Aeroplanes...

I don't mind flying. I won't say I love it because sometimes it's not enjoyable, but I don't hate it either. It's probably because I don't fly often enough to really hate it. I do often wonder, though, how business people fly so much... I think that would drive me crazy.

I flew on Thursday and Sunday of last week and will fly again this Saturday. This means I have had some time to make interesting airplane and airport observations.

I like airports because I like watching people. People who are stressed about delays and seats and screaming children. People who could care less about when they leave and when they arrive. At any given time, someone is doing something interesting.

I often fly on small planes. The ones where you can feel like you can touch the back of the airplane when you are standing at the front. On my first flight last week, I entered a small plane and realized I was seated next to the bathroom. I only had this experience one other time in my life, sitting by the bathroom. A rather heavy-set man asked to sit next to me, even though there were many empty seats on the flight. He was pale and sweating profusely and I determined he wanted to sit next to the bathroom because he was not feeling great. Well, I was correct in this observation because the flight ended when he whipped open the barf bag and used it. This was the first time I experienced someone using the barf bag. So on Thursday, when I sat down by the bathroom, I was somewhat suspicious that this could be a bad sign. I am pleased to annouce, however, that this was an enjoyable experience. A fifty-ish old man sat down next to me with a casual style briefcase and a coke. He had a magazine that he chose not to read. Instead, he opened his briefcase and pulled out the original Nintendo Gameboy. Of course, I proceeded to say, "The original Gameboy - that is fantastic! You just made my whole day." He asked if I wanted to play, but I politely declined. I didn't want to show him up with my amazing skills. I did watch him for an hour, however, and he was pretty good at Tetris. How great is that?

That flight took me to Charlotte, which is my favorite airport. It has good food and shops and a variety of live entertainment. It also has white wooden rocking chairs that are great for lay-overs. The airplane I took from Charlotte to Pittsburgh was decent in size, seating 6 across. I haven't flown on this size plane since going to Vegas a few years ago. I was impressed by this flight because they dropped the television screens for the flight. While the duration of the flight was not long enough to view a movie, it was suitable for the airline to provide Cranium trivia. This I found enjoyable. I dosed off for a few minutes, woke up, looked at the screen, learned some new fun and useless facts, and dosed again. Repeat process. It was either this or talk to the two suits next to me about my 401(k), the stock market and my life story, which I was not interested in. Seriously, these suits talked the entire time. No, they were not friends. Complete strangers. Ridiculous that two people who know nothing about each other could invest in conversation for this long on an airplane. I enjoyed my many short naps and fun facts instead.

Overall, I had a decent week of flying. I am not sure why people hate it so much - it never seems to be that bad. Perhaps my flight next week will bring another interesting opportunity to observe or experience something new. If not, though, I will at least get to enjoy the rocking chair in the Charlotte airport again and that makes it all worth it.