#some people would be annoyed but eb was just... therr together... remembering how crazy it is to fly.... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

girlypsyop · 11 months

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I'm going crazy I need somebody to read this conversation I overheard on an airplane in 2022. I totally forgot about it until I found it while going through my notes.

It is a bit long but it was just so surreal and beautiful and something something humanity ok?

u ever just overhear one of the most touching interactions of your life in the back of a airbus a320

So I'm gna explain this really bad and it was kind of a "had to be there" situation but just imagine a completely dark airplane, no lights, no open windows, except a single one in the row behind you

In that aisle there's a middle-aged man sitting on the aisle. He is traveling alone. 2 women are sitting next to him

Across the aisle from them are 3 guys

So this middle aged guy. his name is Roy:)

He sits down next to the two woman and as we are shuttling to the runway, he asks if they can open the window because it's his very first flight.

They open the window

They ask him about his destination

He says he's going to Chicago when the plane starts taking off. He YELLS "Woah! Full throttle baby!" (Imagine this in the most southern accent you've ever heard)

Everyone in the back 3 rows cracks up

He laughs and says "yall got your windows closed? Not the least bit curious about what in the hell just happened?"

Everyone at a window seat who could hear him opened their window for a bit

For a while he points out things in the window.

"First time I stepped outta my podunk little town and saw the city it seemed so massive. Just... skyscrapers you have to crane your neck to look at, I'd never seen anything like it. But look at it... you can see the entire city from up here. Look at those teeny tiny little buildings."

....

"Are all those squares down there farms?"

"I think so yea"

"....if aliens ever visit they're gonna think someone got to us first"

....

"I thought there'd be more trees. There are trees everywhere where I'm from. I mean ive seen pictures of deserts and whatnot. Just never seen it with my own two eyes. How do people live like that"

"well it is January. Maybe they're all just dead"

"Oh right. No shit............. that's worse somehow."

....

"This is gonna be a stupid question but is that a cloud down there? Or just fog from a different angle or something, I dunno! Nothing looks like it does down there, I don't trust my own eyes"

"Yes its a cloud"

"That is so awesome. I was hoping we'd see some clouds. I looked up pictures on the internet, but they don't compare to the real deal"

After that he gets a bit nervous, says he doesn't like how the plane feels so still, as if we aren't even moving. He asks if we get drinks on this flight, they say yea usually. He tells them to wake him up when it happens.

When the attendant is a few rows ahead of him, they wake him up. He asks them if they've got bourbon. They laugh and say "not for the poor people" then they ask him if he likes ginger ale he says

"I mean sure"

"If you like ginger ale you'll love it on an airplane"

"Why in the... why the hell does it make a difference on a plane?

"I don't know, the carbonation the ginger it settles your stomach. And it just tastes better somehow. Trust me, it's almost a tradition."

"Well gee there's something you don't read about.. ginger ale on airplanes.."

...

He gets the ginger ale

"It tastes like a ginger ale"

"Yea but it's ginger ale on a plane!"

"If you say so"

A few minutes later he says

"Yknow maybe my expectations were just too high. I was expecting it to taste like. I dunno God's spit or something."

The guys across the aisle lose it

"Man that's what I'm calling airplane gingerale from now on. God's spit"

He goes back to sleep after that. As we start our initial descent he wakes up. one of the girls asks where's he's from

"Lousiana. Small town, I never left it once."

"Wow you must have really loved it"

"Ha. Something like that. I'm a rehabilitation counselor there. Have been for 3 years. Got a big fancy promotion last year, now I'm a bit of a team leader. Who would have thought. Have to wear a tie and everything. Never pictured myself someone's boss. Normally I'm... normally I'm the one quittin after a few months and slashin the boss's tires"

"Oh yea? You ever piss someone off enough to get your own tires slashed"

"Not yet but a man can dream"

A minute passes

One of the guys across the aisle, he's wearing a tie tells roy

"I was in and out of rehab for nearly my whole life. What a thankless job, nobody likes you until long after they've left"

"Ah well. We don't do it for the thanks. It's rewarding to see people turn their lives around. Not all of them not even most of them. But every now and then...."

"Well I hope you know even the ones who don't quite make it are just grateful someone gives a shit about them, even if they're being paid to."

"Oh I'm well aware son. I'm In recovery myself. It's why I could never leave my town. My mom died birthing me and my dad... well it's hard for him. He's got health problems and head problems probably. I think losin her really fucked him up. He did what he could but.... Well I don't wanna bring down the room.....bringing down this particular room would be terrorism I think"

I died at that one

"This is the first time in my life I've had a paid vacation. I never married or had kids and. Well I'm taking this trip for me, but those folks back in the facility are what push me to do this. It's hard sometimes to convince them it's worth it to cross the finish line when I can't show em proof of a better life."

"So why chicago?"

"Well... I never said it out loud but I used to read about those old prohibition bars. Those were big in Chicago. I always wanted to go. Secret entrances and passwords and all that. So I looked it up and there's some those old speakeasies that you can still go to. It's a bit kitch

....

"My ears hurt real bad don't they control the pressure in these tin cans?"

"I guess not very well. Try opening your mouth a bunch it'll pop your ears"

"That's.. disturbing"

#i shed like 2 tears during this convo #im so glad i wrote all this down i really hope roy is doing well #smth about love being found in unlikely places....#i hope he found his funky bars and told everyone about them #i hope he told everyone his exciting airplane story #i hope everyone in those last three rows has a beautiful life #some people would be annoyed but eb was just... therr together... remembering how crazy it is to fly....#anyway this was like a poem to me #like reading it back it sounds like a 'then everyone clapped' story but sometimes.... there is beauty....

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