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.
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.
Tell TSA your username. They’ll find something for you to do for 20 hours.
Those are for later 👀
Loving the Lahey reference. Might try exploring the airport with a few drinks in your head.
Getting two birds stoned at the same time
Frig off, Ricky.
I want to upvote you but your upvotes are at 69 and I don’t want to ruin the magic
Not trying to be a contrarian (it just happens!) but boredom will not kill you. In fact, I challenge you to sit and be bored for a good few minutes. It’s good for you. I’m terrible at it myself, but that’s what being a dopamine crack addict will do, I guess.
If you’re out of ideas for things to do, try mindfulness meditation (Waking Up is an app with a bunch of free lessons to get you started) - very little woowoo, just pay cursory attention to something, then when your mind inevitably wanders off, just “notice” and be, well, mindful. It’s like an antidote for boredom, in a weird way, and studies have shown that for whatever reason, it’s good for you.
Myself, I read books for any “random short term downtime”.
Can confirm. The longest train I ever rode was a 44h long train. The first 12-24 hours push on your nerves: you’ve listened to music, read a book, eaten, slept, and haven’t much left to do. But slowly you come to understanding:“you don’t HAVE to do something”. This is when the therapy starts.
And it really does seem therapeutical. I scoffed a bit the first time I read about dopamine detoxes and stuff, but I’ve also, since then, caught myself being very nearly literally afraid of getting bored. That is insane.
Sleeper cars on Amtrak were my saving grace when I was regularly traveling between Chicago and upstate NY.
It’s not nearly as long of a trip, and Chicago is a decent station to hang out in, buy being horizontal, getting actual sleep, and having a bathroom not shared by 4.100 other folks made it bearable and feel pretty quick.
I tried this mindfulness thing a few times, and just can’t seem to get the hang of it.
Does the voice in your head distract you?
That’s part of the point, you aren’t necessarily supposed to have an empty mind the whole time. I mean, if you can do that, great, but you aren’t failing if that’s not the case.
Imagine that your thoughts are buses, and your job is to sit at the bus stop and not get on any of them. Just notice them and let them go by. Like a bus stop, you don’t really control what comes by, but you do control which ones you get on board and follow. If you notice that you’ve gotten on a bus, that’s fine, just get off of it and go back to watching. Interesting things can happen if you just watch and notice which thoughts go by, and it’s good practice for noticing what you’re thinking and where you’re going and taking control of it yourself when it’s somewhere you don’t want to go.
Beautifully explained. You remind me of the first lessons when I learned meditation.
Same. I can’t sleep at night because my brain won’t stfu.
Well, meditation can help you to get better at telling your brain to shut up. Imagine it like training a muscle: in the beginning you won’t be able to lift anything, but as you train it, it gets easier and easier to lift heavy weights.
That is the “monkey mind” that meditating can help calm.
Don’t worry about it. You will get distracted, and it’s fine. In mindfulness the clue is to just “notice” whatever the intrusive thought (or whatever) is, then resume whatever you were doing. I found it helpful to do the “breath focus” thing and counting them - lost count all the time because that isn’t really the point, it’s just something to do while essentially waiting for your brain to do something. Noticing is the point, both whatever you’re doing and what your brain does when it veers off.
I always said that too but I really just wanted to continue being stimulated.
What has helped me is to realize that my brain keeps working at night when.
Recently I was working on a project with my son involving some engineering and construction and I came up with an idea at like 9:00 pm and thought about it until 11:30 pm while I tinkered with it but I could not make it work right. The next morning it was like my hands knew exactly what to do and I built it immediately and it worked the first try.
Try acting like your brain’s boss or its commanding officer. Tell it what to do. If you’re having trouble shutting down your brain when it’s coming up in bed time, give it a direct order: “okay conscious brain, it is time for you to stop what you are doing and go to sleep now. Unconscious brain is going to take over on this problem while you are resting.”
For real, your brain needs to sleep. It uses night time to assimilate the days memories so you can recall them later, and it uses that time to process and understand concepts and make predictions.
Try audio books for sleeping. TV didn’t work at all but audio books work great. And I really enjoy then as well. Typically just set a timer so they shut down and if I wake and can’t turn off the brain, just start listening again.
