Trip Knitting

Picture this...
I'm riding in a crowded airplane trying to knit. The big (BIG) dude next to me is trying to fall asleep and in between snuggling his head on my shoulder and twitching....... I'm trying to knit!
Those twitches of his made me jump practically out of my seat and I kept dropping stuff!  I seriously thought about jabbing him with my dpn's, but decided (safe decision) that I shouldn't. *He was over 250lbs and his head practically touched the bulkhead even when slumped over!*   It was only an hour flight, I can last, right?  He should make it to Nashville with both of his eyeballs intact.
Well.....
He did. He survived. I didn't knit, but the dude survived. Wonder who won that one? 
Sigh.  I had pre-planned the flight! I pre-planned my entire trip! ~bet you wouldn't have thought that huh? 
I started thinking about what kind of knitting I would be taking about five minutes after I booked.  I knew the length of my flights and tried to pack (knitting) accordingly.  I didn't want  to have a brand new project just starting and/or a huge sweater. I wanted to travel light. Sigh. Obviously the guy next to me didn't plan as well. C'mon! He should have napped BEFORE getting into that seat. 
I really thought hard about what stuff I could do while sitting in a cramped seat knowing that there would be someone next to me that might be uncomfortable if my knitting needles jabbed them.
 Damn! Now that I think about it more.... I should have totally poked him. "Oops!" I would say ~with a totally innocent face~ "I'm sorry, did I poke you? " Then I would have to climb over him to get to the restroom because I would be laughing so hard I would need to go! aah... If only I were that brave.
Pre-planning for a trip is hard! No matter where I'm going, I have to take something to do. If I'm in a car I have to take knitting. Have to. I can't read because I get woozy. I can knit though, weird huh? I don't like being crowded on an airplane so I can't really read then either... more woozy and I always feel like the people next to me are trying to read over my shoulder, so I knit! Ha! Now I know they are looking at me, but it's different.
 I try to only take one or two things that don't take up a lot of space. Each individual project has to be pretty compact; meaning that it can't use over one or two skeins of yarn and/or use a bunch of needles. * Another thing I've discovered when flying... dpn's aren't fun on a plane. Not at all. Especially if the dude next to you thinks he paid for your seat as well as his!*
We take a lot of car trips as a family. A day trip here or there and seem to spend a lot of time driving.  Makes it a whole lot easier for 'trip knitting'.   have the entire back of the car to pack full pack the extra yarn and needles for a project and it's easy to  pull into a yarn shop and get something new what I need to finish.  * shh don't tell Big, but I have EVERY yarn shop mapped out around where we live and the route we take to go to Michigan and Tennessee!*
So let's pre-plan a little family trip. Shall we? A car trip about 9 hours and I don't have to drive much of it.  See how that works?  Hubby thinks he's the big strong man by driving and I've suddenly got time on my hands! Smart huh? He's not going to need the map anyway (snort!) so I don't even have to do that part!  Let's knit!
What to bring? Something small and compact.  I need to bring something that doesn't need a lot of yarn and that can be easily finished in a few hours.  Scarves. Yeah. That's an option. Kind of a boring one right?  How about socks?  If I'm not in a plane dpn's will probably be okay and there is enough space between me and my chauffeur to avoid (accidentally) poking him, and should only take one ball of yarn. Sounds like a viable option. Any other ideas?
Baby stuff. Maybe. Most baby stuff is small and only takes a few skeins of yarn ~but... I have the whole back of the car remember? Big doesn't need all the junk stuff he's taking right? Or the kid? Do we have to take the kid? Okay, okay... I'll think smaller. Less yarn, less stuff!
I've got a whole Christmas list of things I need to knit before then.... fingerless mitts for Gabby, teddy bear for Jax....... the list goes on. Maybe some of that stuff.  It's hard to decide on just one thing. It's really hard to pre-plan my entertainment for a road trip! Help!?
I need some more ideas here guys... we will no doubt be heading out somewhere in the next few weeks and I will need to be knitting something on the way! My family will need me to be doing something so I'm not bugging them!  Help me make sure my family is safe!!! Send me some ideas won't you please!