is people watching, specifically in airports. Enjoy my "diaries of a people watcher"...
So I'm sitting in the Baltimore airport eating my sandwich and I notice an older gentleman sitting next to me with a bluetooth in his ear. These tiny little devices crack me up to begin with so I was especially amused when his phone rang and rather than answering utilizing his bluetooth he held the phone up to his other ear! Maybe he wanted to use his bluetooth as an ear muffler.
Still in Baltimore I'm sitting at the gate waiting for my next flight and this dude walks by me and I notice that his neck is badly sunburned. I felt sorry for the guy and wondered where he had been...on the golf course, at a baseball game, who knows. As I'm contemplating this (still staring at the back of his head) I notice that there seems to be a stripe on the back of his head going from one ear to the other (he had really short, dark hair which is how I noticed the stripe). It took me a minute to figure out what the hell it was from and then I realized he had been wearing a visor and the rest of his head had burned in addition to his neck! Ha! I wish I couldv'e gotten a picture to share.
Along the same lines, I spotted a guy who was wearing moccasins without socks although based on his very apparent burn/tan lines, it looked like he was in fact wearing white socks.
Here's something that's puzzled me for a long time and I still haven't come up with an answer (if you have any guesses, please share in the comments section). People that wear sunglasses in the airport? I just don't get it. Surely you have to take them off your face to go through security. Why don't you simply put them in your carry-on and be done with them? I've never experienced extreme brightness in the airport, have you? A mystery to mankind.
I always try to guess people's story. Where they're coming from, where they're going. Why they are traveling. Who are they visiting? The newleyweds going on their honeymoon are easy to spot. Manicured hands, french manicure on their toes. The groom can't stop fidgeting with his wedding band - likely the first piece of jewelry he's ever worn. Other than the time when he had pierced ears in high school - a lapse in judgement of course.
The motorized vehicles are one of my favorite, or rather the person it is about to run over. The carts already come equipped with a very annoying, high pitched, constant beep. If you don't hear that very annoying, high pitched, constant beep and are are walking ambiguously down the corrider then you get honked at. And then if you don't hear the honking the driver starts yelling at you. And these people driving the carts don't slow down! So in a split second you can see the thought process of someone about to get hit. "What's that sound? It doesn't fit in the airport. Maybe I should look up at the ceiling because naturally that is the most liekly place that it would be coming from. Wait, I can hear it getting louder. Almost sounds like it's behind me. I better turn around and see what it is. Yikes! How did that get there?! Oh, it's following me and it's particularly close. Oh shit, the sole reason for the honking and yelling is because I'm in the way. I better move. Few, that was a close call. Oh no, I just realized how many people saw that...now I'm embarassed." Want to know the especially funny thing about this scenario? I had literally written this story on a pad of paper before my flight and when I got in the airport after the flight, it happened to me! Ha! The only thing that prevented me from being totally embarrased was that there was a gentleman that was more directly in front of the cart and it took him waaay longer to hear the beeping and honking and yelling. By the way, I actually did try to get his attention and even that didn't work. I think he is someone who is a perfect example of someone that should be in the cart.
And then there's what Dave calls the "cattle trough". People hovering closely around the baggage carousel like they're waiting to be fed after not having eaten in days. Not only is it the person who is waiting for their bags but their whole damn family is taking up valuable real estate. Dave and I like to wait in the shadows until we spot our bag, then we pounce through saying "excuse me" while we drag our bag off the moving belt. Sometimes we clip someone but that's what we call being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This, I realize sounds harsh and may be an exaggeration (I've never actually clipped someone). But right now I'm feeling punchy. See the post titled "Adventures in Traveling, Part III and you'll understand why.
Now to top things off, I'm getting sick...again. I just got over a cold and now I have a sore throat. I hate traveling.
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