Travelling through airports is always a treat for me because I am an avid people watcher. I am currently on my way to Miami for a web conference and I’m on my third flight. My travel day actually started yesterday when I drove up to Spokane, Wa to spend the night. My flight was scheduled for 7:10am and we were expecting a storm overnight so I wanted to play it safe and drive up the night before and stay in a hotel.
I had been to the dentist that day and my mouth was hurting so I didn’t get much and when my cell alarm rang, my body cringed in protest. I was glad to have only a 10 minute drive when I had to wipe and scrape 3-4 inches of snow off my car that had fallen in 6 hours.
When I travel, they are usually long days because I usually end up heading to Florida. Practice has taught me to prepare myself for traveling with good music, snacks, books and magazines. But more importantly I prepare my state of mind for things to go not as planned. I find it easier to brush off aversion when I almost expect it to happen.
My first flight was a blessing in the fact that I was lucky to have all 3 seats to myself. I can’t always sleep on planes but after a rocky 5 hour sleep, I was looking forward to curling up fetal position on my trio bench. Moments before laying down, the woman in front of me asked if she could move to the window seat. My everyday normal reaction would have been sure, no problem. But today I found myself hesitating and stumbling as words were trying to come out of my mouth. I said “sure” with little confidence and followed up with an even weaker, “it’s just I was about to lie down and take a nap.” She didn’t look too happy and said, “oh ok, nevermind.” I felt the guilt creep up quickly, but told myself it was ok to want the seat, and that there were other available seats for her to take. I lay down and 2 hours later woke up feeling refreshed. I also noticed the woman was no longer sitting in front of me, she did in fact find another seat.
So my airport experiences have been different for me ever since I bought an iPod. I normally spend my time wandering around, browsing in stores, perhaps looking for a new book and even hitting up a restaurant if I have time. These behaviors haven’t changed but the experience has as my music fills my ears. As I walked the corridors of the Minneapolis and Atlanta airports, I was able to focus better on the people around me that were walking, waiting, and even running. With all the distractional noises of the airport gone I was struck by how clearly I could see people’s facial expressions and guess at what was going through their minds. This of course is one of the games we “people watchers” play, guessing and making up stories about the lives the people around us live.
The mood and expressions of my fellow travelers were not one of joy or even excitement. Their faces read of concern, frustration, panic, indifference, and occasionally sadness. I understand all of these emotions tied to an airport, but shouldn’t travel invoke some sense of excitement and uncertainty? Whether for pleasure or work, you’re removed for a time from your everyday world which is more than many people get to experience. Not knowing what the next adventure will bring, shouldn’t that give people some excitement?
So as you can imagine, I was walking through the airports today with a small slight smile on my face, hoping to make eye contact with someone to make that small connection of hey we’re travelling aren’t we lucky.
I arrived in Atlanta and after a small delay in MN, I was late for my flight. I ran down the corridor hopped the train, busted to my gate to find the door closed and the plane gone. After figuring out I was booked on the next flight out 4 hours later, I knew I had some more people watching to do J
I needed some dinner and I wanted to catch up on some work so I stopped in the Samual Adams restaurant. I was greeted with a warm friendly waitress named Dana and had a pretty good spinach salad and Sam Adams light beer. I had a few IM conversations, wrote some emails, and ate. It’s funny everyone I talked with on IM had sympathy for my long travel day and felt bad that I had a delay of 4 hours. I appreciated their empathy, but felt even more glad that I wasn’t bothered by the ordeal. Like I said at the beginning, preparation for travelling is key. It rarely goes as planned, whether you’re traveling to a destination or you’re at that destination travelling around. Prepare yourself for the unexpected or the worse. This allows you to actually take in your new experience with open eyes instead of spending it miserably. Trust me the world around you will appreciate you for it as well.
Well, my flight was nearing so I headed to the under tunnels of the Atlanta airport where they have trains to take you from one gate to the next. With my music on my “bopin” mix I decided to walk to my gate instead of taking the train. Not only did I get my blood flowing and a little exercise, but there was a treat between gate A & B that put a big smile on my face. I’m not sure what they’re called, but they’re the automatic walkways like escalators but they just run flat along the ground. From gate to gate they have these long walk belts that you can choose to use and aid your walking if you want. I was walking down the middle on the carpet, when I saw this guy walking the wrong way on the belt towards me. He was smiling walking along and so was I. When he was about to pass I asked him if he was getting a double dose of exercise and he said, “You know it, I need it, plus you have no idea how fun it is.” He was right, I didn’t know, and on my next airport adventure, I plan to find out.