When I went to India in the beginning of this year, I did a lot of traveling. I wrote a bunch of blog posts during my travels and realized that I never actually posted them. So over the next few days I will be posting a series related to “music while traveling”.

Here is the first one, enjoy!

music-for-the-aeroplane

While traveling, music is essential to endure the inevitable wait; waiting in lines, waiting to board the plane, waiting for the flight to take off, waiting to reach your destination, and waiting and waiting and more waiting.

Frequent traveling makes me really appreciate the ability to take my music collection along with me everywhere I go. Since I would not have access to Spotify overseas, I bought $110 worth of music to add to my digital collection. For curiosities sake here is what I bought:

(I have not bought digital music in a very long time due to Pandora, Soundcloud and Spotify and I have to say purchasing albums for keeps sake in my digital library is both refreshing and comforting.)

  1. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
  2. alt-J – An Awesome Wave
  3. Atmosphere – Southsiders
  4. The Black Keys – Attack & Release
  5. D’Angelo – Black Messiah
  6. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
  7. DJ Shadow – The Private Press
  8. Glass Animals – Zaba
  9. Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk
  10. Kim Hiorthoy – Hei
  11. Vulfpeck – Fugue State

In a crowded airport, the feeling of being part of “The Herd” is real. It is uncomfortable and there is nothing more soothing than music to help you feel a little more like an individual. Even if the person next to you is listening to the same thing is doesn’t matter because your experience of the song and their experience of the song will be different. That is what I love about music. The music you’re listening to, in your personal headphones, is for you and you only.

While trying to enjoy your musical experience during travels there are a few things to consider. First and foremost, if you want a good quality music experience, invest in a good pair of noise cancelling headphones.

Crying babies, screaming children, and obnoxious adults are like constant water balloons hitting you in the face working to disintegrate your peace and serenity in airports and on airplanes. After buying $100 of new music for the ride and trying to listen to it with my inexpensive, standard Seniheiser headphones, I can tell you that it would definitely be worth the investment, especially if you are going to listen to new music. The first time I listen to any album, I try to make it the best quality experience I can in order to fully understand it before I make any judgments. Also, if you don’t feel like paying for wi-fi on the plane, make sure that you download music into your library on your phone, ipod or device of your choosing.

Okay so, enough about the logistics, now the real question is what to listen to? From my experience I found that typically in an airport, I enjoy listening to music that will relax me, and ease any tensions I may carry. I also enjoy music that would make the experience of traveling feel a little more cinematic, I especially enjoy this type of music during “take off”(more on this in the next post). But, the best way to pick your music, is to think about what you like to listen to when you feel a little nervous, excited, fearful, sleepy, imaginative and curious. These are the typical emotions we experience while traveling to a new destination, during a new set of space and time, and we all use different music to cope. But let me just say you can never go wrong with good jazz. Stay tuned!

Got a different perspective? Please comment I would love to hear it!

-A