What do you do with idle time?

[Matty Van Halen]

Iv been on a trip for the last 5 days so im  for all practical purposes, living in the van full time .  The area im in has little or no wireless service, so the evenings can be boring.  im used to spending the evenings doing my emails, web surfing and watching some of my fav youtube channels.  

During the day im out and about and walking around and taking part in activities but the evenings, when im in the van with not much to do is the least enjoyable part. I stopped and got another book to read today.

So i guess my question is to the full timers out there.... what do you do?

 

[AMGS3]

Crochet or listen to podcasts. It's easier when you download them when you're in wifi or good cell signal.

~angie

 

[Almost There]

What idle time....  

Oh, you  mean the time between when all my friends call it a night and when I'm ready to go to bed!!

I read and play games on my laptop.

Most of the time I have cell service but I lived the whole summer with none so I learned to download 2 or even 3 books ahead of time on to my Kindle when I had access to limited WiFi so that I wouldn't run out of reading material when I had no connections to the outside world. If I'm on the road and don't know if I'm going to have cell service then I definitely download ahead of time.

If I've got cell service/mobile hotspot then I end up here and on Facebook, then go play on line games or shut the laptop down and read.

 

[MrNoodly]

I read. I have a hard drive filled with ebooks and I buy more, too, when I find a subject that really interests me.

 

[QinReno]

Local sports bar.

 

[bullfrog]

Live outside. If the weather is good. Inside I sleep, read and try to figure out how to make things easier or better. I like to read about or stories from the area I'm in. When the suns up I'm outside till the sun goes down with a campfire when permitted. I keep a lot of lists so I can remember what I was thinking the night before. Read a little and go to sleep.

 

[Kenwrite]

Sit down with pen and plenty of paper. Lots of paper. You'll need it.
Then write down EVERYTHING you've ever said or thought you wanted to do but didn't have the time/energy/patience to do. Everything that you couldn't begin or sustain or finish because of the distractions and interruptions and demands of a "normal" life.
Read books. WRITE a book. Learn a language. Learn an instrument. Engage in an actual deep correspondence with actual hard-copy pen-and-paper LETTERS! Write to people who have influenced you, especially those who wouldn't know you from Adam.
Especially those who have dropped out of the public eye. Was there a sports hero that retired fairly young 30 years ago that you admired? Write him. He will be thrilled that someone thinks of him after all these years. Same with a fave movie star or TV star or musician that has dropped out of the limelight. Who knows? You might get into a steady correspondence, a real friendship with someone who had, at one time, the admiration of tens of millions. And now you're a traveler. You might get an invite to "stop by".
Did you always like Math? Any college town has used bookstores with some wonderful used textbooks. Same for any other science or humanities.
Ever want to paint or sketch or draw? You now have a million strangers and landscapes outside your vehicle. And hours to practice.
What do I do? Unfortunately, I'm not mobile yet. But I'm already eager to hours and days to get back into fiction writing. I will get one of those surplus Calculus textbooks. And I'm already writing a Journal, which can easily eat up an hour or more.
The possibilities are multitude. I can't wait.
Go for it.

 

[Blanch]

I do a lot of photography. I also write. I listen to audiobooks via the Libby app. I work on my rig. I enjoy my music. I meditate. I visit with folks if I am not camped alone. I cook. I play with my dogs. And sometimes I just sit and enjoy the feeling of not being stressed by the world.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JuliaAnne2018]

I would have to plan to be in an area with Internet because of my work, but I'd like to get back into crafts, and I should really practice my music again.

Sent from my RS500 using Tapatalk

 

[mpruet]

I have an iPad and am a member of www.bookbub.com.  That web site gives me access to a lot of books which I can download for fairly cheap to a kindle app on my iPad.  When I'm in locations with no internet, I already have a sizable collection in the library within my kindle app.  So I read.   I also have a blog (https://GoneRetired.com) so might write an entry, and I have a YouTube channel so I might work on a video.

 

[rosiemartinez1211]

One of my biggest concerns.......
Some good ideas tossed out
I already stocked up on some paperbacks and already have paint to play with.
Buuuuuut I think I'm gonna go thru withdrawals if I have no internet access.

 

[Dingfelder]

I read. I have a hard drive filled with ebooks and I buy more, too, when I find a subject that really interests me.

Me too, then I don't read those either!  LOL, actually I usually have several books going at once ... but I do have more than I could ever read in this lifetime and still keep buying more ...

 

[Dingfelder]

One of my biggest concerns.......
Some good ideas tossed out
I already stocked up on some paperbacks and already have paint to play with.
Buuuuuut I think I'm gonna go thru withdrawals if I have no internet access.

Both Amazon Prime and Netflix let you download movies and TV series, dozens of hours at a time.  Many of the newer tablets and phones can hold that much.  With good reception, you can download a movie in five or ten minutes, and each service comes out to about ten bucks a month.

If you can manage a trip to wherever you find good cheap internet, you can load up weeks or months' worth of watching pretty fast.

It's some of the cheapest entertainment around.  And there are plenty of documentary series too, so it doesn't have to be just something that turns off your brain.

 

[rosiemartinez1211]

With good reception, you can download a movie in five or ten minutes, and each service comes out to about ten bucks a month.

Are you saying you can download and then watch without internet service? That would be incredible.

I have a laptop I'm planning on taking with me. Can I download to that? Or is a flash drive better?

Thanks

 

[Dingfelder]

Yes, you only need internet service long enough to download the movie/TV show. After that, watch it whenever you want. At least as long as you maintain your membership.* There is no time limit until you start watching, and with Netflix, not even that applies.

I went and looked on my PC at both Amazon and Netflix, and didn't see the download option. However, I regularly download many things on my tablets. It may not be available on computers, sorry. At least I couldn't see the download option.

However, I have three generations of Amazon Kindles and they all let me download on either Netflix or from Amazon Prime. Actually Amazon automatically downloads movies in the background if you don't have anything saved. Maybe it's a tablet/phone thing only.

Luckily, tablets are dirt cheap these days. The Fire 7 tablet starts at 50 bucks. Even Amazon's 10 incher is usually around $150 with the occasional sale. (watch for upcoming Black Friday sales!) Both have great looking video.

______________________________
*Then again, if your wireless is turned off on a tablet, I don't think they'll know whether your membership is expired or not....

 

[rosiemartinez1211]

Well darn on the computer but yes, tablets are cheap now.
Thank you so much for this info!
Gonna start downloading to my phone while I'm still home with internet service.

 

[WanderingRose]

I read, and love BookBub for free or inexpensive ebooks.

 

[RoamerRV428]

remember also you can move a little and find yourself in wonderful wireless service area. beauty of being mobile is you can do that

Sleep earlier. I love my sleep and being super active during the day I find it is very easy to kick back, close my eyes and snooze. I would rather be up at 4 am from going to bed earlier than going to sleep later and waking up later. I am a super early person, always was, so going to sleep at 9pm is super easy for me to do I find I can easily entertain myself til 9 without being bored and then hit the hay

 

[highdesertranger]

idle time, what's that? highdesertranger

 

[QinReno]

Here's the other alternative that isn't on the radar screen of people here. jamie's van build getogether. Bacchanalia in the desert.
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