At least, not yet.
But I am typing. And I am on a plane. Meanwhile, the country song "Drunk on a Plane" by Dierks Bentley has been playing in my mind since I flew home to Ohio earlier in December for Christmas vacation. I'm now flying back to Wisconsin and I'm still singing it over and over and over. It's a catchy tune and I can see how the scenario would play out.
Basically: Girl breaks off wedding with guy. Guy already has honeymoon booked. So guy flies solo (literally) and tries to drink away his troubles. Guy ends up buying rounds of drinks for everyone onboard. By the time the plane lands, he's tanked and more than likely has made 26 rows of new friends.
Except here's me. Me with my non-alcoholic iced coffee in hand and all I really need is a layover to achieve the same effect.
My co-host teases me all the time saying, "Normal people DO NOT love layovers. And normal people don't seek out new friendships when they travel by airplane. And normal people certainly don't strike up life changing conversations every time they fly among perfect strangers."
While that may be true, I think we can all agree that I'm far from normal. But if this became the new norm, those friendly skies could become their own social network.
See, I don't actually seek out friendships, so to speak. But in my 3-4 trips per year, I do tend to accrue some new BFF's along the way. Sometimes at the gate, sometimes in an airport café, and with the real lucky ones- sometimes in the seat next to me. Except on this leg of my flight, I'm flying solo (no pun intended) which means extra leg room to sprawl out. Score!
I have a really scientific method to my acquisition of these new pals. Brace yourselves! In fact, grab a pen and paper because you may want to take notes. Ready?
It usually starts with a simple "hello". I know, this is groundbreaking stuff here. But really, a simple hello can go a long way. It can lead to pen pals, email exchanges, and some have even started to follow us on twitter. That 'us', of course, is me and my cat. You can also follow us if you like: @Mr_Fuzzybottoms
I feel that if you're reading this, we're more or less friends now, too.
Now, let's get back to the plane. I'm not the only one who must send out the "Hey New Friends! Come and Get Me!" vibe. Yes, believe it or not, other people are on to this trend!
My latest new friend (let's call him 'Karl from Florida') must take the same advantage of this instant availability of new friends at the airport, too. I just met 'Karl from Florida' in Detroit when we struck up a conversation about the Ohio State football jersey I am wearing. I came to find out that 'Karl from Florida' is on his way to visit a gal-friend (quite possibly maybe to turn into a girlfriend, but we didn't get that in depth into the relationship status...yet) that he met randomly, six years prior, ON A PLANE! See, other people do it and would highly recommend striking up a long-lasting friendship.
On my last trip home, I met Bryan from San Fran. I didn't actually change his name because he gave me the ok to write about our new kinship. He was interviewing for a job in my city and he got it! By chance we were seated next to each other on the plane and now instant BFFs as well as neighbors. All it took was one flight plus one selfie together and it's like we've known each other for years.
See, 'Jill from Michigan' was really nervous to fly and we hit some major turbulence while in the air. Like the good friend that I try to be, I reached over and put one arm around her, held her hand with my other, and talked her through it.
I normally don't touch people. At least not the very first time I meet them on a plane or otherwise, but it just happened. She started crying and like a reflex, I just reached over. I think I immediately apologized for being a weirdo and invading her space. However, when the flight finally evened out, she said that was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her.
Whew!
She could have signaled for the Air Marshal, but instead we friended each other on facebook and have remained friends ever since.
And I could go on, but the flight attendant is here and she just said that my new friend 'Karl from Florida' (now seated in 10D) has bought me a drink back here in 14B. How sweet is that?
So maybe I will get to live out part of that country song after all. Keep 'em coming, Karl! I'm getting drunk on a plane.
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