International travel is outstanding. Sure you end up so
exhausted the world looks like it’s underwater, but other
than that, it’s great!
Air travelers have their own subculture. Unwritten rules and customs seem intuitive to the group but, like in any cross-cultural setting, they must be studied and learned.
I love getting on a plane early, settling into my seat, 88Z, and watching the interaction between veterans and novices.
There’s the guy blocking the aisle, searching for his book in the overhead compartment. The teenager, wearing a backpack, who has no spacial awareness, smacking everyone with his pack.
Air travelers have their own subculture. Unwritten rules and customs seem intuitive to the group but, like in any cross-cultural setting, they must be studied and learned.
I love getting on a plane early, settling into my seat, 88Z, and watching the interaction between veterans and novices.
There’s the guy blocking the aisle, searching for his book in the overhead compartment. The teenager, wearing a backpack, who has no spacial awareness, smacking everyone with his pack.
The lady who pulls on your seat to get up, the child who
kicks it the whole flight, the man who leans his seat back before you even pull
away from the gate.
But the best to watch is the frequent flyer who has just
lost his “Ultimate Supreme Premium Platinum Medallion Status.” The last time he flew he
was seated on a throne and carried onto the plane by four Mr. Universe finalists.
Rose peddles were thrown in his path as he was fanned with palm branches and
fed grapes by five virgins.
But now, he plods down the aisle, looking beaten down, banished to the middle seat in a row of five, between a colicky baby and a woman who was just told she would have to purchase two seats on her next flight (I actually witnessed that recently).
It’s hard to lose status. It’s easy to get used to people treating us well. I've heard you’ll know if you have the heart of a servant when someone treats you like one. Paul talks about learning to be content in all circumstances.
I think there’s a beauty in that and I hope I can learn it someday. But I have to admit there’s a part of me that would like to see how Paul would do in the middle seat, on a fifteen hour flight to Hong Kong.
But now, he plods down the aisle, looking beaten down, banished to the middle seat in a row of five, between a colicky baby and a woman who was just told she would have to purchase two seats on her next flight (I actually witnessed that recently).
It’s hard to lose status. It’s easy to get used to people treating us well. I've heard you’ll know if you have the heart of a servant when someone treats you like one. Paul talks about learning to be content in all circumstances.
I think there’s a beauty in that and I hope I can learn it someday. But I have to admit there’s a part of me that would like to see how Paul would do in the middle seat, on a fifteen hour flight to Hong Kong.
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