My 13 hour flight just got delayed 7 hours, I’m stuck at my second airport, and I dont think I’m gonna make it. I have some movies and audio books on my phone, but really only anticipated having to burn the flight time via napping and some media, not 7 hours leading up to it, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna mentally burn out on passive media.
- I have media on my phone - movies, shows and audio books, but I can only do about 2-3 hours at a stretch before I burn out on those things.
- I have wifi and power both on the ground and on the plane, although I’m sure the connection once we get going isn’t going to be performance enough for online games.
- I have a phone and headset but didn’t bring a laptop because it was just extra bulk I didn’t think I’d need. I don’t have a switch or steam deck or anything neat.
- I have access to the airport lounge, so drinks are free, and I get free drinks on the plane. I don’t want to get wasted or have to pee constantly, so my plan is to jim lahey it.
- I’m intrigued by mobile games, but every one I’ve tried has felt too gimmicky with gambling or freemium BS mechanics. Also tried started valley but it never got me hooked either. I have an android and will buy games if they’re worth it.
- I’m open to any other ideas that could somehow mentally (or physically while on the ground) stimulate me.
- I’m a dude in my 30s with a family and kids, but I’m currently traveling solo.
- I’ve already killed 2 hours on a plane and 2 more on the ground (my planned connection time) doing nothing, I was saving my media trying to avoid burning out on shit before I get on the plane.
- I suck at sleeping when on the go.
- I’m on my 3rd mimosa and bored as fuck.
Help.
Learn Chess!
Lifelong pain at a mediocre level guaranteed!
Super neat game though.
Maybe they have a rubix cube in one of the shops? Hours of entertainment.
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Go to the tech store in the airport. Buy a cheap chromebook. Open an account on Opalstack. Build a webpage from scratch. Learn a backend language like php or python. Learn git. Maybe set up your own Lemmy instance.
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Install Keyboard Designer from the android play store and take a stab at customizing your own keyboard.
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Leave the airport and go to a museum or swimming pool or poolhall. Be back in time to go through security.
That’s why I always bring a laptop with me even on a holiday. So I could hack or learn something if I got stuck at the airport. The last time I didn’t bring it was when my flight was delayed twice (total 12 hours) at the Frankfurt airport.
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It’s a damn shame that you can’t go to a pharmacy in the airport, tell this tale, and get some xanex to zonk out and time travel to your destination.
Unsure of your preferences with games, but Shattered Pixel Dungeon is free, offline, no ads, and the only purchases are for aesthetics to support the app. It’s an 8-bit rogue like, and never the same game twice.
Maybe learn how to play chess?
Dude, hustle up to the bar and drink 13 beers like the rest of us, and fall asleep on the plane during boarding, after you’ve reminded the gate attendant that you’re mentally handicapped.
Do you go with a catheter and a ziplok or just sleep it off in a puddle of your own urine?
Don’t forget waking up hungover, checking the time, and seeing you still have 3 hours to go in a loud metal tube.
Obviously I’m not alone here.
Hey, how did you get on? Hope the 20 hours passed ok and you had a good flight :-)
I did good! Took a lot of these suggestions and it definitely helped. Mostly a mix of airport walks, some physical games, airport lounge drinks and naps, audio books and a couple of mobile games I actually enjoyed. But I missed my connection so as I write this I’m sitting in another airport after having to spend the night here.
Oh man, nightmare!
Well, safe onward travels, hope you get where you’re going soon :-)
Just in the Android games thing, a couple of recommendations:
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Golf Blitz - very fun crazy golf game which does have IAPs but they’re not at all necessary to progress a long way in the game (in the very upper levels, it gets a bit slow as you need to build XP, but I’ve been playing it more than a year and never felt tempted to buy my way up the ladder. It’ll certainly provide entertainment for a few hours. Does need an online connection though.
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Antiyoy - very simple strategy game that starts easy and gets very tricky. It’s fun and no connection needed. Over 170 official levels, plus a whole bunch of user levels of varying quality. No IAPs at all as far as I remember.
+1 for antiyoy. Been playing for years. I still play it all the time. I think I’ve donated either in this game or one of his other ones but I haven’t seen IAP in any of them.
Did you ever beat level 90? It’s the first level that I simply could not find a way to win. Been trying it on and off for probably a couple of years. Eventually had to skip it and just go to 91 (which I’m also struggling with!)
I’ve never went back to campaign actually, I lost my progress at one point and not sure how far I made it. Now I just play master level sandbox, max AI players, huge map.
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Read webtoons!
Start a new factorio game on a handheld device. Don’t forget to get out of the plane after 20 hours.
Or watch the extended cuts of Lord of the Rings plus The Hobbit. That is 1171 minutes (=20 hours).
On a more serious note: I would schedule multi-hour blocks of work time, off time and sleep. Watching movies and playing games is much more fun after work is finished, and you feel like you accomplished something. It’s also a good opportunity to do the tedious things you always wanted to do but never had the time and/or motivation (finances, taxes, studying, sorting files, sorting mails, that kind of stuff). It’s not like you had anything better to do or other places to be, and it might actually make you feel better. After three hours of working you will look forward to the movie, before going to sleep.
Vampire survivors and random lore vids.
I second this, Vampire survivors will kill 20 hours easily. I only got into it a month ago, purely because I have heard so much about it, and I like it as time killer, but also had a lot of fun with it.
Unfucking your email. Find all the newsletters from worthless sites and block / unsubscribe. Sightly productive, and brainlessly easy.
In a similar vein, go through your photos and clean up all the extras and outtakes that you don’t want anymore. Also, star your favorites so they’re easier to find later. This can take hours if you’ve put it off for years.
If I had that long of a layover I’d leave the airport and go check out the city I was in. I had an AWESOME 12 hour layover in London once.
3 hours have passed since you posted this and I read it. Time flies!
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shatteredpixel.shatteredpixeldungeon
Infuriating because you will die over and over again, but super satisfying when you figure things out and manage to win. It has a ton of replayability.
Okay this looks great, snagging it to try out!
Yes to Shattered PD(a roguelike)
Or Box Stacker (physics sim)
For hours of other online boardgames, try out yucata.de(Spexxx, Hey that’s my fish, or Port Royal for easy start games)
