Boredom Disorder in the Friendly Skies

I'm off to sail the friendly skies.  Tomorrow, I will fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to do a work presentation for almost 2 weeks.  I am just about ready to go, but taking a few moments here to check in.  I won't be able to blog as regularly while I am over there, but do intend on keeping up some sort of consistent communication.  

In preparing for this trip, I have had to do more research on how to fly comfortably for such a long period of time.  What does one DO for long stretches of time, buckled into a small space, squished next to folks one does not yet know, getting constantly bumped in the elbow as others pass by on the way to the restroom?  Well, I'm about to find out.  The ipod, computer and books are all packed up tight in the carry-on, with hopes to keep me busy for hours.  Then there's the in-flight movie.  And then there's the cushy-soft headrest my husband bought me as a suggestion that maybe - just maybe - I would sleep some of this terminal exhaustion off.    With all my worry about what I will do for 25 - something hours, I am beginning to wonder if I have a boredom disorder.

What would that be?  An inability to sit still for extended periods of time.  Now sitting on an airplane for 25 hours would probably drive anyone to need a distraction.  But the degree of which I feel concerned that I will be 'too bored' has me worried.  Has our instant gratification world turned me outward instead of inward?  Do I demand constant entertainment when I could be more introspectively focused?  Yes.  Without a doubt.  We are bombarded with media - I don't need to tell you all about it.  Every other blog is hollering how we need to turn it all off.  But I suppose it really hits home when I am faced with what could be seen as 25 blissful, solitary hours (on a noisy airplane with a zillion people smashed in like sardines), but lovely long hours a mother hardly ever gets... and I am just so worried that I will be bored.  I hate to say it, but I sound like I'm 9 years old.

Stay tuned.  I will let you know how the flights go, and how I dealt with my boredom disorder the first time 'round.