Who’s in the seat next to you?

I have found through the years I’m not as social as I used to be. In the past when I traveled I was the little jabbery kid in the seat next to you. I would introduce myself and visit with you (if you’d let me). Through the years I have become the grumpy old business traveler who finds his seat and minds his own business. Actually I guess I would make a good kid now "don’t speak unless you are spoken to."

The company I work for is a worldwide company and we have employees all over the place. A few weeks back I sat in my seat and shy of Hello I flew from Atlanta to Orange Counta. Just before landing the lady in the seat next to me started visiting with me. Come to find out she worksfor the same company and works for one of my old bosses I had 10 years back in Chicago. Talk about a small world. If only we had started talking sooner I might have some dirt on someone.

The next week the lady in the seat right behind me saw me reading material from work. After I was done reading and putting things away she asked me which division of the company I worked for. Come to find out there is another person on a flight with me cross country from the same company.

I’m not above visiting with a person in the seat next to me if they speak first. I think that’s the way most business travelers are these days. We are heading to our destinations; we are busy and just try to mind our own business.

You can really meet some neat people on airplanes. On my trip to Portland I sat next to a gentleman who had a great accent. I asked him where the accent was from. He was from the Netherlands. He was a salesman that sells flower bulbs from Holland to distributors. He lives in the US now and has started his new life. I find it amazing when a person can pick-up and move to another country and start a new life. It takes a strong person to do this and I have known quite a few in my life that have done it.

On my way home from Portland I sat next to a lady who's 85. She was from Prague. We talked about her life in Czech Republic and how she ended up in the US. Her story was one worth hearing. She had moved from Prague to Chicago and a few weeks after that her home country was taken over and became a Communist state. Can you imagine leaving your country and having the government overthrown like that? Czech Republic was under communist rule for 40 years until the 80’s. This lady was going home to meet friends of hers she had not seen in years.

This lady’s story only begins here. She showed me a picture that was taken the week before where she had been snow skiing on Mount Hood. She had her first and only child when she was 40 years old. Her Husband lived to 96. During their life together she had lived in Central, South and North America. We chatted off and on for the entire trip from Portland to Atlanta. If I can be as healthy as this lady at 85 I have no problems living that long.

I probably seemed to be a very smart person to her because I had just watched a travel channel special about Prague so I knew much more about her country than most people know. It was just dumb luck on my part that I'm like to watch TV.

The next week I sat next to a man from Toronto who was returning from Cancun. We didn’t speak much until we were almost to Toronto. I mentioned we were over Lake Erie and about to fly over Niagara Falls. From there on we had a conversation just to find out we are in the same industry. Him in Canada and me in the USA. Geez how many healthcare software consultants can there be out there?

This week I was right back to my grumpy old self and didn’t talk to the person in the seat next to me. So instead I spent that energy on my co-workers and playing once I was on the ground.