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The offered games on the menu in front of you can provide at least some entertainment. They're worth mentioning anyway. A popular airline in July of 2009 was offering not only violent shoot-em-up Doom, but also Tower Toppler. Too soon? Guess not.
Reading material is very important of course, but make sure you bring the right kind. A few magazines are okay if you're just flying a few hundred miles, but for this, you'll want the big guns. Bring at least four different books of varying length. Nothing too difficult, but not too easy either. Make sure they are of wildly different genres, with similar non-fiction counterparts. Science Fiction and real science. Fantasy or Western and History. Romance and Psychology. Whether or not you'll finish them is not the point. Some people bring huge book and try to finish it on the flight. Bad idea.
Music is the same deal. If you just bring country, you'll be sick of it after 8 hours of the same clouds going by. Make sure your playlist includes a sample of every genre you have, everything you have even the smallest possible interest in. If you only have one kind of music, you could be in for a long journey. Now is the time to start getting some more. (Keep reading for why you should book very early.)
Movies too. Bring a movie player of some kind. A small DVD player with it's own screen is all you really need, not a lap-top. Several seasons of your favorite shows is a good idea, but of course movies are important as well. Two extremes, such as action and drama, light-hearted and serious.
Get the seat you want. This is so important it was saved for last. Do not wait until the last minute, or even the last week, to book your flight if you can help it. Even if you don't book on the actual airline's website (of course get the best deal you can), take a moment to look at the airline's website anyway. Make sure they have a seating chart that displays which seats have been taken already. Make sure you are even allowed to pick your own seats!
It's always a good idea to book in advance, and seat choice is the most important reason why. If you like the bulkhead, book in advance. If you want a good window seat, book in advance. Most airline diagrams will display whether or not it's right over the wing, but not always. You can avoid this if you avoid any window seats in the middle of the plane. If you will be flying down the coast, make sure you know which side of the plane the ocean is going to be on. It will make a difference after 12 hours.
Keep your options open on long flights. You're going to be spending a long time in a cramped space. You have to keep your mind occupied. When you get to wherever it is that you're going, you probably won't need any of it. But it will be worth lugging it all around Europe, if you didn't lose your mind on the way there.
