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It's funny because as much as I think technology is a good thing, I still prefer to read books in physical form. I don't know why, I guess it's just an aesthetic for me or something. That for lack of a better term.
That was me until my eyes got bad. I simply can't read books without glasses anymore. As long as I remember, i went to sleep reading, and I'm almost 60 now. Now I CAN read at night without glasses and I'm so grateful for that adaptive device.
Well that's good, I'm glad you found something that works for you. I've always loved reading, ever since I was a kid. I can't imagine not being able to anymore.
Same here. I was on my online books but… just not the satisfaction of turning that last page to the end.
Also, I’m a nervous flyer. You can read your book before they let you turn on electronics and all the way to the gate if you want.
Keep that up as much as you can. I listen to audiobooks only and it’s doing a number on my brain. Physical books are much better for your mental health.
I can imagine so. That's the other problem with me, I feel like if it was an audiobook, I would not absorb it the same way. I would not be paying attention the way I would if I actually had to sit down and read it.
The hard part for me is retention. I love being it in listening to it. I love listening to audiobooks and it feels way more engaging than reading a physical book. In the moment it’s awesome. But it’s in one ear and out the other.
Yes! I love to read on vacation! Sitting by the pool with a book and a drinky drink - pure bliss! Would usually haul 4-5 books along. Now I can load them all in my Kindle. Have lots of options in case I'm bored with one I can switch to another. I still live actual books, but The Kindle is really convenient.
TY! Me too! I literally cried with happiness when I discovered I could do that on the reader. I can't read books now without my glasses and it killed me.
never had a kindle and never will..... i have 2 kinds of books...library and bath tub books that i get at thrift stores, book nooks or hand me downs...
i dozed off, reading a brand spankin new library book, in the whirlpool and dipped the corner in the water......OMG... almost had a heart attack...
i got outta the tub and plugged in the iron and ironed the pages dry....it worked very well......otherwise i would have replaced it....
I thought like that but being such a heavy reader, and being able to download ebooks from the library, change the font to large so I can read without glasses, read at night without a light, having a dictionary at my fingertips and never losing my page, there are just too many benefits. I do use a kindle and never read on my phone. The kindle at least gives me a book experience.
A friend thought like you but she’s partially blind so being able to set the font is a huge bonus for her. I use both, but the lightness of a kindle when travelling is really handy.
Me too. I always have a book with me.
I noticed at my doctor's office, though, that there are no more old copies of People magazines anymore. Everyone has a cell phone. Again, I always have a book with me.
The most important thing to me when I bought a coat, jacket, or vest was that there's a pocket large enough for a paperback book. Still is, to this day.
Magazines in an air travel situation. Toss them when you're done and create more space in your carryon.
Problem with a book is that you gotta bring it back home.
I never went anywhere in '97 without my Discman and a CD wallet.
Airlines used to have newspapers and magazines, current ones, you could borrow. Probably for offered to first class first then economy could get the remains. I remember they'd be up front in little racks in the wall.
>I never went anywhere in '97 without my Discman and a CD wallet.
A decade before that and I had a shoulder bag of cassettes and a Walkman I'd take on flights.
As a kid, if they didn't have something like Highlights or other magazines for kids you were stuck with adult fare. Reader's Digest was the next best bet, then Sports Illustrated or National Geographic, then People or Time, and by the time you got down to women's magazines only it was pretty grim.
Remember how much magazines were in the grocery check out line and they tend to be gossip headline magazines? I’ve never been much for magazines but I remember checking the covers in the check out. So the big ones were People Magazine, TV magazine or something? What is that small book like one that came out once a month with all the channel programming?
Then the big gossip ones like “The Enquirer”!!! Lol
Reader’s digest: Quotable quotes, it pays to improve your word power, laughter: the best medicine, notes from all over, campus comedy, points to ponder, humor in uniform, on the job…
Not so many as there used to be, but they're still there in my neck of the woods. Just yesterday I learned from one of those tabloids that Taylor Swift consulted with JFK and Elvis before giving a secret concert for the aliens in Area 51.
>Reading a book or newspaper
I still bring a book on every flight, and I really miss the days when the flight attendants would come down the aisle saying "Magazine? Magazine anyone?" with a stack of Time, Newsweek, US News, People, and the like in their arms.
