TRAVEL
When I Read a Passenger Like a Book
The Flight Attendant Diaries
I was using my flight benefits to hitch a ride from BOS (Boston) back to IAD (Washington, D.C.). The flight had been delayed an hour and a half, for whatever reason. Everyone was eager to board. I slowly made my way down the jetbridge and onto the plane in the congested pedestrian traffic.
As I reached the middle of First Class, the flow came to a standstill. I glanced around at the passengers already seated there. When I noticed the man in the aisle seat just ahead of me and to my right, my eyes reflexively widened in delight and my lips popped open into a smile of intrigue. His arms were covered in tattoos of plain black text — in several languages and writing systems.
That might not be terribly intriguing to most people, but for a former graphic designer who studied typography and font design, worked in multilingual typesetting (the layout of translations), and does hand lettering, this was absolutely fascinating. This man’s arms were covered in an art form and science I’m both deeply interested in and passionate about.
I was utterly captivated.
