Airport Observations

Perhaps it is the change of environment that traveling presents that always injects me with a certain desire to try something new. Not that I am ever object to trying new things, but when you are placed outside of your normal surroundings, it’s easier to subject yourself to different things.

Now, when I say “trying new things” I am not referring to getting a tattoo or something that phrase would suggest of a college spring break party. It’s a more mature inkling to step outside of yourself and be something a little different.

This idea usually only comes to my mind when I travel alone. When you travel alone, you are a small element of many moving parts – these parts being other travelers. People are moving in and out of an airport – some with other people, some alone.

So, my "new thing" is to observe people.

Since you’re not inclined to host or cater to the conversation that accompanies a travel partner, you become much more aware of your surroundings. Or, at least I do, which is a rare thing for me.

I’m typically not a very observant person when I am in the company of others. I see the obvious things, but I don’t take the time to soak in what’s going on around me. I find that to be a personal flaw. When I travel alone, I think my senses are heightened. I am much more aware of other people, and I take the time to observe them. Perhaps it is to entertain myself. I don’t really know. But, I’ve come to enjoy traveling alone for that very reason. It’s an opportunity to immerse myself in a mini culture (in the airport that is) and to tune into what’s going on around me.

Let me clarify that I do actually enjoy traveling with others. That’s not the matter of this discussion at all. I would imagine that my honeymoon in the company of my soon to be hubby will be quite enjoyable. That's not really a trip you want to take alone. I’ve just simply learned this odd fact about myself while traveling alone, and I think it’s neat to sit back and learn little things about yourself once in a while.

As I sat at the gate in Dallas Love Field on my way back to Lubbock from a week in Grapevine, I took note of the people around me. Most people were on their cell phones. A few were reading magazines. One girl was curled up asleep in the corner, and I think she was drooling. Then, there’s the girl with the Bluetooth earpiece who was talking loudly, and what appeared to be to herself. Many of the people at the gate were like me – they were traveling alone.

Out in the terminal, I watched people move. Some people walked hastily as if they were running late. There were older people who moved very slowly and carefully, almost as if they were confused as to where they were going. Then there’s always the first time flier. This person is easy to pick out, especially at security. Behind them is usually a frequent business traveler who is easily annoyed at the first time flier and wears an expression on their face of disgust and perhaps a private contempt for the fact that this is their fifth day away from home.

Some people don’t know how to be alone in the airport. They find security in their cell phone or magazine. It makes them uncomfortable or vulnerable to be at the gate alone. I can say that I was that person at one time. I remember the first time I ate alone in a restaurant on a trip. It was humbling, but it was also the first time I was painfully aware of my surroundings. I kind of felt like I stuck out like a soar thumb.

While observing people in an airport, I've also observed how your clothing can make a difference.

I see a lot of people in their early 20s wearing clothes that look like they just walked out of a sorority house – sweatpants, Ugh boots and huge sunglasses. Although I’m not that much older than these people, it’s amazing the difference when you present yourself as someone older than you are.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve found that when I travel by air, I enjoy “dressing the part”. I’ve never been one to get too dolled up for anything. In fact, I’ve never enjoyed it at all. However, that’s become a personality trait of mine that has evolved. Now, I actually enjoy looking the part. This mainly includes wearing a business suit, or toting a nice laptop case (never a purse - I hate them), or toughing it out and wearing heels on the plane.

When you’re under 30 and in a profession mostly dominated by older men, you have to present yourself as someone older than you are to garner the respect of others. It’s amazing what a difference that makes.

While I was in the airport, I would have classified my traveling attire as the “hybrid”- I wore a v-neck t-shirt underneath a suit blazer. (I mean, it's not like I was on international business travel or something cool like that. I was merely flying from Dallas to Lubbock - a very normal, non-eventful day in the air across Texas. But, I was being imaginative, so give me a break here.) I wore jeans, but the suit jacket is the key here – that’s the deciding factor when people make assumptions about you. On the ride to the airport, the driver started discussion about what business I was tending to on my trip. Other times when I have been dressed in the same outfit, sans the blazer, I get conversation starters that fall more along the lines of, “where you visiting a friend in town?”

The blazer is a powerful tool in an airport.