I'm leaving on a jet plane

All my bags are packed (finally), I’m ready to go… Tomorrow I will get on a flight to Ohio at 10:15, then one to New York, then one to Paris. One day, three flights, countless time zones.

I love traveling, but hate the traveling part. Planes tend to disagree with me, not because I get motion sickness or le mal de l’air (I’m practicing), but because of close quarters, dry air, and screaming babies. I also find it difficult to sleep on flights, long and short alike. It really is a bit awkward if you think about it. You are sitting in a cabin with countless strangers doing one of the most vulnerable things a person can do. Who’s to say that the person sitting next to you isn’t a complete weirdo?

For example, a couple of years ago I was flying back from Germany. Knowing my trouble sleeping on planes, I had planned ahead: I stayed up the entire night before the flight and took two benadryl an hour before I boarded the plane. By the time I got to my seat, I was zonked (which, of course, is the technical term for ‘out like a light’). When I woke up, we were halfway across the Atlantic and the teenage girl next to me was halfway finished with her drawing of a halfway dressed girl. Doubting my eyes, and suspecting the benedryl was having hallucinogenic side affects, I moved in for a closer look. After a careful and very inconspicuous inspection, my suspicions were confirmed - there was in fact a sharpie drawing of a scantily clad cartoon girl sitting in my neighbor’s lap. The girl herself was deep in conversation with the Frenchman next that would
keep her occupied for several hours more. With benedryl still on my mind, I turned toward the window and fell back asleep. Perhaps the girl next to me was not a complete weirdo, or a weirdo at all, but the drawing unquestionably deviated from usual airplane pastimes.

And so while I never learned the motivation, the inspiration, or the intended expression behind her drawing, I did learn that when you sleep on planes you are at the mercy of your fellow passengers. Words to live by, non?