Posted by Randall on July 28, 2008, 19:37:52, in reply to "classic airport sighting"
71.164.64.136
Great post "d". It reminds me that some of my best smoking encounters have been at airports with beautiful smoking flight attendants. So, in the style of Mark's Top Minnesota State Fair Sightings, here are my top 3 Flight Attendant Sightings:
3. Montreal's Pierre Eliot Trudeau International Airport, 1999 ... At that time there was a food court area where smoking was allowed. Also at that time before 9/11, nobody thought twice about someone who would spend a day there drinking coffee and reading a book. I hung out there several times, just taking in the view as literally dozens of flight attendants and airline employees took meal and smoke breaks. One day I sat with a pretty blonde flight attendant, I would guess in her early 30s, who was writing letters to friends, drinking coffee, and smoking while she had a long layover. We struck up a conversation when I asked her for a cigarette. The conversation got around the topic of smoking itself. It turned out she had started smoking only two years before. Her mother had gone through a difficult divorce, and she had spent time with her Mom in order to console her. As they bonded, the daughter took to smoking the odd cigarette along with her mother. She soon began to like it, and ended up becoming a regular smoker on her own. She seemed somewhat amused, but not alarmed, that she'd started smoking later in life, and seemed to regard smoking like any other indulgence ... like drinking a fine wine. She was no puffer, either. She took full inhales and it seemed to me like she took full pleasure in smoking attractively, with big, neat stream exhales.
2. Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport ... The last time I checked, this was one of the last places on Earth where you can still smoke indoors, in one of the many smoking lounges they still have ... or at least had a year and a half ago. I spent almost a whole day there waiting for a delayed flight. While I saw many female travelers smoking, some of them very attractive, I didn't see a single flight attendant until an hour before my flight. I had just about decided the airlines must have prohibited uniformed staff from public smoking, when I saw a woman walk into the smoking room I was in. She was wearing a long traveling coat, and underneath it was an airline uniform. She was fairly old for a flight attendant, possibly in her late 40s. But she was still attractive, with shoulder-length straight brown hair. She sat down, and made a cell phone call. She talked for quite awhile, with family I think. Only when she hung up did she dip into her purse and brought out a pack of Camel Lights. That really caught my eye. I expected a woman like this to be smoking VS 100s, Capris, or at least Marlboro Lights, but Camels! To my mind, here was a woman who knew what she liked, and didn't care that her image and personality didn't seem to fit her choice of brands. Clearly she smoked for herself, and not just out of habit. Her style wasn't remarkable, but she definitely savored it. Our seating and other factors didn't allow me to talk with her, but as I smoked, I enjoyed watching her work her way through two cigarettes, before she gathered up her things and headed out. She was obviously no newbie, but neither did she seem as weary and resigned as some mature smokers are. She smoked with obvious pleasure and completely unselfconsciously. I only wish I'd had a chance to speak with her.
1. Newark Airport, 1998 ... I had a similar encounter a year before my Montreal meeting with another relatively mature flight attendant who was also a "late bloomer". The landing into Newark was rough because of bad weather. So bad, in fact, that my connecting flight was canceled and had to take another flight 5 hours later when the weather improved. As I walked ... staggered really ... off my flight and into the terminal, I found myself walking near one of the attendants from my flight in. We were both walking along with the crowd toward the exits, and I overheard her talking to another flight attendant, telling her she'd see her later, she was going out for a smoke! My ears perked up, and I followed her out to a large entryway sheltered by an outdoor roof. Although the weather was bad, there was very little wind here, which made for fantastic smoking for the next few hours. I saw "my" flight attendant talking on her cell phone while smoking. She was in her late 20s, nice figure, with long black hair in a pony tail. When she finished with her call, I approached her and asked her for a cigarette. She was happy to oblige, but asked if a Marlboro Red was okay. This was getting better! I said sure, and as I lit it, she lit another one herself. We joked about needing a smoke after the harrowing flight. She took massive inhales and produced massive exhales, too, seemingly a seasoned pro. I asked how long she'd been a smoker, though, and she said, a little sheepishly, under 3 years! I asked what prompted her to start smoking. She said she'd always been an athlete, but had injured her leg which was mostly healed, but permanently in no condition to continue her running. She actually told me that she'd always been interested in smoking, but had valued running more. Since she couldn't do that anymore, she figured, why not give smoking a try? She said she really liked it, and had never looked back. I thought then that I'd never met someone who started smoking in a more conscious way for such a deliberate reason. It was a beautiful thing to see.
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