Traveling with Purpose

Tie your running shoes to the outside of your bag before the security lines to save space and wear slip off shoes for ease of removal. Keep your 3-1-1 liquids bag in an outside pocket. Have your ID and boarding pass in one hand and your laptop in the other, prepared to grab two plastic bins.

Much of the last two years of my life have been spent in airports or en route to a different location for work. The quirks of traveling have become habit. I am not as mechanical as Clooney in Up in the Air, but I’m good at the routine.

In the first few trips I took for my job, I concentrated on looking like a professional traveler instead of interacting with others along the way. I was always courteous and kind, I would even strike up a few chats:

“Is this seat taken?” “No, no, it’s all yours!” or “I think I’m in the seat on the other side of you.” “Okay, no problem, I’ll get up!” I was really reaching people to the core.

Airplanes always seem like temporary time machines to me. I get on the plane, sit for X hours and then get off, knowing I might bump into that lady in the restroom or that guy in the line for coffee. We’ll probably never see each other again.

It reminds me of how many people on Earth I will never know.

My recent trips for work have been chances to transcend that “otherness” feeling. It was time I viewed fellow tourists as people and not objects peppering my view as I travel. As a naturally quiet person, this took some getting used to, but the “single serving” friendships you create while traveling are just that: temporary.

Fill this room with Light

Practice makes perfect. I walk away from an awkward conversation or a dead-end attempt to chat with my head held high: onward to the next one! If we can keep this perspective at the coffee counter, at the grocery store, or anywhere else our day takes us, how many more could we impact?
After the first flight was delayed, my flight home from a work conference in Florida last week resulted in a missed flight connection. Grown adults were throwing temper tantrums at the gate, refusing to believe that they would be expected to “deal with” the fact that they wouldn’t be home that night.

Perhaps I was calmer than the adult toddlers because I’ve hit these traveling road bumps before. However, this time I spoke up. I spoke positively (tweeted a little more like I was whining) with those around me, pointed out the silver lining, gave outward praise that we live in a country where everyone on the plane could afford a ticket and the airline could afford to book new flights and put us up in a hotel.

I stepped out of my comfort zone, out of the routine of just being one in the crowd, and joined the small collection of other travelers on Team Silver Lining. Many on the plane did make their connections, a line of about 40 people did not and the airline put us up in a hotel.

Team Silver Lining helped influence attitudes — at least I think so — and no more temper

tantrums erupted.

I like concentrating on taking back the word “evangelizing.” It shouldn’t be so scary! We can be beacons for Christ’s Light simply by being the nice, positive one in a room of upset people.
Travel with purpose this holiday season. Think twice before you interact with a stranger and rather than just avoiding a bad attitude, make it your goal to be the one to make someone’s day.

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Read more at Startling the Day!

Elizabeth Hillgrove

Elizabeth Hillgrove

Elizabeth Hillgrove is a young cradle Catholic who grew up in a tight-knit, if not absurdly close family in the tiny Catholic world of Virginia. After a few divots and detours into apathy, embarrassment, and a vested political interest, Jesus Christ jump-started her faith life. Elizabeth has researched her way into a passion for bringing the simple, fulfilling Truth to youth and young adults, especially females. A recovering tomboy, Elizabeth will challenge you on the field, in the pool, on a trek up a mountain, or in the art studio. Game on. She is one of the three Bright Maidens and her website is Startling the Day.

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7 thoughts on “Traveling with Purpose”

  1. I like to always be nice to the TSA and airport staff… I feel like they get to deal with a lot of angry people! Trips can be a great venue for evangelization because you probably will never see the person again – so you can avoid any awkward or angry feelings afterwards like you might have with people you know. I’ve known a couple of priests who evangelize while flying… the collar is pretty obvious though 😉

  2. Great article! Yes, I think many events remind me of how many people I’ll never know. I’ve gotten into interesting conversations while waiting during job interviews, and heard some in airplanes.

  3. Isn’t it amazing? Although I love to drive when traveling (it’s great to stop and change routes at whim), I really enjoy flying too for this exact reason. There’s something unique about having your fate intertwined with a bunch of strangers for a few hours.

  4. Great article. Of course, this concept was one of the major themes of LOST. These people who were strangers end up stranded together and from that formed the most important relationships.

    I need to get better at being a pleasant traveler. I’m a nervous flier, which I think means I’m not always the most engaging or talkative. Thanks for sharing.

  5. This is so true. Traveling can bring out the worst in people, but the folks at your gate who keep a positive attitude can really make a difference. This summer I got delayed 8 hours and knocked from 2 different flights before I got home from Chicago. Along the way I loaned cell phone to some Phillipino nuns and then chatted with a lady who ended up giving me her paperback novel!

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