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.
Good lord I WISH I could get 20 straight hours where no one bothered me. That’s a fucking dream right there.
The most frustrating thing is when you get that time you want but no access to the things you’d like to do with that time.
I’d recommend reading Wikipedia
More content than you could possibly read, short reads typically, you learn stuff, and you can make games out of it
A game I like to play is to come up with 2 completely unrelated things, start on thing 1, and see if you can get to thing 2 on Wikipedia in 6 tabs or less, using Wikipedia links only
In a similar vein, TV tropes. It’s a well known time sink and you learn a lot about pop culture.
Best advice out of all comments! Wikipedia is strongly underestimated as a content platform for entertainments.
Do you play with the rule that the connection has to go both ways that is you can get from page A to page B in six links and that you can get from page B to page A in also six links? Or is is sufficient that you can find a path from A to B but not necessarily B to A?
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.
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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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Slay the Spire is a great game that works well on mobile and has no microtransactions. I’ve played it for 400 hours (on PC) and I’m still not tired of it.
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.
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)
Okay this looks great, snagging it to try out!
Download unciv. It’s a civilization 5 clone with stripped down graphics but gameplay remains the same. You can kill an eternity with civilization games.
I’ve been hooked on Sudoku on my phone recently. LibreSudoku is a good Android app.
CrackingTheCryptic (Studio Goya on the Play Store) has some unbelievably good variant sudoku puzzle apps. No other sudoku app can touch them IMO. Be aware they are kinda battery hungry though due to poor optimization.
Related: I love their YouTube channel where they solve ridiculous puzzles
Yes it’s awesome
Yeah not a bad idea, I’ll give it a go. Not normally a sodoku guy but that’s normally because I never have free time to burn, seems like something up my ally.
Man I would love 20hrs to kill by myself. With 7 hours at the airport is leaving the airport an option? Like others have said. Read a book. Get your steps up. Try and do 10,000 steps walking the entire airport. Buy a notepad and draw the people our sights around you
Maybe it there’s a bookstore close by you can get a book? I’ve been really enjoying I am robot by Isaac Asimov. It’s sci-fi. It basically tells stories from a future where robots are more capable than humans will ever be. And to stop the robots from rioting there are 3 rules.
- Robots can never hurt people, or let them get hurt by doing nothing. (I’m translating from my first language if there’s any mistakes I’m sorry)
- Unless it interferes with the first rule robots will always obey humans.
- Unless it interferes with first and the second rule robots will always protect themselves.
One of the main points of the stories are how the robots get into situations where they hit an edge case or work around the laws.
Streetcomplete to contribute to osm?
Learn a memory technique. Start with Major system and go on from there. If you keep going, on the next long flight you’ll be happily creating new memory palaces or revisiting the old ones. All in your mind, no electronic devices needed.
They’re not only fun but useful as well.
Play Civilization
He might miss his flight
Snag some brochures and try your hand at origami. In the lounge, you can make paper airplanes, and in the air, you can make little figures/objects. I can easily spend an hour folding a paper airplane, taking my time to ensure the folds are even and crisp, and that there is no built up stress that warps the wings.
If you haven’t already you can usually ger compensation for delayed flight. Check out the compensation page for the airline your using.
