Strangers on a Plane

Did you ever get the talkity talk seat mate while traveling?  I have been post 24 hour call or have just come off several night shifts in a row the most recent times I have traveled, so I have basically fallen asleep from just before take off to just before landing.  I have become conditioned to waking up the minute my ears start sensing pressure changes in the cabin.  Seriously, my ears start to pop, I wake up, the captain gets on the loud speaker and announces we're on final approach.  Sleeping is the only way to travel.  Wake up and you're in a whole new place.



However, I have been traveling with my husband lately, and we've been meeting a series of gabby travelers during our journeys.  We had the "Name Dropper" who talked loudly and passionately all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles about her friend's wedding, who was going to be at her friend's wedding, the Who's Who who would be at the wedding and how they were all connected to this other Who's Who, etc.  This is one of those times I am glad cell phones are not allowed to be used during flights.


We met "The Local" who spent the entire trip talking about local restaurants and hotels and recommending places we visit.  She was not discouraged at all by fact that we would only be in town for a day and continued to regale us with stories of places she had been 15 years before which she felt would probably still be open and as wonderful as she remembered them to be.  All this while pouring liquor from the two small bottles she brought on the 50 minute flight into her soda.


I am sure there will be more as we make our way across the Pacific Northwest... at least it's better than getting that baby who cries the whole trip... or is it?