Talking to Strangers on Flights

It would be wrong of me to not include this controversial topic in a blog about traveling.  I've been on a whole lot of flights in my 28 years.  Granted many of them were not travel related, some business related, and other related to visiting the family in the motherland.

Maybe I should just drive everywhere...

TALE 1 - HAVA NAGILA 

A few years ago I had an extended period of time off, and decide to make a vacation out of it.  I would spend about a week in Israel with a friend I had made in Sicily the year before, and I would conclude my travels in Istanbul with my traveling friend.

So there I was, migrating to the back of the plane in hopes of finding my seat from Washington, DC to Tel Aviv.  Gosh I hope I'm not sitting next to a baby, a fat person, a snorer or a smelly person.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to an old Jewish gentleman cloaked in kippa and all.

My seat some how seemed to be in the middle of his family.  I was in the isle and to my left were all of his relatives.  He was to my right.  And the row in front of my were more relatives.

I smiled hello, and looked forward to sleeping and watching movies on this long transatlantic flight.  We didn't go a few minutes before the silence broke off.

"What's your name?"

"Where are you going?"

"Where are you from?"

At this point, I was like, "um I'm from Virginia."  He looked at me cockeyed at this point.

"No really, where are YOU from."

"Pakistan"

This opened a whole flood gate of questions.  It was as if I was the anti-Moses who had the sea crash on him instead of the other direction.

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TALE 2 - Filipino Ex-Husbands 

I was doing study abroad in Madrid, and I had about 2 weeks to kill during spring break.  I was already on the other side of the Atlantic - so I decided to bite the bullet and visit my family in Pakistan.

I boarded the flight for Qatar Airways, and fell asleep for the first hour.  I was pretty uncomfortable, no matter which why I turned I couldn't get comfortable.  Before I knew it, the little filipino lady next to had engaged me dialogue.

She asked increasingly prying questions.  Before I knew it I had told her my life story.  And then all of a sudden as I was pondering the nature of women in modern day Islam with this stranger while sharing personal information - I felt a burning sensation on my neck.

I realized I was that loud annoying person on a flight, who bothers every single person sitting near them because I talk to much.  Furthermore, I felt uncomfortable sharing this much information with a complete stranger, what can I say, she had very good bed side manner.

To her credit, she was a wonderful woman.  And while I did share a good bit of my life with her, she also told me about her children in the Phillipines.  How she was working in Spain day and night to make enough to put them through private school.  And finally how she regretted marrying so young, and being divorced all before she became 30.

Or maybe public transit!

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As uncomfortable as these two experiences might have been, I did learn a lot from them.  About people, myself, and how the best way to kill time on a long flight is yapping away with a complete stranger.

For my next trip coming up, I found a solution to prying conversations:

Travel Pillow

This pillow sounds like the holy grail based on the reviews.  Can't wait to try it!