As You Travel, So You Are

I'm heading back East today, which means a lot of time in
airports...and a lot of opportunities to people watch. I've done a
good bit of travel over the past ten years and I have concluded that
if you want to see who people really are - instead of, as Chris Rock
said, "their representative" - I suggest you meet them in the airport.
Due to the stress and time involved, most people get down to the bare
essentials. The entertaining part is their intepretation of that. I'm
in scummy jeans and wearing the same long-sleeved plain green t-shirt
and gray fleece that I flew out in. I've got on hiking boots and keep
putting my hair in a scrunchy ponytail and taking it out again. I have
many bretheren around me. Across from me is an attractive middle aged
lady in black pumps and pearls. She has on hose which I actively avoid
on a flight. (They melt onto your skin in a fire, you see. You can
never be too prepared for an emergency.) I have worn business clothes
on a flight before, but it was because I was going to go almost
directly into a meeting from the plane. It was under duress, believe
me. But here you can quickly distinguish between the business people
who wouldn't dream of "dressing down" and those who couldn't wait for
an excuse to put on something a little more comfortable. There are the
casually rich who have perfected the art of looking shabby chic, and
the aspiring lower to middle class who look vaguely uncomfortable in
the expensive clothes they bought and want to wear on their trip.

What do you travel in? What do you think it says about you? My clothes
scream that I'm wicked casual and I don't care about anyone's opinion
on it. Yeah, that's about right.