Girl on a Plane (long, awesome)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So this is a tale of how I met a girl…on a plane.

I’m not a big fan of flying. Sure, it beats walking, and sometimes even driving, but the whole anxiety-provoking experience of making it to the airport on time, trudging through security, and hoping your flight doesn’t get delayed tends to put a slight damper on the whole experience. But something happened yesterday which made my flight a little easier to manage…after it got delayed, of course (did I mention how much I love flying?).

So here’s the deal. I’m at the very end of SouthWest’s first boarding group – certainly not horrible, but I’m still behind 59 other people. Whatever, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I always get a crappy seat. But as I board, I notice an empty middle seat in the second row, and more importantly, empty baggage room overhead – that never happens! I seized the opportunity, and asked the lass sitting on the aisle if anyone was sitting there. “Nope.” Victory!

After plopping my post-holiday ass in my seat, I whip out one of my most cherished gifts: the book, Freakonomics (awesome book, btw). The girl in the seat next to me says she’s heard great things about that book. So we talk for a minute, then that was it. After takeoff, I continued to read my book, all the while pondering how I can resume the conversation in a natural way – yes, a contradiction in terms, I know. Strangely, it turns out I wouldn’t have to do anything, as my other seatmate by the window took it upon himself to make the next move…

While the stewardess was delivering our drinks, my slightly mental handicapped seatmate accidentally knocked my drink off my tray and onto my lap, covering my brand new coat, jeans, and book in a layer of coke – awesome (like I told you, I love flying). But as it turns out, I actually owe that guy a huge thanks as that one act (albeit at the expense of my clothes) provided a conversation re-starter with the aforementioned girl, which would continue through the rest of the flight.

I can’t remember all that was said, but we talked for the entire 3.5 hours remaining on the flight (in case you’re wondering how a flight from Seattle to Oakland takes 4 hours, just ask SouthWest). And as it turns out, the girl lives just up the street from me…that’s insane! A girl, that I met by complete chance on a plane via a weird book and having Coke spilled all over my lap lives practically next door? No bloody way. Anyway, at this revelation, she then asked if I might be able to give her a ride home? “Damn right I can!,” I said, paraphrased! And also thinking, “damn girl, I just met you…either you’re really, really naive, or I just come cross as a really trust-worthy guy. Or hell, maybe I’m just too wimpy to be of any kind of threat…well, whatever, stop thinking negative thoughts!”

So after the flight, we gather our luggage and take the shuttle back to my car and begin our drive home (conversation ensues). Anyway, after dropping her off she’s adamant about paying me for my efforts (despite my cries to the contrary) and then gives me her number so we can go to dinner sometime. She hugs me goodbye, then we bid each other ado. Where it’ll go from here, I have no idea, but I’m excited to find out!

…maybe flying isn’t so bad after all.

2

Sounds like 2008 is going to be a good one for you :smiley:

3

Awwwww :slight_smile:

I toast to you, the girl and the New Year!

May you both fly into 2008 with your new found friendship.

4

Enough is enough! I have had it with this motherfucking girl on this motherfucking plane! [/obligatory reference]

5

Awww! Sounds great, Red! Good luck to new love!

6

Okay - so, your move. How’re you gonna handle it?

  • Have you called her yet? (you must call)
  • If not, when you do call her, how are you going to ask her out? (you must ask her out)
  • What type of evening can you plan that allows you to be you - in a good way? (you should not plan an evening that involved new, strange stuff for you - do things that you are comfortable to increase the chances that you feel, well, comfortable as you try to tackle talking with this new person…)

Best of luck - sounds awesome!

7

Not yet. But I plan to tomorrow.

I’m not quite sure, but it’ll undoubtedly involve me making a fool of myself. I was just thinking of being all like “hey, remember me?” – that’s all I’ve got :wink: I’m guessing it’s best for me to invite her out, as opposed to taking her up on her offer to take me to dinner, am I right?

I was just thinking of asking her to either movie/dinner, or just dinner (dependent on whether there’s any good movies; are there?). And I’m pretty comfortable with dinner, so I’ve got that going for me. Beyond that, pool maybe? Unfortunately, despite her being in her 20s, she’s temporarily using a cane due to some condition, so pool may not actually be the best option.

8

In all my years of globe-trotting, I have never had such an experience.

9

(Makes a New Year’s Resolution to fly more often.)

10

Haha, well, let’s not get hasty. I’ve probably been on 50 flights (give or take) in my life and have had two chance encounters, half of which is retold above. The other incident didn’t go anywhere, sadly.

