Five ways to get the person in the seat next to you to stop talking

by Annie Scott on

Some people don’t mind a little chat on the airplane, but what do you do when you’re sitting next to the world’s most effusive babbler and all you want is to read, work, sleep or jump out the window?

It’s not your responsibility to act as your seatmate’s captive audience, but ignoring people is mean and feels awful. Here are five ways to delicately end the conversation.

1. The Book Heisman. Rather than the traditional “stop talking hand,” get your book between you and the talker. This works especially well when you have the window seat; pretend to lean against the airplane wall. Magazines can be even more effective, as they are larger. Once they notice the book is open, and between you, they should get the hint. If not, say “Sorry, I really have to finish this.” Let them figure out why you need to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on their own.

2. Offer them an activity. No, don’t give them a book or puzzle; they’ll ask you for help and talk to you about it the whole time. Just remind them of what they (hopefully) brought. Say: “What did you bring to read? Oh, I haven’t read that book, can I see it?” This gets their book (or laptop, or whatever they have) out of their bag and into their lap. Digging out their own entertainment may have been what they were trying to procrastinate by talking.3. Headphones. The only problem with this is that they’ll know there’s nothing to listen to during takeoff (because that’s before plane music starts and you’re not allowed to use your iPod) or landing. If you can stand it, let them talk through the first few minutes of your flight, then pop the earbuds into your ears and close your eyes or get to work as soon as you can. The trick? You don’t have to actually listen to anything at all. If they ask you anything, make sure they ask at least twice and pretend you didn’t hear them over the music. If they still don’t get the hint, add #1, The Book Heisman.3. Get excited about your activity. Even if it’s feigned,

4. Get excited about your activity. Even if it’s feigned, tell the person you are so excited to read your book, or dive into work, or nap. This works best right after they’ve told you something that you didn’t know (no matter how mundane). “Huh. I didn’t know that. Thanks. [yawn] Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this nap. Have a good flight.” If they interrupt whatever you’re doing, give them the puppy eyes so they remember they’re disturbing you.

5. Honesty. Is it always the best policy? Maybe not always, as this one might make the person feel bad. Still, if you’re tried 1-4 to no avail, the person probably needs someone to level with them about airplane talking: not everyone is into it. You’ll be doing someone on a future flight a favor. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t like to talk on the airplane. This is one of the only times I get to be quiet” works well. If that doesn’t work, or you have to repeat it more than once, you are totally within your rights to just ignore the person. You tried to be nice.

More ideas? Share them below.

Avoid swine flu this holiday season – kiss, don’t shake

by Annie Scott on

Researchers in London have found that kissing on the cheek is far more hygienic than shaking hands. This may be good or bad news for you this holiday season, depending on how close you really want to get to your relatives.

“Debrett’s warns people to observe proper etiquette by kissing others on the cheek instead of the lips and to avoid touching the person being kissed except on the shoulder or the upper arms,” reports Yahoo.

If you’re sick, you’re likely to be sneezing, handling tissues, rubbing your eyes, and basically, a lot of germs end up on your hands. Then, if you shake hands with someone, your germs end up on their hands, and consequently in their eyes, on their silverware or even on their food. So, keep your hands to yourself.

If you’re not feeling well, you should probably just stay home this year, lest family members hear you coughing and suddenly don’t want to talk to you. If you’re healthy and hamthrax-free, remember to wash your hands often and go for the cheek kissing to stay safe.

How European.

And speaking of Europe, if you’re traveling internationally, check out Times Online‘s guide to how many cheek kisses are appropriate in various European countries.

[via Yahoo]

5 ways to thwart homesickness

by Annie Scott on

As every traveler knows, sacrificing the comforts of home can be difficult. Strange foods, inclement weather, and lying in bed at night without the one you miss the most (your dog) can all lead to the ruination of your vacation or trip. Particularly when you’re somewhere very different from your usual surroundings, the pangs of craving the ease of your normal routine and the desire to share your new experiences with loved ones back home can be crippling.

It’s a good idea to address the possibility that you may get homesick before you leave. Here are 5 ways to thwart homesickness — things you can do before and during your trip to help stave off the blues.

