Talking to Strangers

Do you talk to the people you sit next to on a plane? A lot of people I have asked this question said no, which was very surprising to me! I am someone who always talks to the people sitting next to me! I am a decently talkative person, so I guess it makes sense. But I genuinely think that talking to the people you sit next to is a great experience to meet some very awesome people and learn some interesting stories.
Since I have to fly home for school I have quite a few opportunities to talk to people on all of my flights. On the way home I was sitting next to a very nice lady named Jane! She was telling me about her son who just graduated from grad school in Missouri! She was a teacher at a small college in the state as well, and her husband worked at a high school. We chatted for a while before plane took off. During this flight the flight attendants came on the speaker and asked for a doctor or nurse on board, and Jane raised her hand! Once she was done helping the person on the plane she was telling me all about her time as a nurse and all of the crazy patients she saw and how much she loves to help people! To the average person, just looking at Jane is just another normal person, but I really love to hear regular people’s stories! Everyone has something interesting to share, and it’s fun to hear about!
On my way back to butler, I met a very sweet older couple named Jim and Laura. They were in California to visit their son who works there! They are from Florida, so they had to travel pretty far to see him. We had just boarded our plane when there was a hour delay because something on the plane was broken, and this is when the three of us started talking! Laura and I were sitting next to one another so she was telling me all about their trip and what they did with their son! She was telling me how he is an engineer who loves his job and loves California. They also had some cool stories about their lives and travels and it made the delay go by faster! As time went on and we were still sitting on the plane on the ground you could hear more and more people around us talking as well, people in rows all around us were chatting, introducing one another, and shaking hands!
If you are ever in a safe environment and you have the chance to chat with someone you don’t know, I would absolutely recommend it! You never know what you could learn!!