On Talking to Strangers

Without Fear or Inconvenience.

Striking up a conversation with your travel neighbor-on a train, plane, or automobile-can be a risky decision, not because it's unsafe but because traveling alone is one of the few opportunities in which we are truly by ourselves, and happily so. Until, that is, we're not, and the empty seat next to us, for which we had high hopes of shoe-less travels and maybe even a catnap (who cares if we're not tired-we've got two seats, baby!), is swiped from beneath our backpack/novel/crumpledbagofchips by the devil himself. But then, luck has it that the devil turns out to be an angel in disguise and by the end of our journey, we're exchanging resumes and game boy cartridges, too grief-stricken with sadness to parts ways because we've finally found our long lost love/jobcontact/saturdaymorningcartoonfanatic we've been searching for all these years. Even so, it's a risky business and we're better off feigning sleep as the aisles crowd during pre-departure, just in case this isn't our luckiest day, after all. Enjoy!