Travel Buddies (August 28-29, 2007)

Unlike when I visited Hawaii this summer by myself, I had regular company on my voyage across the atlantic.
My mom first arranged for Tweety, an army-wife traveling to Germany to help me find my international flight in Atlanta ( I felt this was unnecessary as I most certainly could find it myself, but I went along with it anyway.)
Once on the plane I befriended a charming South African woman who was sitting on my row. She was quite sweet and amusing, telling me that her sister-in-law was going to spend the day with her in London during her 12+ hour layover. This was a good thing, she confided, as she might otherwise amuse herself with her credit card!
Of course the two of us grew excited as the plane filled and yet no one arrived to sit between us. Naturally, after we spoke of this good fortune a curly-haired, middle aged woman arrived. We exchanged glances and reluctantly bid farewell our extra room.
Still, the most exciting encounter I had had by this point began as I waited in the long coach boarding line. I looked across the room to economy plus only to find Leland Wood checking in with the flight attendant. I didn’t manage to catch his eye and as screaming “Leland!” seemed inappropriate, I resolved to looking for him on the plane. At first I was doubtful that I’d come across my friend, but as it ends up I almost ran right into him!
“Hey Leland!”
“Oh my God! Stephanie! I didn’t know you were on this flight!”
We were only able to speak briefly on the plane though but it was a great comfort to know someone else on board.
Continuing the small world encounters, I discovered my late-arrival seatmate was traveling to Budapest as well! She was going to work as a high school English teacher. I even found that our flight to Budapest was the same. What a relief to have an experienced travel companion! Or so I thought before I realized she was perhaps as clueless as me. Still, not facing British Airways securite in Gatwick alone made it worth it.
Finally, as I went to the flight information counter to ask why my ticket said my plane was boarding yet the gate-display board told me “Please wait” (there were three monitors of “Please wait” and four flights with announced departure locations), I met up with a fellow CIEE participant—Andrew.
It was kind of awkward and yet very exciting to finally know someone in physical form in my group.