When flying economy...

When it took me more than 2 hours to pack for a one week trip, I knew that I was in trouble. Either it was too late in the evening to be doing any kind of practical thinking, or I was just rusty. I hated the feeling. I was a super-packer! I was summoned to help some friends packed 12 months of their lives in 2 huge suitcases -- and I suceeded!! Me! Eventually the packing was done and 4 hours later I was sitting in an airport lounge waiting to board the plane.

The plan was to use the 4.5 hours on the plane to finish some work stuff that desperately needed to be done (it was my own procrastination to blame). The plane was full and I held my breath to see who would be sitting next to me. The idea is to get a gorgeous 6ft something handsome man, but since that never happens, someone with a good economy class seat flight attitude would suffice. I got myself a young man indeed, a 5 year old with his parents. Not the ideal. I hate children in planes because they're normally cranky at some points on the journey and irritate the hell out of you. One next to me, when I had 4 hours sleep and some work to do was not ideal at all.

However, it was a really good surprise to discover to find that not only was he polite and not annoying, and not cranky, and didn't do stupid things children do... most importantly, he was quiet. I like quiet. Quiet is good.

Alas, quiet was not a word known to a middle-aged couple sitting behind me. On route to China (yes, I got to hear all about their trip, their children's educational history, etc) the lady was talking to 2 teenage girls next to them who were on their way to do 12 months of language course in Shanghai. She simply could not shut up. I swear it was 2 hours of non-stop talking with her...

Traveling is a bit like that. You hope for the best in people, and that the journey would be as painless as possible. But when it comes to people, there's really no telling. I wonder if there's an etiquette class on air travel. The curriculum should include things like: conversational volume level, how to read a newspaper without annoying the next person, how to stop your children from crying... Anything else anyone wants to add?