1. Photographs. This may seem like a no-brainer, but in this digital age, many of us don’t carry photographs with us anymore at all. It’s nice to have something tactile with you that you can take out on the top of a mountain or on a boat in the middle of the sea. On the flip side, having a hard copy will keep you from sitting in your room stalking your loved ones’ Facebook pages.2. Talk. My friends who’ve been solo backpacking in foreign lands all say the same thing: you’ll never feel more alone in a crowd than when you don’t speak the language and nobody knows you. It’s fortunate for us that many countries in the world speak English, but there are still plenty of places where you can go and be totally linguistically helpless. After a day or two of struggling to communicate, you may feel like shutting up altogether — but don’t. Think about it as developing your non-verbal skills. If you don’t continue interacting with the people around you, you will almost definitely get bored and/or sad. And you will want to go home.

3. Keep moving. In the great tradition of “fake it till you make it,” keeping yourself occupied means less time to pine away. It’s that simple. Just get out of that hotel bed, put down that phone, and go experience something, even if you don’t want to.

4. Limit your contact with home. While cutting off communication altogether is unnecessary, those from whom you are away are bound to respect your need to be just that: away. Constantly reading e-mails may make you worried about the office, constantly calling home will get you too involved in the day-to-day stuff which can probably be dealt with without you or wait until you get back. If saying “goodnight” to your honey is your crutch, go for it, but don’t waste your precious sleep with any of that “you hang up first” nonsense. Say “goodnight” and rest up for another exciting day.

5. Bring yourself a comfort item. Nobody has to know that you still sleep with a nightlight or a teddy bear, or that you deeply love Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (which you can totally make with most hotel coffee-makers), or that you like to watch your dvd of Mary Tyler Moore reruns when you’re lonely — but these are all things that are easy to bring along on almost any trip. A simple thing like your favorite trinket on the nightstand can help you feel grounded when you are far from home.

Got more ideas? How do you keep from getting homesick on the road?

Italian answer to swine flu–automatic holy water dispensers

by Sean McLachlan on

Visitors to many Italian churches will see a new addition next to the door–automatic holy water dispensers.

Priests have been noticing that worshipers are reluctant to put their hands in the font containing holy water for fear of catching swine flu. About thirty people have died in Italy from the disease and people are a bit jittery about sharing the same water as hundreds of strangers, however holy it might be.

Some churches have even closed their communal fonts, like Milan’s cathedral, pictured here.

When inventor Luciano Marabese saw what was happening, he got to work. He invented an automatic dispenser that works along the same lines as a soap dispenser in a public bathroom, but has the look of a traditional font. The faithful put their hands under the dispenser where an infrared detector senses them and squirts out some holy water. There’s a video of the dispenser in action here.

Now if we can only get people to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. . .

50% of air travelers will fly with the flu to avoid a fee

by Katie Hammel on

I’m a one of the those people who always seems to get sick after a long plane ride. A few days post-trip, I suddenly get a runny nose, sore throat and all the other telltale signs of a cold, most likely contracted from a sick passenger. Usually it’s minor, and I’m out of commission for only a few days.

I guess I’ve just been lucky that it hasn’t been the flu, because, according to a recent TripAdvisor survey, over 50% of travelers would choose flying with the flu over paying a fee to change their flight. As if we needed more reason to get a flu shot before we travel this season, now we know that someone with the flu may end up on our flight, just to avoid the fee.

Out of 2,327 people, 51% said they would fly while sick with the flu rather than pay the $150-$200 fee (plus any change in price) imposed by most airlines in order to change their flights to a later date. This is obviously, alarming news, but I can see why it is the case that people would rather cough up some germs on their fellow passengers than cough up the extra cash to change the tickets. Especially because costs for the new dates will often be higher, meaning you may end up paying more like $300-$400 per ticket for the change.

In the case of inescapable commitments, I can understand why someone would not change the ticket. But for a leisure trip, I would consider it. Of course, I don’t want to get others sick, but from a purely selfish standpoint, I don’t want to spend my time in the air shaking and shivering with the flu, or to spend my entire vacation laid up in bed. But then again…if I felt well enough to get on the plane despite having the flu, I would definitely do it rather than incur the extra charges and have to change all my travel plans.

On his blog, Christopher Elliot offers a solution – airlines need to lower or waive the change fees during flu season. We need to stop financially penalizing those who get sick and allow them to change their flights easily, or they will continue to fly and risk spreading the flu to other passengers.