Fourteen Hours to Kill at the Airport, two Dead Batteries, and a lesson learned

My Logitech M510 Wireless Mouse - My Favorite Laptop Companion

That was my situation during my last trip, traveling from the U.S. Midwest to a Caribbean destination, with an eight hour layover at Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

Often, while traveling and waiting for my next flight, I try to catch up on work. I find that it makes the time pass much faster.

This was a long trip with multiple layovers. Nearly fourteen hours between airports and airplanes. I had things lined up to do, notes to review, articles to edit, and ideas I wanted to get out of my head and onto the screen.

A view of the terminal at Indianapolis International Airport, Indianapolis Indiana

I was ready. Laptop open. Coffee in hand. Time on my side.

Then I reached for my Logitech M510 mouse.

Nothing.

Both batteries were dead.

I am not a big fan of using a laptop touchpad when I have a lot of work to do.

My Logitech M510 mouse takes two AA batteries. It is not fancy, but it works. I write faster with it. I am used to it. I think better with it. I rely on it more than I realized.

No problem, I thought. I will just buy two AA batteries at the airport.

That is where everything fell apart.

I checked one store. Then another. Newsstands. Gift shops. Electronics kiosks. Chargers everywhere. Power banks stacked in rows. USB cables in every shape and length.

But AA batteries were nowhere to be found.

Fourteen hours of planned productivity slowly turned into frustration. Working on my laptop touchpad is possible, but it is not the same. Everything took longer. Focus faded. Momentum disappeared. It's all about habit.

That is when the realization hit me.

Airports are no longer built for preparedness. They are built for panic.

Dead phone?
Buy a charger.

Low battery?
Buy a power bank.

Need headphones?
No problem.

But a simple mouse that runs on AA batteries? That problem does not exist in their world.

It is not that AA batteries are banned. They are allowed. TSA has no rule against them. Airlines allow them. They are not dangerous. They are just forgotten.

Airport stores sell what moves fast and what makes money. The AA batteries you desperately need, well, it no longer fit that model. Low margin. Easy to steal. Low demand compared to modern accessories.

So things like disposable AA batteries for sale at an airport store, they disappear.

The irony is that airports are the one place where time stretches. Hours waiting. Hours sitting. Hours that would be perfect for getting real work done.

And yet one of the simplest tools needed to do that work comfortably is impossible to find.

This was not really a story about batteries.

It was a reminder that old tools still work. Reliable tools still matter. But the world quietly moves on without telling you.

If you rely on something simple, something unfashionable, something that still uses AA batteries, you are on your own.

USB Type C Lithium Batteries AA Rechargeable - A Must Have for Travelers

I will travel with spare batteries from now on. Better yet, soon as I get back to the U.S. I will buy these, AA Batteries I can recharge the USB cable I already carry with me to charge my phone and other accessories.

Not because they are rare. Not because they are special.

But because the places we expect to support travelers no longer think about them at all.

Sometimes all it takes to derail a productive day is two dead AA batteries.

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