When I started flying, it was during the kid's school year, and my son had Boy Scouts on our club's training night. I had the hardest time getting to the field to train. I bought a GWS Slow Stick, and flew it at a park on the way to work, and sometimes at lunchtime, almost every day. It was relatively entertaining, and taught me a lot about flying r/c.

When summer came and I finally got to train, I soloed my trainer on my third or fourth night. I attribute this rather quick success 100% to the practice I was getting on the Slow Stick. It helped me with things like orientation, lining up approaches, and just helped me get relaxed with a plane in the air. It is also very hard to damage.

If you are looking for a relaxing flyer that will give you some stick time, I think the Slow Stick is great. You may get bored, but the airframe is only about $30 and you can transfer all of the radio gear to a faster plane.