Rawdogging a flight is the latest holiday trend you need to try

Imagine the scenario: you’ve boarded an eight-hour flight to New York and boarded to find the in-flight entertainment is blasted, you forgot to pre-order a veggie meal and your phone/laptop/tablet will die Worse, it’s a morning departure, so sleeping the entire trip isn’t even an option.

For most travelers, the idea of ​​spending a long time in the air with nothing to do would be a solution to calling the Mayday. But a new generation of frequent flyers is actively choosing to refrain from any interaction on flights. Known as “raw-dogging”, the trend is spreading through social media faster than a Concorde.

Stop, get out of the area

Despite the easily confused sexual overtones (no, this isn’t a perverted act of initiation into the mile-high club), there’s nothing remotely stimulating about this activity. On the contrary, actually. Similar to a Buddhist monk slipping into a Zen-like meditation, quiet euphoria is achieved by stopping, zoning out and staring into space.

Strangely, the bizarre behavior was mainly linked to men. According to GQ, a 26-year-old Londoner named West started the idea with a viral post that boasted about seven hours of flight time spent looking at a map on the seat screen.

“Bareback flights anyone else?” he wrote. Responding to “how to” calls from intrigued followers, he has since posted several “gross flight” educational videos, including a bare-bones 21-hour stint from London to Perth.

Ultimate challenge

Some converts claim that dogging helps them cope with their fear of flying, others see aerial abstinence as a kind of challenge, channeling the martyrdom of a priest about to enter a religious order.

“In-flight entertainment? You can watch these things anywhere. You know what you can’t do every day? Look out the window and see how small things get as you get further away from the ground. It’s incredible,” posted a visionary @KennethAzor on X in 2022.

Others praised appreciating the golden silence and attaining enlightenment.

There are also medical benefits. After all, doctors have repeatedly emphasized the importance of letting our minds rest.

“Our brains are like sponges,” argues psychologist Dr. Scott Bea, writing for the Cleveland Clinic. “They can only absorb so much information before they’re saturated, and then they have to dry out a little bit.”

If fasting is good for the body, why can’t it be good for our minds?

Journalist Sarah Marshall said: “Personally, I’ve spent several flights drooling over the map on the screen, fantasizing about future travel plans or looking out the window on clear days to see snow-capped mountain peaks below. Being on a plane, knowing that no one can get to me for a number of hours is incredibly relaxing.

“There’s a benefit to creative thinking, too. Some of my best ideas have come to fruition during those long, empty, distraction-free stretches. People pay thousands to therapists for mental health sessions or retreats in remote Himalayan ashrams.

“But the same results can be achieved in a metal tube 9,000 meters above the ground, taking you on a journey far beyond the destination written on your ticket and luggage tags.”