Problems
You are travelling alone and want to talk. You don't know if anybody else is lonely or bored. You don't want to impose on somebody who would rather read a book. How to find somebody?
Answer
A website called Meet At The Airport allows you to contact others. You fill in a basic profile listing your interests.
Any precautions:
1 If you live alone, you might not want to reveal the house is empty. It could invalidate your insurance.
Story
One year I was away from home for a week. My small son would be alone. I worried. I gave keys to neighbours and all the numbers of my relatives.
When I phoned home, he answered.
I asked, "Are you alone?'"
I heard a buzz of people talking in the background.
I asked, "Who is with you? How many people?"
I was amazed when he replied, "About twelve."
We had son and father. Grandmother and granddad who had called a granny's insistence to check, and she stayed to make food and cups of tea. The gardener. A cleaner. A plumber doing a repair. An insurance agent doing a survey. Three neighbours, a couple from one side and a man from opposite, who had dropped in to see that everything was all right and stayed for tea. The male neighbour's wife who called to see why he wasn't yet home. Then my son's schoolfriend and his mother turned up.
Let us go back to the airpot meet up question.
2 Do you really want to hook up with a stranger?
Advantages
On the other hand, you might meet somebody going to another destination, but with a hour to kill at the airport's public lounge, cafe, or private airline lounge.
The other advantage is that you can see on line what the person looks like. You might even look for them, on face recognition, instead of or as well as sending them a message saying where you will be and when.
As with all public businesses, there could be 99 success stories, and just one disaster or simply a time waster and disappointment. Let us be positive. It is another opportunity. Another idea. If you try it, I hope it works well for you. Let me know how you get on.
Story
One year I was stuck in an airport in America, with a delay of several hours. I got chatting to the person beside me in the queue. I was a chatter. He was a chatter. Neither of us had anybody else to talk to. I didn't want to read a book in case I missed an announcement. I would have been very stressed alone waiting for a delayed flight. But with somebody to talk to, it was just a welcome extension to my holiday.
Airport Friends
Eventually the airline (Virgin) gave everybody a ticket to use their lounge, even though we were on economy or redemption flights. I was given a ticket for entry to the lounge, which I would not have bothered with as I would not have had much time if the flight had not been delayed. (Maybe I was on a higher price fare. Because I got the ticket. I am not sure that my new friend did. Maybe he was waiting for another, later, flight.)
My free ticket allowed me to take with me one other family member of friend as guest into the lounge. This was really handy. After chatting for about an hour, I and my new friend had lots to talk about, our travels and life in general.
We passed several hours in the lounge together. We exchanged addresses but did not keep in touch. So many people you meet when travelling. I think this was before my active Facebook days. Now I would keep in touch on Facebook for fun and face pictures or LinkedIn for business contacts and work updates and career forums.
So I am all for chatting to new people at airports.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher. Please share links to your favourite posts.
You are travelling alone and want to talk. You don't know if anybody else is lonely or bored. You don't want to impose on somebody who would rather read a book. How to find somebody?
Answer
A website called Meet At The Airport allows you to contact others. You fill in a basic profile listing your interests.
Any precautions:
1 If you live alone, you might not want to reveal the house is empty. It could invalidate your insurance.
Story
One year I was away from home for a week. My small son would be alone. I worried. I gave keys to neighbours and all the numbers of my relatives.
When I phoned home, he answered.
I asked, "Are you alone?'"
I heard a buzz of people talking in the background.
I asked, "Who is with you? How many people?"
I was amazed when he replied, "About twelve."
We had son and father. Grandmother and granddad who had called a granny's insistence to check, and she stayed to make food and cups of tea. The gardener. A cleaner. A plumber doing a repair. An insurance agent doing a survey. Three neighbours, a couple from one side and a man from opposite, who had dropped in to see that everything was all right and stayed for tea. The male neighbour's wife who called to see why he wasn't yet home. Then my son's schoolfriend and his mother turned up.
Let us go back to the airpot meet up question.
2 Do you really want to hook up with a stranger?
Advantages
On the other hand, you might meet somebody going to another destination, but with a hour to kill at the airport's public lounge, cafe, or private airline lounge.
The other advantage is that you can see on line what the person looks like. You might even look for them, on face recognition, instead of or as well as sending them a message saying where you will be and when.
As with all public businesses, there could be 99 success stories, and just one disaster or simply a time waster and disappointment. Let us be positive. It is another opportunity. Another idea. If you try it, I hope it works well for you. Let me know how you get on.
Story
One year I was stuck in an airport in America, with a delay of several hours. I got chatting to the person beside me in the queue. I was a chatter. He was a chatter. Neither of us had anybody else to talk to. I didn't want to read a book in case I missed an announcement. I would have been very stressed alone waiting for a delayed flight. But with somebody to talk to, it was just a welcome extension to my holiday.
Airport Friends
Eventually the airline (Virgin) gave everybody a ticket to use their lounge, even though we were on economy or redemption flights. I was given a ticket for entry to the lounge, which I would not have bothered with as I would not have had much time if the flight had not been delayed. (Maybe I was on a higher price fare. Because I got the ticket. I am not sure that my new friend did. Maybe he was waiting for another, later, flight.)
My free ticket allowed me to take with me one other family member of friend as guest into the lounge. This was really handy. After chatting for about an hour, I and my new friend had lots to talk about, our travels and life in general.
We passed several hours in the lounge together. We exchanged addresses but did not keep in touch. So many people you meet when travelling. I think this was before my active Facebook days. Now I would keep in touch on Facebook for fun and face pictures or LinkedIn for business contacts and work updates and career forums.
So I am all for chatting to new people at airports.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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