Sometimes when you’re traveling, especially on longer trips or vacations, you’ll end up moving in segments. You’ll fly here and have to stop. You’ll drive here and then have to wait for a train. Buses don’t quite sync up. Subway schedules get moved around. And you’ll spend some time waiting with nothing inherent to do.

That’s when you get to figure out what to do with that spare time. Some suggestions include wandering around the area (around a downtown airport, for instance), organizing your email inbox, exploring new apps on your phone, meditating, or just doing some general people-watching. If you have any of these ideas waiting for you when empty time presents itself, you’ll save yourself some frustration.

Hanging Out In the Area

Do you have a long layover in a major city? If it’s a few hours to kill, just walk around the airport, find out if there’s a way to take a bus or cab into the city, and enjoy the sites. Get some coffee and a bite to eat. Explore the area, knowing that in a little while, you’re going to be cooped up in another chair, seat-belted in for however many hours. This option might be a little more applicable if you’re traveling alone or with a partner, not so much dragging an entire family around, though.

Organizing Your Inbox

Very few people have a very organized digital email inbox. If you have some time to spare and are close enough to a wall outlet, start digging in, organizing, deleting, and responding to emails. There’s really never a good time to do it. It’s boring, and you have to sift through to see what’s important and what’s just throw away. But taking time between jumps of a traveling vacation to do this is a proactive way to spend those moments.

Exploring New Apps

Another thing to use your phone for while you’re waiting is just to explore new apps. Find the best rated free apps on your particular phone platform, and poke around them. There are almost always a few games that are just catchy enough to hold your attention while you’re waiting.

Meditating

And you don’t always have to do something when you’re waiting, per se. You can actively do nothing, if you want, and come out the other end of that tunnel feeling better about yourself in general, ready to move to your next leg of the journey.

People Watching

And as long as you’re not being creepy about it, people-watching is always an option. Especially if you’re in a place you haven’t been before, like a stop somewhere in an exotic location, feel free to really absorb the visual integrity of the situation.