Flying and Crying

The saying "Getting there is half the fun" became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines. --Henry J. Tillman

I realised today that there are so many similarities between flying and dating. Think about it...

Everyone is either traveling for business (long-term love) or pleasure (hook-ups).
Planning everything out in advance can be a good idea, but it can also be a waste of time since there is so much room for error and planning eliminates your spontaneity.
Flying can be stressful, but also very exciting. Usually it's worth it.
Buying a ticket (asking someone out) for a flight is usually expensive (risky) and it's a pain to get a refund (substitute date) because it's not really what you wanted to begin with.
Sometimes you can find cheap tickets, but rarely to a place you want to go.
We are all trying to rack up frequent-flier miles (dating experience) so that we can get a free flight (an easy no-brainer relationship). We are hoping there are no black-out dates when we want to fly (the person we'd like to ask out is taken).
The person behind the ticket counter (people who think they know what we want) don't really listen.
While we are all getting on planes (relationships), we each want different planes--we all have our own idea of the ideal destination.
Sometimes it seems like a complete stranger is digging around in our baggage.
But we have to trust them enough to hand it over to them if we want to have a good time. They are just protecting others. And we pray we don't have to have a strip search, because that's just a little too invasive.
We hope that the metal-detectors will catch any weapons of mass destruction (ie, tools of cruel heartbreakers). Then we realise that if someone wants to ruin the flight, they will find a way anyway. Often, they just use their shoes when they want to walk all over us or blow us up.
Sometimes we get on the wrong plane! Oops! This costs us time and money.
We get really pissed when our flight gets delayed or cancelled. There might not be another plane for a loooooong time.
Waiting in airports (singledom) sucks unless you have a really good book or you remembered your iPod.
You can always meet really cool people during this traveling process. Maybe you'll never see them again, but it's nice to hear different perspectives on the world. Of course, sometimes you meet smelly or snoring assholes, too. Those are long flights!
It's very exciting when it's time to board your plane (going on that first date).
Soon you learn there are two kinds of people in the world: those who give up their window seats (givers) and those who don't (takers).
You shouldn't expect good food--that's not why you are on the plane.
It's tempting to get drunk, but you shouldn't.
There might be some seats you won't be able to sit in--those people already have seatmates. Or they might have stolen your seat. Jerks!
Stewardesses are our friends--they want to know how our flight went and hope we will fly again sometimes. They do their best to calm us down if we are freaked out about taking off. Plus, if you ask nicely, they'll grab a coke for you next time they're in the kitchen!
There are very few exits once you get in the air (on the date), and if you are going to use them, you'd better have a parachute (good excuse!).
Stewardesses show you those little breathing masks (pep talks and reminders of how awesome you are), and while it's nice they are trying to comfort you, you know that you could still crash and burn.
But you're willing to risk that to get to your destination.
If your baggage doesn't fit, you might have to check it. Planes have their limits.
Long flights can get boring sometimes, but it's all part of traveling.
Take-offs can be nerve wracking because everything is shaky and you don't know your seatmate well enough yet to tell them how freaked out you are.
A lot can change if you haven't flown in a while! Nowadays, it's appreciated if you refrain from smoking while flying.
It's only when that little seatbelt light goes off (you become a couple) that you are high enough to be really safe and comfortable so you can relax and enjoy yourself.
Plus, it's then that you get to really move about the cabin (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
And you can try and get into the mile-high club...
You might have turbulence. You might have bad turbulence. You might have the kind of turbulence that makes you air-sick. Just grab your barf bag and hang on.
Ideally, your flight will have no turbulence, lightning, rain or snow (insert various relationship problems here).
You'll probably end up watching a lame movie at some point.
There's really nothing to cry about, but we will all want to at some point because traveling can be frustrating. It will be really embarrassing if we start crying mid-flight.
If you are afraid of heights or have an irrational fear of crashing and burning, you have no business being on an airplane to begin with.
Landing (getting serious) can be scary, because you just want to ask, "This is great, but where do I go from here? What if I get lost?" But remember--you have arrived! The hard and scary part is over!
If your baggage gets lost, you probably won't miss it anyway because all your valuables (best traits about you) were in your carry-on. That suitcase was getting pretty beat up, anyhow.
Someone will pick you up whether your flight was good or bad. Or you'll just pay a lot of money to get your own car (life) back.

The main difference, of course, between dating and flying is this: In the latter, crashing and burning will more than likely kill you. In the former, it's not too bad--just dust yourself off, grab your baggage, buy another ticket and enjoy the (usually) friendly skies!