SALON

Saturday, Sep 14, 1996 7:00 PM UTC

Wanderlust

Do airports get you in the mood?

By

Topics: Air Travel, Sex, Love and Sex, Books,

guess what? asked Sarah. Im being sent to the South Pole in November. I
have to go for three weeks to check out a rescue station and write a report! She
laughed.

How… interesting, I lied. You sound like youre taking it quite well.

Itll be terrible, she said cheerfully. I cant remember if its going to
be light 24 hours a day, or dark 24 hours a day. I dont even own a parka.

Sounds great, I said. Then I remembered. Oh, Sarah, you dont still have
that airport theory, do you?

Of course, she said. How many times do I have to tell you? Its the
greatest place to meet people. Last time I went to Chicago, I met this guy in
the lounge in St. Louis. Then, when I was waiting for my mom to pick me up, I
started talking to this other guy outside of baggage claim. He was with his
girlfriend, but they were both witty. We ended up having dinner that night and
I tell you, they were a hoot.

Dont you think its a little strange how you, um, collect people at
airports and on planes?

I dont know what it is. I just seem to attract the funniest, most
interesting people when Im in transit. Remember the guy I met at the SFO
bar?

You mean the guy who thought you were a hooker?

No, that was at La Guardia.

I cant say that I do.

Come on. The one who worked for the newspaper. He was writing an article on
airport bars. He thought Personalities sounded like a good bar to start with 

Huh.

And he ended up giving Harriet some freelance work.

I listened for a while as Sarah continued to give me details of her upcoming
trip  one of the highlights was that shed have to change planes twice.
Ive always held on to the old-fashioned theory that the only way to meet
people  either date-worthy or platonic  is through your circle of friends.
Maybe its just my suspicious nature, but I just cant imagine striking up a
conversation with someone in an airport lounge, particularly one called
Personalities. It goes back to a few snobbish assumptions. One is, what kind
of person hangs out in a bar and talks to people? (Well, Sarah, for one.) Two,
of course, is the safety factor: is this a nice person, or is he Ted Bundy?
Three concerns the fact that I dont have enough time for the friends that I
have already, so why would I want more? Four is … well, it just seems hokey.

My friend Matt has met two women on planes that hes dated, and still another
acquaintance of mine actually met and married the man who sat next to her on a
flight to Paris. My mother is another story, being one of those people who
gets asked directions, fashion advice, weather predictions and preferences on
laundry detergent every time she so much as steps outside her house. Ive seen
her disembark from a plane with a fistful of business cards that have been
thrust upon her over the course of a two-hour flight.

Being in a plane is, for me, an event a little bit sacred  it seems
personal, like the so-called quality time when youre in the bathroom. You
dont stand and talk to strangers through a bathroom stall door, so why
encroach on their time in a plane? I am one of those who goes armed with
headphones, novels, bills to pay, letters to write, columns to consider. I
have been known to actually get up and change seats, quite openly, if my
neighbor is particularly loquacious. When I told Sarah this, she just shook
her head. Youre missing out. Im telling you.

Still, I made a resolution this year to be more open-minded, so on a recent
plane trip to New York, I sat down, organized all my newspapers and books and
bottled water in the seat pocket in front of me, and eagerly looked around.
The bespectacled young guy sitting by himself on the other side of the aisle
was reading what looked like an arty little hardcover novel. Hmmm. If I just
craned my neck to one side I could barely make out the authors picture. Okay,
if its a classic, Ill talk to him… if its post-modern, its a toss-up …
and if its Roth, Mailer, Miller or Burroughs, forget it.

He coughed and shifted the book. The spine winked at me. The Bridges of
Madison County, by Robert James Waller.

Wheres that Walkman?

More Courtney Weaver.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Journalists file suit against Manning's trial secrecy: Plaintiffs including Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange demand press, public access to trial and documents
150 points151 points | comment
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
125 points126 points | 91 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
124 points125 points | 12 comments
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
113 points114 points | 32 comments
vote
Ted Cruz against the world - How the Junior Senator is igniting the GOP civil war
74 points75 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations