Thanks Nintendo Switch for helping me with my fear of flying

This Thanksgiving, GameRevolution and its sister site PlayStation LifeStyle say thank you to their favorite games, consoles and developers.

I’m not a big fan of flying. Even if you take away the concept of being flung through the air in a tin can, the whole experience feels inherently terrifying. Airports are bright, crowded and noisy and don’t allow time for decompression before being shoved on the tin can for several hours. When you’re finally shoved onto the plane, you’re claustrophobically crammed between sweaty crowds, screaming babies and people with no sense of distance. Thank god for that Nintendo switchwhich hasn’t cured my fear of flying, but still makes for the perfect distraction when traveling abroad.

In the days before Nintendo Switch, I took an army of distractions with me to entertain myself on a flight. My wife always jokes about a trip to Croatia, where my carry-on contained seven books, a 3DS, and a few decks of cards, all designed to keep me occupied while I was blasted through the sky. That didn’t work and I ended up having a five hour panic attack before spending the rest of the holiday worrying about the return trip. I managed to solve this by drinking a a lot of before boarding – not advisable given the ungodly times I had to go to the lavatory during the flight.

But the Nintendo Switch has had a tremendously positive impact on my ability to handle flights. I used to spend hours searching for a distraction, desperately trying and failing to focus on a book while my anxious brain took over. But with the Switch, travel time is now an opportunity to progress in a game I’ve wanted to play, and offers several hours when I can do nothing but enjoy a video game or two.

Finding some time to yourself as an adult is a rare thing, and flights now offer the opportunity to just sit down and play a video game with no other distractions. While I’m still not comfortable with the entire flying experience, knowing that once I’m in my seat I’ll finally be able to complete Pokemon Legends: Arceus, or have a few rounds of Smash Ultimate with it can have my wife without interruptions, is its own kind of bliss amidst the chaos of air travel.

So thank you Nintendo Switch for making flights bearable for me and my ridiculously terrified brain.