indigo_rose99

Airplanes. Cattle cars of the skies. Even the word makes me grimace in distaste. I .dislike large groups of people, I dislike other people brushing against my possessions, I hate high pitched screaming, and I REALLY hate being touched by strangers.

Take this flight. I've been on worse, but it has been a while. Coach. Aisle seat. My seatmate is large and has quietly consumed 30% of my elbow room (yes, I'm actually leaning into the aisle to breathe) and 10% of my knee room. I cannot sit up straight or comfortably, in spite of my cushions (tailbone pain, remember?). The row behind me has a small child (age 2?), the seats across the aisle have a baby (age 6 months?), and the row in front of me has another baby/small child. The adult next to the small child in front of me keeps touching/moving my backpack (under seat in front of me), I can feel it. I have my noise-canceling headphones on, but that only helps reduce my urge to wring someone's neck to a controllable level.

This. This is why I resist when my friends say, "Why don't you just fly out and visit me?" They just do not understand that money is the smaller bit of what they ask.

Final note: Yes, I did ask the guy to give me more space. Twice. No response. Couldn't tell if he really was asleep or just ignoring me. An intense stewardess request later, I got a new seat that does not recline, but has no seatmate. At least no one is touching me.