What helped me was continuing to notice each thought from my inner voice and continuing to letting them go
Having thoughts isn’t an issue. The issue is engaging with the thought.
You’re sitting there meditating. Then your head goes “hey, I gotta pay my insurance bill”
And then you go, “oh yeah, the insurance bill. For my car. Do I need to change the oil yet? Oh no, I have another like 800 miles to go. What’s 800 miles from here? Cleveland? Man, that LeBron really has some longevity”
Or instead, you could go “I’m meditating”. No judgment though, just point it out. Just note that a thought occurred and redirect your attention to the fact that you’re meditating and to your breath or whatever else. Another thought will come up shortly thereafter. You can just redirect again.
Yes, all the time. It’s a crucial part of the whole thing, as far as I know. (Not an expert, barely do it, have been meaning to get back into some kind of habit)
Before this, I thought of meditation as the whole “still mind” thing, but if it’s how anyone works, it sure isn’t me. Mindfulness is more about realizing when a new thought “arises”, looking at it sort of dispassionately, and gently refocusing yourself. There’s no real “failure state”, you will get distracted and that is fine, just get back into it.
Thats voice is the whole thing.
Meditation is the act of quieting that voice.
The more you practice it, the easier it becomes.
There’s a lot of ways to meditate (a lot of ways to quiet the voice). Have to practice them.
The advantage is that the next time you are being distracted by those thoughts at a time when distraction is unhelpful, you will more naturally and easily quiet your mind and resume your focus.
It’s like practicing to control your thoughts. Think of it like walking the dog. It’s going to pull at first. Gotta keep walking.
I write it down if my voice tells me something I should remember, else i just let my thoughts wander wherever they want.
After a while I know what I want to do next, because boredom showed me what my body and mind needs.
If the lounge has a shower, do some exercise get that energy out of your system. Then take a shower.
You got 7 hours to kill, do some laps around the airport. Get the energy out. And when you’re ready to rest, play some games on your phone (like a emulator)
And when you get on the flight just veg out
I don’t know about a full workout, since my athletic clothes aren’t available to me, but lugging my shit on laps is a good call just to burn energy. I did a lap of the airport and it was about 45 min, so another mimosa or two at the next lounge then I’ll do another lap or two.
See if there’s a massage place. A good backrub does wonders.
Seconding a workout. It’ll kill time now, give you something productive as a reward, not deplete your reserves of consumable content, and tire you out for your actual flight.
I have had 12+ hour layovers. I knew ahead of time, so a little different, but still what got me through was exercise. I walked the entire airport route. It was a big airport and it took me about 2 hours of brisk walking. Freshen up in the bathroom as best you can afterwards. Rest, watch movie okay a game. Then walk some more. Keep moving. Time will not fly, but it will feel a lot less overwhelming. And you will have done some good to your body and mind.
Also, work. If you can, work ahead and do stuff you will need to do in the next couple of days. You will enjoy that time you are saving later when you are on your own and need it and can use it.
Good luck!
Building on this, you can probably find space in the lounge to do some stretching or basic yoga. Short sessions are good if you have a short attention span. If you’d like a place to start, try Yoga by Adrienne.
Adrienne is great. She’s how I learned and I’ve been at it daily for years now.
Read a book?
Like, how desperate are you for stimulation that you’re making this sound like an emergency?
Or if you’re attention span is killed like mine, find an audiobook and listen on 2x or 3x. If you happen to have a library card, libby is usually great. Otherwise YouTube has some.
This! I recommend Red Rising as audiobook! (The first book is 16h and there’s a whole series of books, there’s a dramatized audiobook version I haven’t tried but sounds really fun)
also, Hail Mary Project is an amazing audiobook.
mild spoiler:
spoiler the sound effects of Rocky is amazing!
One of my favorite syfi is the expanse, also highly recommend. Dune and Iain Banks culture are also great.
Do you mean red rising? I’ve heard it’s good but haven’t gotten a chance yet.
Yes Red Rising. My phone doesn’t let me type good today.
