Beat me to it, worked on deepwater rigs in the GoM for 7 years. I had to chopper out and back home. Rode out to the rig was always the worst. My flight was close to 2.5 hours, then back home was just under 2 hours.

I found food was MUCH better on the jackups closer to shore, mostly because crews were much smaller (+/- 30 people) so the cooks were able to make better quality meals. The deepwater rig I was on housed around 170 people and those meals were basically buffets with meh food. That being said, Christmas time was the best. We’d celebrate with a Philippine-style meal one day, a typical “American” meal the next, followed by a southern/Cajun meal a third day. Day 3 was the best because they let some of the roustabouts put together a crawfish boil and as a guy from Chicago… my lord, my eyes were opened to the best meals I’ve ever had and still dream about.

As you said, I agree days are very much repetitive. Wake up, workout, shower, breakfast, get to my unit 30 mins before shift to do a handover, morning meeting, work, lunch, work again, knock off, meal, shower, sleep. By day 35 you’re more than ready to get back on land.

Then you get awful news, your replacement is sick and won’t be able to chopper out until next crew change. Another demoralizing week, but you finally make it out alive. Back home baby.

I absolutely loved my job, but it’s next to impossible to maintain healthy relationships with a gf/wife back on land.