How do you spend the hours on a long flight? Read a book, watch the in-flight entertainment, listen to a podcast, or scroll through your phone? Well, a new travel trend does away with all that.
Called “rawdogging”, the bizarre new trend originated with young men on the internet who refrained from all forms of in-flight entertainment and decided to simply stare out the window or sit with their thoughts for the duration of their flight.
This means no films, music, sleep, headphones, snacks or distractions once you have been seated.
Interestingly, the term was previously used to denote sexual intercourse without protection and now it’s all over the internet albeit in a different context. Many term the experience “meditative and challenging”.
In May, the post of a TikTok user, @westwashere, went viral when he mentioned his decision to forgo any entertainment and pass a seven-hour trip watching the flight map.
“Anyone else bareback flights?” he asked in the caption.
Several content creators have since shared on social media their “personal best” attempts at flying entertainment-free.
After making it through a seven-hour flight without headphones or movies, DJ and producer @oiwudini posted a video with this caption: “Incredible. The power of my mind knows no bounds.”
Another user who did the same, @kareemrahma, wrote: “Just rawdogged my 7-hour flight from NYC to London. No entertainment, no headphones, no books, no blanket or pillow – just pure vibes.
“The mind is capable of amazing things. My mind knows no limits. I am operating in a different spiritual realm. I am an enlightened spiritual being. Seven hours of pondering will change a man.”
@kareemrahma Just rawdogged my longest flight yet. #bareback #rawdog #airplanes #flights #travel ♬ Motivational - Vioo Sound
Women have since caught up with the trend, too.
@wunderfullymichelle noted how few of her fellow passengers seemed to be watching anything other than the flight map during a five-hour trip from New York to San Francisco.
“I have never seen so many people raw-dogging a flight in my life. Literally just staring straight ahead the entire time?”, she wrote, over a video that takes a wider look at the cabin and shows several seats in which the entertainment system is open to the map function.
Travel influencer Sophi Cooke also shared a clip of her mom “rawdogging” a recent transatlantic flight and added that it was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
“My mom’s beige flag is that she rawdogs every flight, no matter how long. This is her on a 9-hour flight. No iPad. No headphones. No book,” she wrote in the original video. “At least she’s comfy! Go girl.”
@cookestraveltok Queen Pat 😇 #travel #airplane #traveltok #europe #traveltiktok #europe2023 #swissair #airline ♬ original sound - SophiAndyTravel
Many in the comments were confused about how it worked, while others described getting on a plane without headphones as their “biggest fear”.
Cooke’s followers were curious to hear her mother's reason for doing this, with the influencer later posting a clip where her mother, Pat ,explained why she “rawdogs” flights.
“Okay, so here's my rationale,” she said in the clip, revealing that she used the time for self-reflection.
“Think about your goals. Maybe your regrets, maybe your fantasies. And just chill.”