He mentioned that he has audiobooks he was saving for the flight. I get the uneasy, jittery boredom aspect. Especially when you had a reasonable expectation of how your time was meant to be spent and that was disrupted. It’s just lingering frustration and anticipation for what you originally set out to do. For anxious or neurodivergent people that can cause a degree of distress. Especially for something that’s already as unpleasant/stressful as flying. Not that it’s life threatening or can’t be managed. But it’s easy enough to see how his language reflects that mindset, giving it an air of urgency. I’m not saying OP has anxiety or is neurodivergent but it can happen in people without these issues too to varying degrees. They’re just painfully bored. It’s not an emergency, but it can be difficult
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
The number of wiki tabs open on my phone from shit that I intend to finish in the future but rarely make time to do so supports this suggestion.
In a similar vein, TV tropes. It’s a well known time sink and you learn a lot about pop culture.
Id say one of these things is significantly better for your media literacy than the other
It’s still really fun though
Click the first link on a Wikipedia page that is not a date or a pronunciation and is not in italics. Do that on each subsequent page until you get to Philosophy.
The game is to find a subject that is the farthest from Philosophy.
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?
Good lord I WISH I could get 20 straight hours where no one bothered me. That’s a fucking dream right there.
Yeah man, me too
I’m going to guess you’re both parents?
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.
Invent a language, then teach it to a stranger against their will.
💀
They say teaching is the best way to reinforce what you’ve learned
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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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Whenever I get stuck in an airport I like to use the opportunity to move around, since you’re not going to have that luxury on your flight.
Airport scavenger hunt:
Easy (1 point)
– Someone trying to explain to a TSA agent why there’s a larger-than-3.4-ounces bottle of shampoo/conditioner/moisturizer in his or her carry-on bag.
– Someone throwing away a bottle of water or newly bought cup of coffee at the TSA checkpoint (get an extra two points if the person is chugging the water or coffee in order not to waste it, or three points if it’s alcohol).
– One person using all the outlets at a charging station for his or her multiple devices.
– The traveler pretending not to know English in order to board the flight before his or her zone is called.
– Someone with a carry-on bag on the chair next to him or her in the waiting area to discourage anyone else from sitting there.
– The vacationer in shorts departing a warm-weather destination for a cold-weather one.
– Someone in a later zone blocking the gate entrance so passengers in earlier zones can’t board.
– The well-dressed business traveler with just a briefcase who is on a cell phone every minute before takeoff.
– The couple standing on both sides of the moving walkway, preventing anyone else from passing them.
Medium (2 points)
– A woman trying on eye shadow, nail polish or perfume at a duty-free shop.
– A gate attendant pretending he or she doesn’t see the person waiting at the desk to ask a question.
– Someone near the check-in desk repacking a suitcase and redistributing items because the bag is too heavy.
– A rowdy school/church group that you hope isn’t on your flight.
– An argument at the ticket counter (add an extra two points if the gate agent is actually remaining friendly and trying to help).
– A small child with a character-themed suitcase/backpack.
Hard (3 points)
– A kid standing on the baggage claim conveyer belt (get an extra point if the kid has actually gone for a ride on it).
– A person fumbling with multiple coins and currencies while trying to pay at a shop or restaurant.
– The backpackers who have clearly been traveling for months and may or may not have dreads (an extra point for dreads).
– The person who arrives late to the airport and begins asking everyone if he or she can cut the line in order to make it to the gate in time.
– The honeymooners (or soon-to-be-married couple) wearing bride and groom apparel.
– Sports team members wearing matching uniforms.
– Someone changing in a bathroom stall (an extra point if he or she uses the sink for face washing or tooth brushing).
This is so cool! Did you ever find all of them?
I am not very helpful, but don’t kill these hours, befriend them!
I disagree, he should kill them…
With kindness!
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.
A free and open source online web app for streaming content. They’re committed to no ads, pop ups, or other weird malicious stuff you’d see on other streaming sites. Binge a series or two!
Wait— this was posted 24 hours ago. Oh well.
This might not help OP out now but I appreciate it!
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.
Vampire survivors is a good mobile game aswell.
Fuck off. I accidentally tried it out for the first time this weekend. I’m not even a fan of card based games. I have no idea where 5 hours went.
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!