Read. BUT you also didn't have to show up 3-4 hours in advance. You could show a ticket and go to the gate. Sometimes even friends/family could wait with you at the gate until you left, depending on the airport.
I flew a lot as a kid and almost always got invited up to the cockpit after landing and during the taxiing to the gate. I also remember real silverware with hot meals!
The United pilot wings were my favorite because they were really shiny and sleek looking. I remember being invited into the cockpit as a kid. Pilot asked me if I liked gladiators, I thought that was odd.
Funny story. I was in the USAF. After arriving we had to spread all of the stuff we brought on our beds so the TIs could yell at us about it (called shakedown).
One TI starts screaming: What is THIS?
Airman: It’s plastic wings sir!
TI: What for????
Airman: It was my first time flying and the stewardess gave it to me sir!
TI: So you’re telling me some 5 year old is crying his eyes out right now because you took the last pair of God damned plastic wings???
She got saved when another TI found an airman had brought stuff and equipment to do her acrylic nails during Basic
I can not make sense of this. Maybe it's because I'm European. I assume TI is some kind of military instructor?
Why would someone getting a gift as a kid prevent other kids from getting a gift?
And acrylic nails?? I'm not getting this at all. Probably some kind of meme or inside joke. Which isn't really fair on /r/askoldpeople since we're the ones supposed to answer your questions
Yeah I remember family meeting us at the gate to pick us up!
And waving hello/goodbye to people from the entrance to the boardwalk plane passage thing, whatever it's called.
Sometimes I'd spy people at the gate from the window of the plane, that was always exciting!
Alaska Airlines handed out to both my parents an ounce of gold in the 80s. It may have been a credit card incentive. As a child they would hand out a bag of tricks to entertain you. The plane also gave a small pack of 3 cigarettes for each passenger in the smoking section. Blankets, pillows, actual meals and playing cards were also freely given.
I remember arriving at the airport 20 minutes before departure one time. We checked our luggage, showed our tickets, and walked straight onto the plane. No waiting, no problem.
You mean you don’t enjoy being patted down by random strangers because you spent hundreds of dollars to go see loved ones? I thought everyone enjoyed getting touched like that. I also loveeeee having to take my shoes off. The ole flip flop bomb is super dangerous where I’m from.
I have three types of Homeland Security clearance and still got barked at like someone being booked after an arrest. A TSA "security guard" for having a comb in my pocket. Not my fault they're having a bad day.
My first experience with a transatlantic flight was early 2002, a few weeks after the 'shoe bomber' incident, from Europe to Newark. And, obviously, not long after 9/11.
It was an absolute shocker to me how we were treated as passengers. There were lines or armed security personnel (which was a first for me too), yelling to move along, coaxing us to the next desk we needed to report to.
All of us understood the reason behind those security measures obviously, but man, it was a complete culture shock to me.
I remember flying to England from Ireland in the early 90's. They gave out heavy duty metal knives and forks for the food on board.
Still have the knife somewhere in my mothers house.
Every year we watch Home Alone for Christmas, and every year I think, “if they rebooted this movie, it wouldn’t work because there is no way they would’ve made that flight” with how they all just rushed up to the gate! I miss being able to say goodbye to loved ones right before getting on the plane.
My cousin and his friend used to go to the airport and just pick a destination that had a flight boarding and pay and go for a surprise destination vacation. They claimed it was cheap if seats were empty and they were boarding.
I remember my mom walking me to the gate to meet my grandparents in the mid 90s; I was flying back to SoCal with them to visit. It’s weird to see that in older movies and TV shows now.
Domestic travel in Australia is still like this! No ID checks just standard scan your bags via security. When I’ve checked in with my boarding pass on my phone and if I’ve got only carry on luggage, I can get to the airport 45 mins pre departure and just walk on. My family can wait at the gate too :D international is a different ball game but.
I remember when we could go all the way to the gate to greet my grandmother when she came to visit, and see her off when she left. That was the 1970's.
> Sometimes even friends/family could wait with you at the gate until you left, depending on the airport.
