Originally Posted by
songsc
Left and right are with respect to the direction of travel (ok, not during push back/power back). Doors are labeled as L1, L2, R1, R2, for example.
As for ships, the trick I learned was: PORT=LEFT as they both contain 4 letters.
In North American aviation, left and right are often referred to as the #1 and #2 sides. The #1 side being the side the Captain sits on (left) and #2 being the side the First Officer sits on (right). That helps avoid confusion in certain situations, such as a ground handler giving signals to a crew during pushback (the crew is facing forward, the ground handler is looking towards the tail).
But referring to the #1 and #2 sides means even less to the general travelling public than port and starboard does, so they're usually only used internally between some employees.