How to Spend Time on the Train

If you're looking at a long, tedious train journey, read on. Take up your seat and put all your belongings in the correct storage area (eg under your seat). You can call or text any friends or waiting relatives till the other passengers arrive and the train finally departs. This will cut down some pre-travel boredom.

Now the train's pulled out of the station. Don't take out your bedclothes or food immediately. Take some time to calmly get used to your surroundings, including the gentle swaying of the train. Observe who you'll be traveling with for the next hours or days. Make yourself as comfortable as possible. Ensure none of your belongings are in danger of falling or rolling away on the floor with the train's motions. In other words, secure everything.

Remember to be polite and kind to the others. If you're a friendly sort, don't hesitate to befriend them and start talking to bide the time away. If you're not in the mood for conversation, or are simply feeling contemplative, just introduce yourself, ask their name and... that's it. It may be possible that they won't be feeling chatty themselves. However, don't let this bother you and do your own thing.

Eat! Bring your favourite snacks and you'll notice that time passes by faster. Take care to avoid bringing perishable food, but if you do bring it, ensure you consume it within 8 hours otherwise it may decay.

Read! Bring a new book, or an engrossing old one, or you may buy a newspaper from the station beforehand. If you take a newspaper though, don't forget that you'll probably finish it faster than a book, so it won't keep you entertained for much time.

Music! Now's the time to take out that MP3 player or your headphones and lose yourself to the beat. Compose a playlist at that very moment, suiting the scenery outside to reduce even more time in which you can get bored. Don't forget: your device's battery won't last forever.

Games! Solve the Sudoku in the newspaper, or bring along a crossword puzzle book. Or if you want, play games on your phone or tablet. If you have wifi available, why you could use that opportunity to even contribute to WikiHow! It's up to you, however why would you spend time on your phone when you could enjoy the scenery outside? Open the window and enjoy the wind. Think about life.

Draw! Write! Bring your sketchbook or journal (if you keep one of these) or even use the newspaper (if you've bought one) to write, draw or make origami items or simply doodle your heart out.

Talk! You've spent plenty of time now. Why not talk to your fellow passengers? You never know how interesting a person can be without talking to them. Share funny incidents, music or even chat about anything and everything.

Pictures! Take pictures of the scenery racing past you to preserve the moments forever.

Sleep! If you're convinced that time just isn't passing by, go to sleep and when you wake up, you'll be happy to discover that the hands on your watch have traversed a lot. Besides, the more you rest, the more refreshed you will be at the end.

At every stop, try to get out even if for a few minutes to stretch your legs, grab a coffee (if it's available) and just stock up.