Watching other people's movies
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I’m writing this at 40,000 feet up in the sky, while listening to classical music on my headphones and watching a variety of movies (with no sound, of course) on the seat-back screens of the row in front of us. There’s a kid watching an animated movie, several people watching The Fall Guy (a fun one, which we watched recently enough that I can appreciate it even without the sound), and one guy who looks to be the right age to have first watched Top Gun as a boy, be-bopping in his seat to the familiar opening-scene soundtrack of Top Gun: Maverick. Airplanes on an airplane, if you will.
Before we boarded this flight, while making our way through the always-crowded Atlanta airport, I was reminded of a favorite travel-time game. When you’re in an airport, do you ever look at your fellow travelers and wonder where they’re going or where they’re traveling from? You know, make up stories based only on the limited information you have? (This particular pastime is akin to another favorite: making up stories based on overheard conversations, at a bar or in a restaurant.) I’m not a creeper, I promise. 😆 And I’m sure you’ve done the same anyway; it’s hard not to, right?
The other fun airport game, of course, is to wonder what it might be like to travel to some (or all) of the other destinations you pass along the way to your gate. Albuquerque? Portland (Oregon or Maine)? Puerto Vallarta? Chicago? Paris? London? Where would you like to go?
Travel allows us to see new places and meet new people. It allows us to step away from the “real world” for a bit, to escape the everyday.
True, the Platinum Medallion member seated next to me on the plane may have flown to a few more places than the 68-year-old we met on the first leg of our trip, who was on her second-ever plane ride.
But you know what? Regardless of how many planes you’ve been on, or how many other places you’ve been to, you can step away from the real world and escape the everyday just as easily with fiction as you can with actual travel. Some books even offer time travel, which we haven’t yet mastered here in the real world … or you can travel to places that don’t actually exist outside our (and the author’s) imaginations.
And that sort of imaginary travel is a lot less expensive than a plane ticket; free, even, if you get your books from the library. And there’s no one watching your in-flight movie over your shoulder. 😉
Where have you been lately?
Hi there! I’m Jennifer, coming to you about once a week with brief essays on my writing (and reading) & gardening life.
I also write several Tiny Garden Stories each week, and post one on Substack each Monday.
You can buy my books here.
I've never flown, and it's been decades since I've left my state. But I've traveled the universe every week through the pages of a book and the stories I read here. 💞
Last September we traveled to Monterey, California for a huge Porsche racing event. My husband is a HUGE Porsche enthusiast. We watched the races, found delicious vegan food, made a few tourists stops and enjoyed time away from home. A very needy cat who is scared of everyone curtails our ability to travel as we'd like, but someday, we'll have more freedom.