why airplane flights are better than speed dating

"Hi, I'm Alex."

My seatmate extended his hand just as I was fiddling with the controls on my plane seat. I shook his hand and tried to hide my pagkajologs by attempting not to look surprised when my seat started reclining by itself.

Yes, I flew business class. Northwest had just given me WorldPerks Elite status -- which meant that I could check-in at the business class counter and bypass that looooooong economy class line, relax (and pig out) at the WorldClubs lounges, and get free upgrades if there were any seats left over. And what do you know... they gave me upgrades for the Manila-Japan and Detroit-Toronto legs of my flight!

Wooohooo! Or, as my seatmate exclaimed just as we were taking off, "I loooove business class!!!!!"

So, what's the connection between airplanes and speed dating? Well, they're two entirely different things, but I was just trying to make a point to Iris (my sidekick/housemate for the next three months) -- my point being, there's no need for speed dating when there are so many opportunities for you to meet new people. Like plane flights. ;)

Just think. When you go speed-dating, you actually have to pay to meet other people. Plane flights, on the other hand, are completely free and they offer a HUGE window of opportunity. You've got 10++ hours to chat up with your seatmate, get to know him/her, and, if your lucky stars are aligned, maybe even find true love. (C'mon, haven't you watched A Lot Like Love?!? Hehe.) If it bombs, you can always pretend you're exhausted and just sleep through the flight.

Not that I hit on strange guys in airplanes. :P

Now back to my seatmate. Being the autistic* person that I was, I had no idea who my seatmate was, until he started talking about basketball. That was when I recognized him as the basketball guy from one of those cheesy CoffeeMate ads -- it was Alex Compton. Hahaha. I'm so not a fan of basketball. The only reason I know him is because I hated those CoffeeMate ads and how he butchered his lines in his foreigner-twang Tagalog. But, Alex turned out to be extremely charming (he regaled me with stories about Assumptionista prom dates, overachievers, and me snoring) and surprisingly spoke excellent Tagalog. I like the guy (not in the fangirl/crushie sort of way -- too old, pero ibubugaw ko sana kay Iris. Hehe.), so now, I will just blame those CoffeeMate advertisers for that horrible ad.

The Japan-Detroit leg of the flight, I spent with Travis, who was coming back from his first business trip to Japan. He's so amusing -- he was so enamored with Japan that he spent the next ten hours sharing everything Japanese he had learned with me. We even traded business cards the Japanese way. (Choy, sabi ko sayo may silbi ang business card e! :P) Plus pogi points when he explained to me why the sun always set faster when you're flying to the US. Haha. I'm such a nerd.

So there. I made two new friends on a single plane flight. Travis and I even bumped into Alex while we were getting some water, and what do you know. It turns out they went to the same school.

It's a small world after all.

* autistic - adj. (slang) a person living in his/her own world