Walking a Path, Riding a Plane

I should walk more in the morning time.  Around parks, beaches, forest trails.  When people are in this set of circumstances, just walking to walk, they will always say "hello," give you eye contact, a wave, a smile, the works...it's awesome. It's a social norm in our culture.  And it feels like that's how it should be everywhere.

Now, you get on a BART train and the situation drastically changes. You are met with cold stares and silence.  Once I was on a damn-near full train, which had delays due to another train breaking down.  We were stuck in a tunnel for 10-15 minutes...and no one was talking.  It was creepy.  I got a call or called someone, one or the other, and broke the silence, saying hello and then "I'm on this BART train that's been stopped for 10 minutes and no one is talking!  It's kinda creepy..." Haha.

On plane rides, it goes beyond the friendly hello.  It is accepted to start engaging conversations with this human that is stuck next to you.  Gives you a chance to maybe pick some businessman's brain (for whatever that's worth) or get the life story of an old woman.  It too, can be awesome.  Usually starts with "Why are you flying to [destination]?" and could end up at "...and that's how I found my true calling..."