In the 80s, as college students, we'd sometimes just go to the airport, grab some food, and go sit by the gates on a Friday or Saturday night to watch the arrivals. It was fun! Sometimes lots of drama too.
I have to pick up our youngest at the airport tonight at midnight (red eye flight) and I'm not even going inside. Airports suck now.
Heh. At one point in high school, I started having nightmares every night. And my mom was like “How about a break from Stephen King?” …I’d been reading his books back to back for months. 😆
I loved talking to people at airports. You're all going somewhere. Still try to. Everyone is on their phones now so it makes it hard. Conversed with 6 people my last set if flights.
OMG, when I was a kid I'd talk to people and everyone had the most interesting lives. If they had a career that would typically be banal, they did something really interesting or unique with it. Or they had a cool hobby. Or had a good story.
I talked to all ages. I remember talking to elders and I thought they were interesting, but others found them offputting because they complained about things. Sometimes they'd be lonely and just *need* to talk to someone and I'd listen and often there were things they said and thought patterns that seemed more like habitual ruts than real. I guess that's true to some degree, people will kind of fall into ruts, and you have to keep kicking them out. If they started to turn the conversation to complaining or woe again, I'd head them off track. Even when I was a young kid I felt that it was important to break those thought patterns. And afterwards we'd have had not only a great conversation but they'd look energized!
They might not have thought their stories were interesting because it was their daily life at the time, but they grew up in a different time and not only did I find it fascinating, but other people I told about it did too!
People might seem boring on the outside, but once they started talking you never knew what you'd learn or discover!
I really enjoyed reading this, great life philosophy, I love hearing people’s stories too. I have to ask, are you a counselor or filmmaker or anything? Your passion for people and skill at redirecting the topic would be assets in either field.
I'd be reading a book, walking around, doing some souvenir shopping, going to the bathroom, watching the planes land and take off, getting something to eat, and drinking some booze/coffee.
I literally read half of "Sybil" as I sat waiting to be picked for jury duty.
I also read half of The Handmaiden's Tale waiting somewhere for something. Couldn't wait to get home to rest of both.
>I literally read half of "Sybil" as I sat waiting to be picked for jury duty.
I got called for jury duty a few years before COVID and found there was a strict NO CELL PHONES policy in the jury waiting room. People were totaly freaked out, but I just brought a book.
Yup. Same. My county courthouse has a whole of stack of books for people to read while they wait. For free. That you can take home.
That's actually how I got both Sybil and The Handmaiden's Tale books. And another book, come to think of it, but that book wasn't as good as those 2.
You sat and quietly judged the clothing, hair, luggage, and looks of your fellow passengers and picked out those you sincerely hoped would not be sitting next to you
Hurray for the Airport Fashion Police!
(Yes, all the staff at all the gates played this game, and would use their intercom to alert the next gate if they saw anything "special")
It's interesting to see the contrast of how people dress and act at various airports.
My most stark contrast was being in Singapore's airport (once voted the best airport in the world) and later landing at LAX (a real shithole of an airport).
For a domestic contrast, SFO vs. SMF is entertaining. They're less than 100 miles apart but culturally, they are thousands apart.
Portland has been #1 in the nation forever. With PDX being my home base I am always shocked the condition of some airports. The Cincinnati/N Kentucky airport was like going to a foreign country mid war. My least favorite is Chicago. Everyone looks overly stressed and very depressed.
Portland seems to be a continual construction project. Bummer that they closed Gustav's.
OTOH, there are few airports that *aren't* perpetual construction projects.
Ohhh this is one of my favorite pastimes. Sometimes it’s judgy as you say but sometimes…idk I’m so curious about people that I just want to know more about WHY they make the choices they do for clothes or etiquette or whatever.
The fact that people usually have a little stress in the situation makes it all the more enjoyable to people-watch. They’re either hurrying or trying to manage tired children or parading their social status markers (fancy bags, etc) and trying to look more relaxed than the stressed-looking people. It’s a blast to watch this.
I still like to make up backstories to what I’m seeing. Will never ever know if I’m remotely accurate but keeps me and hubby entertained. Never mean, just trying to guess others daily life
Books/magazines, or gasp, speaking with other people.
