Fifteen-and-a-half hours on a plane. That's two workdays. In that time, you could watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, the two Hobbit movies, and squeeze in a power nap.
QF8 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Sydney is the longest non-stop flight in the world, well-endowed at 13,810 kilometres. As we said, it's a bum-numbing 15.5-hour journey. Its partner in crime, QF7 from Sydney–Dallas, clocks in at just under 15 hours.
Let us all bask in TV's warm glowing warming glow (Image: Qantas)
Thankfully, the good people at HBO (that's the American TV network Home Box Office, try to keep up) are sympathetic to our first-world in-flight plight, and have bestowed 120 hours of cable TV goodness upon us. I, for one, welcome our new TV overlords.
Qantas recently announced the addition of four new channels and 280 hours of content to its in-flight entertainment network. In addition to HBO, three new Foxtel channels will include hard-hitting drama such as Australia's Next Top Model and Real Housewives of Melbourne. But back to HBO...
What to binge-watch on HBO
Veep: Veep is a satirical look into American politics and proof that Julia Louis-Dreyfus can do no wrong. It's set in the office of Selina Meyer (Louis-Dreyfus), Vice President of the United States and is a deliciously wry comedy about powerful women. Who run the world? JLD.
Game of Thrones: Unless you've been living in a panic room wearing noise-cancelling headphones, you've heard about the multi-award-winning Game of Thrones. The fictitious 'Medieval' GOT world is a complex and bloody one, where individual story lines criss-cross and no character is safe.
True Detective: Originally a novel, this crime-drama follows a pair of Louisiana cops (Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson) and their 17-year pursuit of a serial killer. It's intelligent, dark, captivating watching. NB: True Detective season two has a different cast and setting.
Silicon Valley: Bringing the lols straight from San Fran, Silicon Valley focuses on a group of programmers navigating the crazy world of tech start-ups. It's full of restrained, geeky fun and Millennials will love it, mainly because it was made by the dude who created Beavis and Butt-head.
VICE: Watching VICE docos is like falling down the Wikipedia wormhole. VICE started as a punk magazine in the 90s and is one of the few portals of investigative journalism left. VICE leaves no topic untouched, from drugs to defectors and everything in between.
Girls: There's a good reason Lena Dunham has been hailed "the voice of a generation". This whip-smart lass created Girls, based on the triumphs and tribulations of a bunch of 20-somethings in New York. It's a real, relevant, refreshing look at what it means to be a young adult in today's world.
Are we there yet?
Qantas is old hat at record setting. In 1989, they operated the world's longest non-stop delivery flight from London to Sydney in 21 hours. Before that, they set the record for the longest regular commercial flight (time-wise), from Perth to Sri Lanka in 1944.
Oh, and the superjumbo A380 that services the QF7 and QF8 routes carries enough fuel to fill eight backyard swimming pools, just in case you were wondering.
