How the fuck can I kill 20 hours?

ButtDrugs@lemm.ee to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 399 points –

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.

261

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What helped me was continuing to notice each thought from my inner voice and continuing to letting them go

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

  1. 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.

  2. Install Keyboard Designer from the android play store and take a stab at customizing your own keyboard.

  3. 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.

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?

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.

I am not very helpful, but don't kill these hours, befriend them!

I disagree, he should kill them...

With kindness!

https://movie-web.app/

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.

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.

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.

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.

  1. 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)
  2. Unless it interferes with the first rule robots will always obey humans.
  3. Unless it interferes with first and the second rule robots will always protect themselves.

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)

Your English is great :) The first law of robotics is usually written like this in English: "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

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.

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)

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

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 have civ 3 running on my tablet through an emulator, could possibly even do civ 4 but haven't tried that yet. It takes up next to no space, the graphics are light enough you could run it on a potato and it's one of the best civ iterations I reckon.

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

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.

Where is LOTR when you need it?

Extended editions are perfect for killing time

If you haven't already you can usually ger compensation for delayed flight. Check out the compensation page for the airline your using.

Try Vampire Survivors! It's a free mobile game that has no right being as fun as it is. You run around trying to kill monsters and level up your weapons without dying, but you can focus on dodging because all the weapons auto-attack. I'm not sure I'm explaining it super well, but it's worth trying!

That's free? Then why did I pay 2,50 for it?

But yes, it's awesome. Pure dopamine.

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.

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.

3 hours have passed since you posted this and I read it. Time flies!

Take it as a meditation challenge, just be alone and quiet with nothing but your thoughts.

At an airport? Are you trying to harm OP's sanity?! /s but also not /s

There is a Webcomic called Romantically Apocalyptic. It is a visual novel that has been going on for years. The creator just keeps adding. 300 pages.of highly detailed visuals in an eccentric story.

If you end up vibing with the story that'll definitely kill a lot of time.

Name is misleading, as I haven't seen much in the way of romance lol.

I only spent about a minute reading but I vibe with it so far. What’s the best way to read this? I just googled it and picked the first link. Is there a specific website I should save to my homepage on mobile? The site I’m on now is royal road dot com.

Not sure about this webcomic in particular, but I can highly recommend the app Tachiyomi. It's a free and open source manga and webcomic reader and allows you to add a huge number of sources, so if you found a good webpage (good translations, good image quality, up-to-date chapters), you can search for that source in Tachiyomi. Because of the questionable legality of most content (copyright-wise) it's not on the Play Store but you can find it on F-Droid or install from web.

That's the one. The website changed format since I last read it. Now you have to sign in to switch to dark mode.

Start writing your memoirs. Or begin writing a semi-erotic fantasy novel. If you're lucky, the two may be the same thing.

Go outside and sit with the smokers.

Smokers talk. Everyone's equal in the smoke pit. You can meet some really interesting people that way.

A few hours of secondhand smoke won't kill you. Otherwise humanity would have gone extinct in the 70s.

There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke; even brief exposure can cause serious health problems and be deadly.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/secondhand-smoke/about.html

Sure, buddy. Keep thinking that.

Enjoy your lung cancer

I'm a smoker. If I get lung cancer, it won't be from secondhand smoke.

I'd suggest actually learning a bit about cancer. The claims by the CDC are technically true but misleading. Unless someone has a specific condition where they react badly to tobacco smoke, the biggest threat to their health in the smoke pit is the car exhaust (airport smoke pits are almost always on the arrivals terminal). If the NRC held the same standard, we'd all be living in lead boxes.

Final fantasy 1-9 are on the App Store. Maybe a game that wasn’t originally in a mobile gimmick format could kill some time for you. 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9 are all very good (you don’t need to play them in any particular order. These are all more classic turn based JRPGs. There is also final fantasy tactics which is more of a grid based combat system similar to fire emblem or chess. All the stories are good and engaging

1 more...

Don't kill your time. When you're in the final moments of your life you'll most likely wish you had more, so make the effort to be thankful for every second you have now.

Seconds are extra long in airports and traveling. Only option is to fall asleep and travel forward in time

Do you know something we don't? What's wrong with the plane?

If you enjoy adrenaline & frustration, Super Hexagon is one of those thumb-twitchy games that gives you the "just one more" impulse when you die. Unpossible is another.

Depending on the airport/country you are stuck in, you can take a trip to the nearby city. I was once stuck in Singapore Airport for 13 hours and just took a day trip to Singapore. It's a bit risky in your scenario because they might move your flight forward but depending on the circumstances of the delay it might be fine.

