Look Up from your Tiny Screen and Enjoy Your Surroundings!

The Thanksgiving long weekend holiday is over in the U.S.  It was back to the airport on Monday morning to begin a new week.  I observed something quite revealing while I was enroute this week.  Actually, I’ve been observing it a lot over the past many months but I think it was more glaring this week since many of us just came off a long four days of family and relaxation (and hopefully very little email monitoring). 

Watch people who are sitting at the gate waiting on a plane, sitting next to you on the plane before the boarding door closes, or riding on a bus to their rental car center.  They’re glued to their cell phones and PDA’s, reading and responding to emails, eyes furrowed, deep in concentration, studying some seemingly all-important missive.  I wonder if they even know what city they’re in, or what’s going on around them?  Are you one of these people? You may have not realized how absorbed so many people are in their devices since you never look up from yours! (If you’re reading this entry from your PDA, you’re perfectly ok to continue doing so J) Otherwise, look up and notice what’s going on, say hello to the person sitting next to you, enjoy the outside scenery, take a deep breath and reflect on what your travel experience is offering you on this particular journey.  Relax your face and eyes, smile and erase that laser-focus robot look for a few minutes.   The emails will wait a bit longer.  The experiences and the people you’ll have an opportunity to enjoy and meet will not.