People Watching

I love people watching.  Spending time at the airport this week has given me a chance to do a lot of people watching.  I like to sit and speculate what people’s “story” is.  After overhearing several conversations over the past couple of days, here is what I have learned:

          **I don’t like flying on “Embraer” Airplanes.  They are rather small (17 rows) and only have 3 seats across (2 on one side and 1 on the other).  I always end up on this type of plane, every time I go to Guadalajara, and this time, even though I am not in GDL, I am still on one of my most detested planes.  

          I’m not really sure what my real hang up is with these planes, except that they are small.  One time, when I sat next to a pilot, he was telling me that the smaller planes are easier to fly than the bigger ones, but that still doesn’t ease my issues with them. 

          So, anyway – I’ve learned to accept but still not enjoy these airplanes, however I will tell you… if you ever have to choose seats on one, don’t choose seat 1A or 2A.  Those seats are right next to the little “gally” (I think that’s what it’s called – where the flight attendant has all their stuff).  You’re all alone, sitting there, almost as though you’re an overachiever.  Which, clearly I am – but I don’t really like to be viewed as such in front of others.  It made me feel like we were in class and I RAN to the front of the girls line so I could be first.  I felt nerdy.  Anal.  Bored.  And unentertained.  I couldn’t watch anyone in front of me, because the cockpit door was closed.  It’s almost as though they knew I had control issues, so they put me in a padded room.  No one to look at, no one to talk to.  Just there.  In the front of the line.  For 2 and a half hours.

          At one point, I got so bored (A.D.D anyone?) that I headed to the bathroom.  Let me tell you, Embraer aircrafts are NOT hip friendly.  What do I mean by hip friendly?  For those of you who are moms, and have the body to show it… remember back before we had kids.  Those size 5 jeans? Yea, that was when we didn’t have hips.  After the two kids that made a nest in my pelvis for ¾ of a year, my hips are… well … let’s say “proportioned”.  So, back to the bathroom break.   I head back to the bathroom, only to find that, I have to do an “aisle dance” all the way back to the back; turning my hips at a slight angle to fit through. 

          Now, I don’t consider myself “fat”.  I feel like I am a 30 year old mom that has had two kids.  And I’m ok with that.  But not being able to walk straight through the aisle without bumping someone with my “junk” was a bit unnerving.  This is obviously not my fault, the issue lies solely in the hands of the aircraft manufacturer.

          What else have I learned:

          ***I met a girl on my flight from Indy to Houston that looked to be about 22 or so.  She had a 2 year old little girl and a 9 month old little boy.  She didn’t know much about flying and she certainly had her hands full.  She said she was from Muncie, but moving to Jacksonville to be with her family.  I really wondered what her full story was.

          I had a 3 hour layover in Houston, so I helped her get her stuff off the plane (she had to gate check a few things), ate McDonald’s with her and her kids and then walked them to their next gate.  I guess I felt for her because I’d been in her shoes (not literally, with traveling) but young with two kids, alone and virtually at my breaking point 90% of the time.  It felt really good to help her, and I hope she is happy in Jacksonville.

***I learned at the Albuquerque airport that there was a guy and his wife that were flying out of ABQ and headed to Europe, but had to give someone his credit card information before he left.  His wife promptly walked up to him and told him to walk away from the area so people wouldn’t hear him giving his information.  Smart Wife J

***I also learned that there was a doctor (originally, I thought he was a lawyer) dressed in a Mexican Poncho/Coat looking thing that was at a conference here in ABQ.  He was headed to Washington DC for a connecting flight, and may end up stranded there, but luckily he has a lot of friends out there, so finding a place to stay won’t be too difficult.  He attended some sort of a conference where there were Medical Malpractice Lawyers there too and he had a long conversation with a couple of them after the meeting that was “interesting”.  I also learned that he was very proud of several of his colleagues, or maybe residents, I’m not sure – because he called them and told a couple of them how highly the other people at the conference spoke of them.  After hearing his conversation(s) for a while, I grew to be proud of those individuals as well.  HA!

***I learned that my driver from the hotel to the airport retired after 20 years in the Army.  The last 9 of which he spend on “executive detail” with the General, where he traveled 340 out of 365 days of the year.  He spent a couple of weeks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina with The General so they could do “some jumps”.  His son currently lives in Germany with his family and has served in the military for a while as well.  The lady that rode with me to the airport is from Ashville, NC “in the mountains”.  She said last April, President Obama visited a resort in Ashville with his family for vacation.  Several of the roads and surrounding areas were shut down (obviously) and some people saw him golfing at the resort from their homes.  She tried to walk her dog in the area, but secret service made her stop.  The week after Obama left, the local Farmer’s Market began selling items with stickers that said “official Obama cheese, fruit, etc” citing that they had been called by officials before his visit and provided food for him.  She didn’t buy any though, because she thought it was nuts.