the long planeride? What can make a European trip more interesting to them?

Last December I travelled with my 13 year old to Paris. Here's what he did. The movie was "Men in Black" so suddenly a 8 hour plane trip was the greatest thing. After the movie he slept, then in the morning he played with his GameBoy. As back up he had a cassette player and word puzzle books. On the return trip, three different movies, he alternated between the movies, the GameBoy and trips to the galley for more juice. He never complained about nothing to do. Check to see what movie(s) will be played, if you're lucky that'll kill at least two hours off the bat. You may want to get one of those adapter things that allows two sets of headphones to listen to one cassette (CD) player.

If you haven't already booked your flight you might want to consider Virgin Atlantic Airlines (voted the best on board entertainment several years in a row due to individual t.v.'s and ninendo games) <BR> <BR>Also, in his backpack make sure he brings gum, hard candy, bottled water, aspirin, cleenex etc. Melatonin will help you sleep if you think you need help. <BR>

My kids,boys ages 14 and 11, brought sketch books and pencils, a small travel-sized Scrabble game (the tiles were like Colorforms) and books by their favorite authors (Chris Crutcher,Gary Paulsen, Lois Lawry,& others). <BR>The movie and the food kept them entertained also. Keep a journal of your trip! Have fun!

Give your 10 year old a disposable camera or one you don't care about anymore and let him take his own photos and keep his own travel journal. Teenagers are more difficult! I wouldn't recommend Virgin Air based on all the complaints I've seen lately. Do they know how to play cribbage? It's a llittle more interesting that plain old card games and then you can buy a small cribbage board. Headphones and CDs seem like the best thing and electronic games for the younger one. Try to have them do some reading about where they're going beforehand--they should learn something other than critiquing the local Mac Donalds!! Good luck. <BR>

I flew Singapore from NZ and they have some sort of playstations on all their seats (even the cheap seats). Don't know how many other airlines have these systems but it kept me entertained for a few hours. Also they have about 14 (guestimate) tv channels with about half a dozen (guestimate again)of them being movies. I've heard Cathay Pacific did the same as a trial but not sure if that's true or it's still going.

<BR>How old is your teenager? 13 or 19. it makes a big difference. Whatever the age is, can't they decide on their own what to bring. Most teenagers have a mind of their own.

it makes a big difference if they are younger or older teenagers and whether they are male or female. if they are artsy and they like to write, journals are a great idea. They will be glad after that they had them, and are a good thing to do while you are there, and prepare for on the plane. purchase simple 90 page spiral notebooks at your supermarket or pharmacy and let them cut pictures out of magazines of things that will personalize their journal. Laminate the cover with scotch tape because you'll be carrying it places and you don't want to lose it. Simple three-liner entries are okay too, and I find when I write in my journal, starting off with ten different lists and just adding onto them each day is fun. if you are going to a new destination, make a lost of things to bring home, stuff you've seen, stuff you want to see, stuff you like, stuff you don't like, and funny things you've seen. That way for boys and less-artsy kids, they don't have to do the classic "Dear Diary" junk. You will be surprised how enthusiastic they are if you provide an incentive(i.e. when they fill 20 pages, they get $10 or something). Also, for the whole family, purchase a map of the states (if you are from the states) or the world, and make dots on all the places you've been. This is fun to do because it brings back old memories and it's neat to continue to add places you want to go in one color, never want to go in another, and places you've been. The map becomes colorful and it's fun to see which areas of the world you have tended towards etc. <BR> Cheap paperbacks, magazines and yearbooks are cool to look at when no one's in the mood to do a project or learn. <BR> Good luck!