Almost all airports have a spa or some kind of wellness offers. Would be a great time to try it out. Maybe you discover something new you like, worst case scenario you wasted 1-2 hours. In general look up entertainment offers at the airport. Most have at least an internet cafe that would allow you to play "proper" games since mobile games aren't yours.

I’ve bookmarked all the game suggestions in this thread myself, but haven’t tried any of them yet other than Sudoku. I have the Sudoku.com app.

Badland is a good time-killing game. Having headphones and playing with sound adds to the experience. Not sure if I paid for that one or not.

Minesweeper is a classic one that I don’t think requires internet connection.

Slither.io requires internet but is also a decent time killer.

Airline Commander is one that I’ve downloaded but haven’t tried yet. Airplane simulator that looks interesting.

This is just going through my Games folder on my Home Screen and thinking of which ones I’d play in your situation.

Unciv is a free, open-source Civilization clone. Civ is a notorious time killer, so 👀

Not seeing that one in the App Store. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Download a textbook on a topic you're interested in and read it, see how much you can learn by the time you land

Baba is You. It is one of the best puzzle games ever made, and available on mobile.

Talk to people? Does the airplane have a bar? Even if you don't drink there's probably people there willing to have some conversations.

Last time I was stuck, I downloaded the Lemuroid emulator and went on to explore retro games. Phantasy Star IV was quite rad.

This is the perfect moment to write a short story

Airports are near cities. Go do tourist things in the city.

Read Das Kapital Volume I by Karl Marx

:michael-laugh:

Ironically I think 20 hours is about the estimate for reading it if you read 300 wpm, iirc

Of course it's pretty dense theory so most people aren't gonna be reading at a fiction pace. Took me a few months to get through it.

I probably sound very traditional but… talk to someone? Make some friends? Call someone?

Fuck, I could use 20 hours where there's nothing that could guilt me into feeling I could be spending my time better than gaming. Go find a nice comfy couch somewhere and just veg man, enjoy your freedom from responsibility for 20 hours. Won't happen often.

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.

If you could get a rubix cube or something at the airport, (which seems plausible) could be a lot of time spent on learning how to do it if you download instructions beforehand.

This - a lot of people don't know this, but the beginner method for solving Rubik's cubes is pretty straightforward algorithm that anyone can memorize; competitive speed cubers use a much more complicated one, but even with the beginner method, with enough practice you can get your times down to under a minute.

If you truly didn’t enjoy Stardew Valley, then never mind ignore this. If you felt like it had potential but it just didn’t grab you, I’d suggest giving it another shot. It hooks some people immediately but it is a bit of a slow burn for others. It’s beloved by its cult following for a reason. But again, if you didn’t like it then that’s totally legit.

If you like puzzle games, The Witness is another exceptional PC game that was impressively preserved in its entirety when it came out on mobile. The visuals are stunning (though you may not get the absolute best experience on a small phone screen, but still) and it’s got a well-earned reputation for being one of those fully-suck-you-in-lose-track-of-all-sense-of-time games.

Maybe it's worth another shot. I've heard great things, played for an hour or so once and never went back. I think I started planting a farm and went into town once or twice and just felt like i didn't "get it". I'll try the witness too.

I think the idea that’s it’s a “farming sim” can leave people feeling aimless at first, since it’s pretty impossible to get a farm going for longer than you’d expect. (Not that long, but not right away.) That design is supposed to drive you to get into the story a bit and make sure you don’t miss figuring out that the non-farming skills are equally (or more) useful.

It’s also worth knowing at the outset that the game builds in complexity until Spring year 3 at the earliest, longer if you haven’t gotten to certain milestones by then. So if you’re starting to feel like you’ve done everything there is to do, you definitely haven’t. It will just take a little exploring to find the next cool region/mechanic/quest/etc. If you’re ever getting frustrated, the SV wiki has an absurd amount of info, but the general recommendation is to avoid it if possible on your first game so you can soak it in spoiler-free.

Again though, it’s not going to be for everyone. I’m obviously a massive fan and want everyone to try it. If it’s not for you, then it’s just not for you. In which case fingers crossed you enjoy the witness or any of the other great recs in the comments! 20 hours is rough. Good luck!

In case you get stuck again and need more games:

  • DevilutionX (free, open source, needs gamedata) lets you play Diablo1 on Android, very good time killer (you might need to fetch the gamedata somewhere)
  • Out There: Omega (paid but one time purchase) is a relaxed starship roguelite
  • Battle For Wesnoth (free, open source) fantasy style tactical game
  • Jagged Alliance 2 Stracciatella (free, open source, needs gamedata) - Jagged Alliance 2 on Android, tactical RPG, great timekiller like classic UFO or the old Fallout games.

