Travel distractions

I want to take a minute to talk about a very important subject. What do you do on your way to your vacation destination? I personally like to do a variety of things to keep myself from going crazy while being stuck in my airplane seat, let me share what I did on the way to Kauai.

I listened to an audio book by Tina Fey called Bossy Pants. This book is in a word, hilarious. Tina Fey can tell a story and infuse it with so much humor that it will leave you crying (in a good way).
Another book I had with me was Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell which was about the history of Hawaii after European explorers reached the island. It was very interesting and also had plenty of current information to keep it from being a textbook. My final read was a guilty pleasure graphic novel called Fables about storybook characters in modern day New York (city and upstate). It is a very creative take on characters we thought we knew. Definitely not for kids as it has some language and adult situations.

We took the requisite amount of DVD's for the plane ride, and for our stay home nights. My son s going through a Pixar, and Thomas the Tank Engine phase. Needless to say I have seen Cars and A Bugs Life more than I wished, and I feel like a very useful engine for doing it (ask your kids they will know what that means).
For myself and my wife we took Salt (angelina action movie), The Kings Speech (just really good), and the Hangover (you have to stop thinking and laugh sometime on vacation).

Yes it does seem ridiculous to be on a island paradise and bring things to do indoors. But it is better to be prepared, than to be stuck with a bored toddler. More latter :)