What to Do on an Aeroplane

When planning a trip, I put more thought into what I will do on the plane, train, whilst waiting in airports, stations and in quiet moments on holiday, than almost any other aspect of the trip. I have to get that planned well in advance, only then can I think about clothes and what the place will have to offer.

I will be taking my Scrap Happy blanket to crochet – yes you can take crochet hooks on board a plane. I have done so many times. (Just in case I meet with a problem, I take a cheap old plastic hook that I wouldn’t mind losing, keeping a better one tucked away in my case).

There needs to be an alternative to crochet as well. At first I thought I would take this 11″ x 11″ sketchbook in which I have painted some backgrounds,

but it is rather big and heavy, so I bought two 6 x 6 inch sketch books, one with black paper, one with white, and some gel pens intending to draw some small mandalas.

I’m not sure if the airline will be happy with a compass, hence an old CD to draw round. I drew some circles in preparation

and could not resist having a quick doodle.

and another

I remembered the ‘false writing’ Julie Balzer had shown us on the Whimsical Collage Workshop

It is such fun to do

These mandalas were not turning out at all as I had originally planned. I thought I would re-visit Alisa Burke’s superb online Mandala Magic Course, that I first took back in July 2015. She has so many wonderful online classes. I can highly recommend them – Alisa is very generous with all of her tips, techniques and ideas. Once you have bought a class you have unlimited access to it forever.

I was on a roll and enjoying this more minimalist form, keeping to the CD as the basis of the patterns – it feels like it might turn into a little series – I’m fantasizing about how I will frame them as a group …….

But Stop! This is supposed to be for when I’m travelling.

Luckily there are 40 pages in each book.

Reluctantly I have put them away for now.

What do you take with you to do when you are travelling?