It's about time we get a deliciously awkward travel story from our backpacker and travel enthusiast, Tanner. (Speaking of delicious: you might not want to be eating while you read this one.)
With Tanner travelling around checking out new cities and exploring what they have to offer, he's jumping into cars, cruising on boats and boarding planes to appreciate the full experience. Sometimes, that experience happens in said car, on said boat, or in said plane. Buckle up for this one, we're hitting some turbulence.
Our story begins, as many fables do, high above the clouds, in the belly of a commercial airliner. Tanner, ever the diligent corporate warrior, had secured himself a coveted window seat – prime real estate for contemplating cloud formations or, more likely, mentally drafting his expense report. Little did he know, his serene airbourne sanctuary was right in the splash zone.
Just before takeoff, a minor seating kerfuffle erupted. A mother and her teenage son, bless their well-meaning hearts, found themselves separated. The son, described by Tanner (post-trauma, it must be said) as a "backwards-hat-wearing wannabe-gangster," was adrift in the row behind. In a gesture of pure, unadulterated human kindness (or perhaps a desperate desire to avoid a whining teenager), the gentleman in the middle seat between the mother (aisle) and Tanner (window) offered to swap, moving to the son’s window seat in the row behind. And thus, the fateful arrangement was struck: Tanner, at the window, suddenly found himself intimately acquainted with the aforementioned teenager, now occupying the middle seat.
Our young co-pilot, it seems, was quite taken with the aerial views. Barely 10 minutes into the flight, the boy began what could only be described as an Olympic sport of window photography. He’d lean forward, pulling out his phone, his arm arcing perilously close to Tanner’s face, attempting to capture the fleeting majesty of cumulus clouds through the window. Tanner, a man of quiet fortitude, endured. He probably muttered something about personal space under his breath, but being the consummate professional, he refrained from direct confrontation. After all, who wants to start a mid-air tiff over a Snapchat story?
Then, the squirming began.