Traveling Musing

On the train, the pace of travel is slower -- there are drawbacks and advantages.  For instance, as you near the end of the nine or ten hour train ride, as the end of the line approaches, it is best not to use the bathrooms.  In all likelihood, those bathrooms have not been serviced for several hours -- and no one is likely to be worried about it.  But, on the train, one key advantage is that there is time to settle in -- and, if necessary or appropriate, to make friends.

At the airport, everyone is in a hurry, rushing here and there.  Settling in happens if your flight is delayed, or, like me, you got a ride to the airport several hours before your flight.

During the holiday season, in this case Thanksgiving, whichever kind of transportation you choose, you are also mingling with many, many people.  Full train -- I mean to capacity.  Full airport with all kinds of travelers, mostly unseasoned, and many with large contingents.  In the airport this equals plenty of grouchy and/or disgruntled and otherwise hassled.

Last Monday, I rode most of the ten hours in the "parlor car" with a woman with pink hair and her laptop inside one of those darling book covers.  At first (and by at first, I mean for the first four hours), we were just sharing a table in the crowded car.  She had been on since Portland and I joined the fun in Oakland.

I tried at first to engage her in some conversation, but she didn't seem to want to share. So, I dug into my work.  I was trying to break the ice because I wanted to be able to leave my stuff with her and go in search of hot water and snacks.  Quickly we became work buddies who spotted each other if one needed the bathroom, to stretch her legs or get provisions.

When I switched sides to be able to sit on the coast side, she asked if she could come along -- I said, of course, and then the serious friend making was on ... let's just say no more work was done.  She went to a dinner reservation and I returned to my assigned seat -- where I was later joined by another long term traveller -- poor thing had been sitting up since Salem and she was exhausted.  We chatted and I cried and she complimented my hair.

Sometimes -- you get just the traveling companions you need to help you prepare for that hard holiday.  She was lovely, though I didn't get her name, I know that she is off to Mackinaw Island for her next adventure, that she likes to write real letters (like me), and she's a quilter.  She lost her husband to a vicious cancer two years ago, and she gave me some sage advice on grief and mourning.

Yesterday in my marathon airport day ... I parked myself with my coffee in an overly open area that was close to an outlet.  There was a woman charging her phone -- she was draped over the table seemingly sleeping.  I sat at the table right next to her and hoped she wasn't meaning to use both tables.  People cycled through over the hours -- a woman who sat with her soda but then walked back and forth with her luggage to the Burger King counter ... I think she left her coat, I didn't notice it until I was getting ready to leave.  A family sat with me, or the dad did and the mom and daughter walked around until they were able to get there own set of two tables.  Another young woman -- it could also have been her coat -- who ate her burger king while listening to her ipod.

There was a lot of bustling around me as I worked on my bibliography.  But there was no friend making.  The best I did was find someone to watch my stuff while I went to the bathroom - before I talked to Mychael (with a y) at the Chilistogo.  Yes, that's how they spelled it.  Mychal has only been there for a month, but he knows all the ins and outs and helped Ale whenever she got stymied by my requests.

Even though the train is interminably long -- I think it makes for more interesting times...