What a 10-year-old boy said about long haul flight

Our family’s longest flight to date was a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, where we visited relatives.

Our itinerary typically looked like this: we flew from Dallas to Tokyo, Japan, which took about 13 to 14 hours. After a layover of 1 hour and 45 minutes, we continued to Jakarta for another 8-hour flight.

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The return journey from Jakarta to Dallas was the same route but slightly quicker. The flight from Jakarta to Tokyo was 10 minutes faster, while the leg from Tokyo to Dallas was 1 hour and 15 minutes faster. This included a layover of 3 hours and 15 minutes in Japan.

Sometimes, we flew to Hong Kong, which added 2 to 3 hours to our travel time, but it was a shorter route from Hong Kong to Jakarta.

Other times, we traveled to Los Angeles or San Francisco first, with a layover in either Tokyo or Taipei.

It was a long flight, right? And we flew economy class, where we had to pass Business or First Class when we entered and left the plane. Torture! Haha.

Our son said it was unfair because their seats were much wider, and there was a spacious space between them. And they could lie down flat when they wanted to sleep. I said it was fair because they paid more than double to sit there.

Check out this last-minute packing checklist to ensure you’re ready for the trip.

Next is my Q&A with our 10-year-old about his long-haul flight experience. It was not the first time for him, but it was the first time that he could really experience and talk about it from his heart.

What a 10-year-old boy said about a long-haul flight

Me: What do you think about the long-haul flight?

Son: It was a good way to get some sleep.

Me: What did you like best about the long-haul flight?

Son: Sleeping.

Me: What else did you like about it?

Son: Watching lots of movies. We have an individual TV screen on each seat. So, everyone got to watch their own movies.

Our son watched movies and played games a lot on this trip. I had to remind him to get some sleep, and he ended up taking it for a long time. 

Looking back, we were fortunate with his habit on the plane. The first time he flew was when he was 7 months old. He cried a little when we were halfway to Los Angeles from Dallas. After that, he never cried again. At all. Even when we flew to Indonesia two months after that.

As a toddler, he preferred to read, play with his toys, or sleep. He didn’t want to watch movies or play games.

It’s the same when he gets older: He reads, plays with his toys, or sleeps.

He started watching movies and playing games on this last trip.

Me: What did you don’t like about it?

Son: The food. It’s blah to most of it. (Note: our son is a very picky eater.)

Me: What did you bring to keep you from boredom?

Son: Food, books, neck pillow.

Yeah. We brought lots of Saltine crackers and fish crackers with us.

During one of the visits, he liked to eat this type of sweet bread. So I packed enough for him to snack on between Jakarta and the U.S. Well, once we took off from the airport, he didn’t want to eat that bread anymore.

Fortunately, he still ate the dinner roll that came with the food.

Me: What do you think about the aircrew?

Son: Quite good.

Me: What do you think about the lavatory?

Son: It will be better if it’s much bigger. There’s not enough space.

Me: What did you do during the layover?

Son: Sleep.

Me: What do you think about jet lag?

Son: Confusing.

Me: Last question. Do you want to do another long-haul flight in the future?

Son: Maybe… Just to Indonesia… I might want to go to the UK, though. (Of course, to see his favorite YouTuber!)

Are you going overseas for the first time? Check out these tips for new international travelers to make your trip exciting and memorable.