11

Awright, Red! Sounds better’n any of my flights! Although I have had some wonderful conversations with seat-mates–all female, very nice, and totally interesting people–conversations ranged from Shakespeare to medical procedures and (one was a doctor) to the latest fantasy novels.

12

“adieu”

I’m jealous. Really really.

13

I took a 13 hour flight over Thanksgiving. It was a 777, which has the two rows of two seats on the sides and four in the middle. I was in one of the two seats. The flight fills up, the seat next to me was still open. Then walking up the aisle comes the Hottest Girl on the Airplane. Yep, she sat next to me - first time that’s happened to me.

And she was cool as all hell. Chatted for most of the flight, then actually ran into her at my destination five days later. And she was on the same flight as me on the way back, and we chatted quite a bit on that long haul, too!

No phone numbers out of the deal, however – she lives in Arizona and was a fair bit younger than me. But damn, that was cool.

14

Good on you. Talking to a creep on the plane is no one’s cup of tea, so you must be very nice (or, let’s face it, damn hot).

15

Congratulations! :slight_smile: Hope all works out for a good time.

16

Secret to starting a new relationship. After first date call her every day to ask her how she feels, or that you where just thinking of her. The relationship will last for as long as you do this.

17

Or hell, why not both, am I right? :wink:

18

Yes, you should ask her out - don’t take her up on her offer. And “hey, it’s RB from the plane - and I would love to take you out on a date (or “to dinner and a movie,” etc.)” is perfectly fine - short, sweet, nice, and clear in intent (none of this “hey, wanna hang out?” ambiguous stuff…)

Movie/Dinner sounds fine - although if you want to get to know her, a movie can limit that. Although if you can go to the movie first, then dinner, you might end up having the movie to help smooth the conversation along…

The movie **Juno **is a smart, dialogue-rich movie - the topic is not perfect for a date, per se - but every woman I have spoken with loved it and wanted to talk about it a lot, so it may be good…

Keep us posted!

PS: While I have not had a date come out of an airplane situation, I once had to sit in the one set of seats on a Southwest Airlines flight that face the back (the front-most seats in the plane used face the back - don’t know if SA still does that). Anyway, this incredibly hot, all-ready-for-nightclubbing blonde ended up sitting opposite me - in other words, facing me. Tight miniskirt, very-low-cut blouse, no pantyhose, white stilleto’s - the whole bit. It was tough enough to sit there and act all mellow, but she was amp’d up for a night out with her girlfriends and wanted to talk. After we took off, she wanted to tell me a story and just as part of relaxing into the story, just crossed her legs without thinking…and gave me a full shot (trust me, we’re crammed in there knee-to-knee; I had to look down to make room) of her white-mesh panties which made it quite clear that the carpet didn’t match the drapes. Oy. I looked up immediately - again, I was just trying to make room and didn’t realize I was being treated to a show. Since I happen to be happily married, I basically tried to shut things down from there, and was thankful it was a short flight from LA to SF…

19

I hate you.

20

I had a pretty awesome encounter on a plane back in June. Not as awesome as a pretty girl’s phone number, but pretty cool nonetheless.

I’d spent a week vacationing in NJ in June and was seated on my flight back to San Francisco leaving Newark. I had a little messenger bag as my carry-on that I’d attached a laminated business card to. When my seat mate settled in, he turned to me and asked me where I was headed.
“Back home to Santa Rosa after vacationing in NJ”, I replied.

He handed me his business card and said he was asking since he noticed mine and told me he was on his way home to Sacramento after a week long visit to Portugal to witness the entire wine cork making process. Turns out he’s the head winemaker at UC Davis and was documenting the cork stopper production for students. (I work in the Purchasing Dept. for a major winery, I know a whole hell of a lot about corks and their production.) But, I’ve never really seen the process or the equipment. I’m also a student of the Vit and Enology program at our local JC, he knew several of my instructors, not to mention a few of my co-workers. We had plenty to talk about.

He’d taken over 500 pictures of the process - the forests, the yards where the bark sits and seasons, all of the cleaning and punching equipment, everything. He asked if I’d care to see them. Of course!
We spent the entire flight from SFO to EWR looking over all of his pictures on his laptop as he explained each part of the process in great detail. It was completely fascinating to me and certainly made the flight seem so much faster. I honestly learned a lot that day and thanked him, and he said he was grateful to kind of ‘dry run’ his lesson on a not only a Vit student but also someone in the industry.

I thought it was a great coincidence. Of all the people he could have sat next to, he sat next to someone as completely geeked out over cork and wine as he was.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my plane story, good luck on the next move!