Notable mentions: WorldOfGoo, Human Resource Machine

Wow, I haven't thought about Wesnoth in nearly two decades. Great game!

It won't kill the full 20 hours, but 2 great mobile games that I like without the gambling bullshit: Vampire Survivors and Siralim Ultimate. The first one is free, so just try it. The second one is a monster training RPG where you can make sick combos and synergies.

You can totally kill 20 hours on vampire survivor. I just discovered the game with the switch release and it consumed my life for about a week.

Any advice on leveling up quickly? I try to play aggressive and get all the exp I can but just after the first mini boss appears I feel super underpowered and run around for another 5 minutes trying not to die until I do.

I don't really want to spoil too much, but try to invest the coins you get into powerups and try going for relics in the stages (follow green arrow in stages with !). The unlocks screen also has good pointers for what to do next.

Don't worry about dying quickly if you're only just started, it's all part of the game.

If you can get an emulator on your phone you can play old games. Nealy endless hours of fun to be had. I recommend lemuroid and Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past.

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.

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 :-)

Duolingo. Then start texting your family in the new language that you learned that you forgot how to speak normally because of the delay time warp.

The time warp only works if you take a jump to the left.

You also must step to the right, all this with your hands on your hips and your knees in tight.

If you're the self-improving kinda person, I'd suggest looking up podcasts related to your line of work, hobbies, mind and health, psychology and that sort of stuff. Last time I went on a transatlantic trip, I stocked up on podcasts and took personal notes as well as notes for my private practice. Kept me engaged for a considerable part of it (total of ~22 hours), although without delays.

Makes you a bit more active even with passive media, and since you're working towards a goal, it also probably leaves you with a productive end result, be it for yourself or ideas for work, hobbies, etc. Couple of ones I like (as reference) are:

How to be a better human; Stuff you should know; Feel better, live more; Speaking of psychology; This jungian life

If you’re an iPhone user and intrigued by mobile games, go subscribe to Apple Arcade for a month. There are a ton of fantastic games without the bs freemium shit. Monument Valley and Alto’s Adventure (and their respective alternative titles) are great starters. I’m also a big fan of Good Sudoku which will teach you techniques to get better at solving them.

I’m sure you can get a lot better recommendations on current Apple Arcade games from social media or hopefully here on lemmy.

Huge second vote for Monument Valley 1 & 2. And alto’s adventure. MV are great games that are a few hours each. Altos was addicting for a few hours easily when I first played.

Sleep, eat, sleep, watch/hear/read something, talk to random people (preferably other stranded people), visit the smoking lounge, walk though all the stores, maybe buy a magazine.

And all the people recommending mobile games... I've wasted hours on end playing tower defense games, bridge builder or something like that. Get up inbetween and mix things up. Everything will get boring in that situation.

I rarely play mobile games, but here's one that I quite like when I need to kill time or be active while media is in the background: Auralux 2.

I initially thought that the game wasn't properly weighted for difficulty, but then found that I just needed to adapt my strategy. I can complete most levels in 2-3 minutes, though some might take 4-7 depending on how it breaks (I play on the fastest setting after getting good at it on normal speed).

I pick it up when my partner pauses to get a snack, go to the bathroom, or take an important call. I can set it down as soon as she's ready because there's no real stakes; I'm really just competing with myself to score faster and faster "best" times. I also play it while listening to podcasts if I can't be physically active (or when I'm lazy).

I play on iOS. Not sure if it's on Android.

If you like DOS games, ScummVM has an android app for their emulator and then you could hit up abandonware sites for nostalgia games. Works for some Win95 games as well. Played Woodruff on my phone a few years ago, an ISO file inside ScummVM, and besides the aspect ratio being a bit off it was playable.

I tend to go back to mindless puzzle games on my phone and set weird challenges for myself. I like HexaMania and InBlock by AleksDev. I paid for no ads, iirc 99¢USD, and haven't regretted it. No freeminum b.s. in those two. (There is a HexaMania 2 by the same person, but even with paying for no ads it has a pay to keep playing mechanic that keeps me away from it.)

Flow Free is a great connect the dot series of games that you can get the full game through Google Play Pass. Hundreds of levels per game. And with it being on GPP, you get unlimited hints if you get stuck.

If you want an exploration sandbox game, there are always Minecraft and Terraria to enjoy.

