Whether on a long flight, family road trip or long train ride en route to visit family, catch up with binge-worthy TV shows and must-reads on your next trip. Download some top shows and movies with Netflix or stream online as you go.
TV for Parents and Adult Children
Watch Game of Thrones on a long flight. The epic fantasy drama already has six seasons, with the seventh and final season premiering this year. Each episode is more than one hour long, providing hours of violence, plotting and political strategy for travelers to pass the time.
Get into six seasons of Soviet spies, Cold War politics and FBI dealings with The Americans. Each 45-minute episode plays like a movie and, with 75 episodes of crime, drama and mystery set in the 1980s, there is plenty to watch.
TV for All Ages
For something lighter, enjoy Parks and Recreation between flights. The NBC comedy starred Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Rashida Jones, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and a slew of top comedic actors and cameo appearances. Each 30-minute mockumentary episode boasts hilarious political satire, real-life situations and quirky humor.
Watch something light, quick and highly original during a long layover, like Pushing Daisies. The series originally aired in 2007 and ended in 2009, starring Lee Pace and Anna Friel. The two complete seasons offer 22 episodes of criminal investigation meets romantic comedy plotlines with a whimsical twist.
Throw back to 2003 with the Arrested Development series. With five seasons, 85 episodes and more to come on Netflix, the Bluth family is the perfect distraction from long travel days.
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Books for Adults and Teens
Travel with a book and enhance each destination and experience with an engaging downtime activity. Whether reading while relaxing on the beach or killing time in transit, consider a new and engrossing novel for your next family trip.
For comedic relief between locations, delve into Nomad by Steve Coogan as his beloved buffoon character, Alan Partridge. Nomad sees Partridge through a coming-of-age story only a wealthy adult man could experience. Coogan’s writing is a smart, quick-witted and light read for travelers on the go.
Get the kids engaged in some historical fiction with All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The novel’s short chapters transition between the duel plotline focusing on the lives of two enthralling characters. Discover how a blind French girl and German boy cross paths in German-occupied France during World War II.
Explore the great outdoors with John Muir’s Wilderness Essays. Muir was not only an explorer and writer, but also an activist. His passion for nature preservation and quizzical reflections in the Wilderness Essays read like poetry. Muir’s essays are ideal for travelers, as they can dip in and out between stories.
If you haven’t already read or watched the critically acclaimed memoir turned film, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a must read. The incredible story of one woman’s family history and how the ups and (mostly) downs shaped her and her siblings’ lives is an impressive story of character and determination.
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