Seriously people…you know you’re going to the airport. You know that certain things will make your trip take longer, and in the process, piss other people off. You know that if you have metal anywhere on your body that security will stop you and pat you down and possibly poke and prod your orifices. You know that if you try to smuggle a gallon of anything on the plane, they will confiscate it and pat your down and possibly poke and prod your orifices. You know that you will need to take off your shoes when going through security, and if you don’t, they may not pat you down or poke or prod your orifices, but will send you back and make you take off your shoes. So to the people who never seem to get this, seriously…please take notes next time you’re at the airport and try to commit to memory. Why do these things seem like a surprise for some people every time?
I had to make a trip home to JFK on Monday to head home for an aunt’s funeral service. Granted these are never good circumstances to travel under, but I was looking forward to being out of NYC for a couple days and seeing my family. I never mind flying, but I hate airports…and this disdain is only exacerbated when I encounter seemingly impossible ignorance in the security lines.
Maybe I’m a little too unforgiving in this area since I’ve spent far too much time in airports. After living in England and Japan and being a consultant for 10 years, I’d like to think I can get through those security lines in record times. But no matter that I wear flip flops to the airport, don’t wear a belt or my wallet chain, and have my laptop out and ready to go through the scanner, there are always those people who seem to be going through security for the first time in their life and know none of these rules. And on Monday at JFK, all of these people seemed to be in front of me in the security line. This security line dance was followed by what seemed like the longest walk to my gate….ever. Who knew that there was a mile and a half of corridor in any terminal at JFK? Now I do, because that how far I seemed to walk.
I finally got to my gate for my delayed flight, intensely annoyed by the entire experience. But, that security experience and the walk were over. I took out my book on the history of the world, took a few deep breaths, started to read, called my girlfriend, heard her beautiful voice, and felt so much more relaxed. These little things started to make the annoying airport experience so much better. Then we boarded.
The plane to Burlington held only 48 seats, so saying that we were in a small space is an understatement. I found my seat (which took all of five seconds) next to a man somewhere in his 50s. I asked him if I could get into my seat, and as he kindly moved and said “sure” in a warm voice, I knew it’d be a good trip.
We hadn’t even taken off and he started making small talk. He had an accent that certainly was from nowhere in the Northeast, and I asked where he was from. Baton Rouge, he replied, and he was heading up to Burlington for work. I told him how my girlfriend was driving to Louisiana to see her family and friends as we spoke, and he told me that one of his closest friends at his previous job was a lesbian and how he had such a good time hanging out with her and her girlfriend. Then he told me that he was in the power industry, and explained to me in detail what the technical problems were with the power plants in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. We chatted about his family, and how I love New York but that I think I’d be ready to move somewhere new soon, and after no time at all, we were descending into Burlington.
His name was Keith, and this non-descript older gentleman turned out to be such a wonderful person to have in the seat next to me on this flight. I’ve had experiences like this before while traveling and have sometimes become friends with those people and sometimes never seen them again. Regardless, for those brief moments, the great conversations with these very unlikely and very kind and interesting characters make these trips much better. Those breaths, that book, that talk with my girlfriend, and a brief travel experience with Keith all helped to make that annoying airport experience much more bearable…and even pleasant.