Einstein Riddle by Rottz Games, also in GPP, is a good logic puzzle game.

Buy a pack of sticky notes and a pen and let your imagination go. Write weird facts and trivia, or just whatever you want and stick 'em in places where people are gonna look, like on maps, mirrors, napkin holders at the bar...
Then just wait and watch

Anything interesting like a museum in the area around the airport? I had an 8 hour layover once and I just left the airport and went to a nearby Air Force museum of some sort. It was nice to walk around instead of just sitting in the airport, and I got to see a B-24

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.

Mini Reviews is an android app that has robust filtering features for games. You can download offline games so you don't have to worry about spotty connection. Pocket City 2 is pretty fun and a good time sink, only costs $5. You could also play a text based "choose your own adventure" type game. If.youre artistic, I'm sure you could find a paper and pen to doodle on as well. Maybe a take couple of hours to feel the gravity of your own mortality. A little existential dread never hurt anyone

If you're into metal/hardcore/etc at all, you should watch the documentaries Parkway Drive (Post-hardcore/metalcore band from Australia) has made, extraordinary stuff. This is the first one.

I also recommend chess.

Try Dumb Ways to Climb. It's free without ads.

I would recommend eating. Try a few places. That always passes the time for me.

That takes like 5 minutes, what are you eating lol

Also in flight meals are crazy expensive. Like $8 peanuts!

I thought you were on a layover or something. My bad. Haha

The best advice of keeping moving has already been suggested, but buy a real book, and maybe a crossword or other such like. Avoid technology.

For games, my suggestion is that you try a whole bunch of them; get Google Play Pass and, if you have a Netflix subscription, browse through the list of Neflix Games and try anything that looks remotely appealing. None of these are gambling or freemium - they have no way to make money from you except for your continued subscription - and there's something for pretty much every conceivable genre.

If you can give any guidance about the specific sorts of things you like from games (action, story, puzzles, building stuff) I'm sure people can recommend some specific titles.

Ditto on the GPP, it's a life saver for long trips. My go to mobile games:
-Stardew Valley, If it didn't catch your attention, fair enough, its a litle slow at first, but maybe worth a try since time is a currency you have load of.
-Death Road to Canada, starts stupid hard, so 20h goes quick
-Magic Survival, retro style gameplay, but and addictive gameplay loop
-Mindustry, RTS and open source so free to play no ads or in-app $$
-Every game by Kairosoft, stupid FTP type games, but no ads or in-app purchases with Play Pass. I recommend deleting from your phone when you don't wanna waste time.
-80 Days, story based choose your own adventure based on "Around the world..." Playing while traveling enhances the experience.
-Blooms TD 5/6. Tower defence and a good GP loop.
-Do not feed the monkey. Great game for anytime, but good for 3-4 hours
-Oxenfree, now free with Netflix, great game for anytime, but another 3-4 hours well spent.

I travel a lot, so some of these are way more "addictive" than "great", but they keep me sane.

Do you have a library card? Most libraries allow you access to the Libby or Cloud Library or Hoopla apps, you could read a book or listen to an audiobook.

Go exploring. Walk the airport and go to other wings if it's a large airport. You might be able to find a luggage locker so you can walk without carrying anything.

In the same line, there are a lot of games that gamify walking. One. Two. The goal here is to exhaust your body a bit better for the 13 hr flight.

Learn something. A new language, maybe. A skill. Learn braille and go around the airport decoding the braille signs.

Do an airport scavenger hunt. Can you find yarn and maybe practice finger knitting? Maybe a deck of cards and learn some card tricks?

Talk to people. Honestly I'm an introvert so I rarely do this but it can be fun.

Just in the Android games thing, a couple of recommendations:

  • 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.

  • 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.

Buy books? 20 hours man, I could burn through at least two.

Omg right? It's like no one knows how to get lost in a book anymore.

Do you like Roguelikes? Slay the Spire is really good and it's on Mobile.
It's a port from PC, so no microtransactions or garbage like that, one purchase and done.
There's also Mindustry. It's a mix between Tower Defense and Factory game. This one also has no MTX since it is a Open Source game. Free on Android, 2 Bucks on iOS.

No advice, but I sympathize. I once sat listening to music while waiting for my flight to board. When there was no activity and fewer passengers in the area than I expected, I discovered that while I had been waiting they changed the gate for my flight. I ended up waiting in Chicago Midway (this was before their big upgrades in the early 00s) for 12 hours. It was hell.

