US travellers should really lobby their airlines to install Airshow (ironically by US company Rockwell Collins), which has become standard in the rest of the world in new aircraft, a moving map display on the cabin screens that shows where you are all the time.

There is no such thing as a "standard" flight path nowadays, as routing is determined for each flight taking into account weather, other traffic, etc, although airlins will want to follow a straight line where possible.

I've followed flights across the western US with a Rand McNally US road atlas before now, and it's always worth taking one with you if you've got a window seat. Don't laugh, as an old-days flight deck navigator I knew said he used to do the same out of the cockpit windows as it gave different detail to the aeronautical charts. As this post started, sit on the north side both ways as the reduced glare allows much greater visibility.

Interesting information from pilots over the cabin PA was suppressed from the corporate level on many airlines following complaints, from those who cannot go more than 5 minutes on an aircraft without their beloved electronic entertainment, that the movie soundtrack was being interrupted.