The New Travel Trend Wins The Internet As People Refuse Using Any Amenities During Long Flights

When I was 12, my mom and I went on a long-long trip to visit my grandpa in another city. It was a 13-hour drive on a hot steppe road in a damn hot bus, and the only entertainment that was available to me during that trip was staring out the window and reading (and re-reading) a sports magazine that I bought at a newspaper stand at the bus station. At the time I called it just a terrible journey. Now I understand - it was a 'raw-dogging trip'.

Yes, that’s right - in the era of the universal dominance of TikTok and instant messengers, when many of us already consider a 10-minute video long and boring, a new, absolutely swashbuckling travel trend is emerging. And this is how things stand with this.

More info: TikTok

If we enter the words 'rawdog flight' in the TikTok search, we'll also find hundreds of videos where netizens - mostly men, but lately women too - brag about their achievements and incredible endurance. Some have spent three hours in a plane seat, some six, and some even eleven, refusing the numerous amenities available on board. That is, smartphones, movies, TV series and music.

The only electronic gadget that these people allow themselves is a flight map. Some go even further and give up sleep and water altogether, but this, it seems to me, is a little too much. The main concept of raw-dogging is to prove to everyone and to yourself that you aren't gadget addicted. And then, of course, share that evidence online.

Apparently, the concept was pioneered by a London-based TikToker named West, who went viral on May 26th, declaring that he had just "successfully completed another 7h flight only watching the maps." The video, which West himself titled "Anyone else bareback flights?" collected 2M views, tons of respect in the comments - and numerous followers rushed to repeat the idea.

"Yup, from London to Miami this week, 8 hours 45 mins, pure bareback no food or water. Not even the map. Tried to go no toilet too but had to about 7 hours in," one of the commenters replied under the original video. And with each new day there were more and more such followers. "No headphones. Just the maps. A person finds out exactly who they are in these moments," another responder claimed.

True, the somewhat ambiguous name, coined by West, was changed to the synonymous but more brutal-sounding “raw-dogging.” People also remembered how in last year’s TV series Hijacked, Idris Elba’s character was forced to do without a smartphone on a plane hijacked by crooks. And they tried to compare themselves in terms of coolness with the hero of the show. "Just rawdogged a 7 hr flight (new personal best) no headphones, no movie, no water, nothing. Incredible. The power of my mind knows no bounds," another acolyte told in their related video.

“We can regard this as some kind of attempt to return to the roots, because for many decades people traveled, having, at best, a book or a travel companion as entertainment. And it’s good if this fellow traveler turned out to be an interesting interlocutor,” says Valery Bolgan, a historian and editor-in-chief of the Intent news agency, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment. “And long hours or days of such emotional 'abstinence' only increased the effect after arriving on site.”

“You can compare this trend with the spread of fashion for vinyl records among music connoisseurs. Or with the fashion for other modern services' analogue versions from the past. After all, a little digital detox during the flight certainly won’t hurt. If there is no health risk, then why not try something new?" Valery wonders.

That's probably right. When literally every second of our life we are bombarded with tons of various content of varying degrees of usefulness, the very opportunity to spend a few hours alone only with yourself and your pure thoughts feels absolutely priceless. An opportunity to gain a new or long-forgotten experience.

In the end, returning to that trip of mine and the sports magazine, which I literally memorized by heart over many hours in the bus... There was a big article in this magazine talking about Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman, so I got off the bus already a devoted Cowboys fan. And I remain so until today. Some might call it a flaw... Well, as they say, nobody's perfect.