I would say get a hotel room, but it has uh, been 6 hours since you posted this so…

It may sound stupid, but try learning some card tricks or play solitaire with some playing cards?

You could watch The Terminal 9 times back to back, and have just enough time left to be disappointed by some overpriced meal at the Wolfgang Puck.

I know you mentioned audiobooks but what about some digital books? Personally, reading makes my eyes tired so I know that, for me, reading something would be a good way to provoke a nap.

As a response to the idea that you may get fatigued by passive media, a book may be a good balance to that. With movies, shows, and audiobooks, you're going to be listening the whole time. It's just constant noise. A book may be more meditative.

Which reminds me, this may be a good time to practice meditation.

Doesn't even have to be digital, airports usually have bookstores, don't they?

I wouldn't get wasted, if you're in your 30s that can give your worst headache ever. If the wifi is good enough, maybe start a series? Possibly something with short episodes, a well-selected anime will easily kill something like 10 hours. And if possible, try to get as much sleep as possible

There are very good mobile games without subscriptions, virtual coins, loot boxes and shit. Some examples on iOS:

  • Sawblades
  • Ollies Arcade
  • Knotwords
  • High Rise

As for android games, if you're into tower defense, give infinitode a try :)

It's not gonna last you 20 hours, but last I checked the official Sonic 1, 2 and CD ports are all free on mobile (and they're really good).

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.

The most addictive and a complete experience in your pocket kind of game is Crashlands. It's amazing if you're into games where you have to craft things to survive. Definitely recommend giving it a try.

Have a 2 hour phone chat (with spouse?)

Buy a note book and write a diary to remind yourself of everything that has happened in the last year.

Bloons Tower Defense 6 is a really good game that you could sink time into! It is paid, but I highly recommend it

The Lahey link made me laugh way to hard, I've been sick as fuck the last 2 days and I'm laying on the couch watching trailer Park boys with a decent buzz so it's fitting.

Puzzle books? I like to play with variety puzzle books, commonly sold near magazines :3 Crosswords (and varieties thereof), word searches (+varieties), crypto puzzles of various sorts, number puzzles of various sorts, the funky neat ones where some of the words share some letters (like, a letter fills a vertical region to be shared by one or more words), uhhh... oh also I like to write the solutions in Thorass :D https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Thorass\_alphabet Though the numerals are garbage. D'ni numerals are far, far better 👍

Also, I daydream for hours at a time. ... But probably you don't or else you wouldn't be asking for ideas I guess 😅

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.

I highly recommend emulating games on your phone. Some of them aren't great without a controller but its worth a shot.

I really struggle getting into games on touch controls. Even old pokemon games with like 5 significant buttons is hell, let alone anything that requires timing or consistency. Any tips? (Short of actually hooking up a controller, I'd just use my PC then)

You could try ds/dsi games that are designed for touch screen. I've played Pokémon black without many issues. Apart from that, if you have the option to use a pc, it will be a better experience. The benefit of using your phone is just that its mobile. I usually bring an xbox controller with me when I travel so I can play whatever game I want.

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.

If its your thing try kearning a language on Duolingo or something like that

Minetest + Mineclone2 - Minetest is an engine for block mining games, while Mineclone tries to recreate old school Minecraft as close as possible.

Airports usually have all kinds of distractions. Gym, arcade, shops to browse, bookstore or at least a magazine rack, pod to nap (easier than on a plane).

Airports usually have all kinds of distractions

I personally like watching the planes talking off and landing.

Survivor.io is a surprisingly amazing mobile game that doesn't badger you for money.

Learn Factorio.

Oh wait, you said 20, not 2000. Never mind.

Look around for anything that is baseball shaped and sized and look up a juggling tutorials. Even if you already know the basic pattern, there are tons of tricks that you can start working on right away.

Old school runescape mobile

You could try Plants vs Zombies 2 or it's other mods they are really great

Even though you say you suck at sleeping on the go, maybe the airport you are at has one of those sleep pods.

Drugs. Illegal ones preferably. Anything to make you catatonic. Airports are a certain type of hell.

Turn off your phone.

That's not very entertaining.

Yeah but it's very clearly had a huge negative effect on this person. They "can't make it" 20 hours without constant stimulation. Being scared of not having to use your brain to entertain yourself is a frightening prospect for me.

I get your point. But it's 13h plane ride, it's not you can start doing art & crafts there.

For me, I'm pretty good at, while not sleeping, at least kind of dozing off and daydreaming, but I'm not sure I could keep myself occupied with that for 20 or just 13h straight. That's definitly a case for relying on your phone a bit.