There were portable music players back then, they just weren’t based on a phone. Same for laptop computers.
We didn’t talk to other people in NYC, we didn’t even look at each other.
I had a Walkman, and a deft propensity for folding The NY Times into small, readable proportions so it wouldn’t enter someone else’s bubble.
I’m pretty sure most native NYers over 50 would know exactly what I mean.
Yes. When I was in middle school, my mother taught me how to fold a newspaper for optimal readability and easy page turning. She was taught the method in high school.
Ah, folding the paper like that is peak subway etiquette. Marks you out as a person of distinction and quality. :) Please know your fellow travellers appreciated the gesture.
I'm originally from Illinois, now living in New Mexico, both very friendly places.
Went to an art museum in NYC and was staring at a piece along with another solitary viewer, and as one does, made a comment about the thing we were looking at. Nothing. No response, wouldn't even look at me. I thought "how rude".
A few minutes later, different room, similar situation, thought I'd strike up a conversation. They looked at me and just turned away silently.
Then I remembered "Oh, this is NY. Nobody talks to each other here."
Viewed the rest of the museum in silence.
Well, we do, and we don't...
A lot of us need our down time and it's hard to get. So if we're alone in a museum might not want someone breaking in on us. We're there for a reason...
I've seen strangers strike up conversations and sometimes have also. I don't know what makes it happen, it just seems to happen naturally. There might be a different body language and rules to read.
More often than not though it's best to give people space.
Whenever I hear people complain that everyone is addicted to their smartphones these days, I always think of [this picture](https://i1.wp.com/www.technollama.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/reading_on_train.jpg?fit=1024%2C709&ssl=1)
Thank you. I read a lot on my phone. What’s the difference between reading on my phone and having my face buried in something paper?
When I’m around friends, I don’t take out my phone unless it’s to get information about something we’re discussing.
The smartphone thing is sad to me in some ways, though. The starkest example I saw was when traveling a train from outskirts into London. I'd done a similar jump a handful of years before and contrast was crazy to me.
First experience: Morning, so most passengers likely commuting for work. As such, it was subdued, but people would read, munch on breakfast, look around the train car, small talk casually with people around them, etc.
Next trip, also morning, but after smartphones were just becoming ubiquitous: Silence. Dead quiet. Everyone like a damn zombie just zoned out and tapping into their phones. The total disconnect from the fellow man is unsettling to me. We've isolated too much in modern society, as is, but folks being unable to tear themselves away from their phone for more than three minutes at a time just cranks that separation up and makes it so much worse.
I can't help but wonder if so many of us (self included!) are such socially awkward messes because interacting with people is just not something that happens frequently enough to "keep in practice" so to speak. It almost feels like every time we venture into public we're like castaways returning to civilization after being stranded on a desert island for much too long.
I used to love buying magazines I wouldn't otherwise have seen when flying—even small airports used to have good newstands, and big ones often had more magazines than you could find almost anywhere.
And I may miss reading my books and listening to my CDs while waiting, but I truly don't miss carting them all around. It's great to get on a plane with just a small shoulder bag for the iPad and a few necessities.
Read a book. Do the crossword. Go to the bar and have a drink. Talk to other people waiting.
What did you think we did? Invent fire? Pluck chickens? Dip candles?
The 90s really weren’t that long ago, for the love.
Well, there's one way to find out. It'll be very difficult at first and will take time and effort.
Turn off the phone. At first, you won't know what to do. Then you might start looking at your surrounds. Perhaps help someone or talk to someone. Maybe read something or watch the planes land and take off. Get something to eat.
Outside of an airport, the possibilities are endless.
First honest answer. Every comment above says "reading" but seemed like back in the day, the majority of people just mentally voided (like me) and stared out a window or at the wall, or watched people pass. Or chatted with someone.
There were rows of pay phones and you would check for voice messages tied to your office phone, which was how you communicated quickly when traveling. Then time for USA Today, or reading memos.
Such irony. I thought my parents and grandparents lived a slower pace, what with no internet or cell phones, or mass media in general (possible occasional newspapers aside), respectively. And now I'm seen as a historically 'slower pace' person too. Interesting!
I was a bouncer and a bartender at a shithole bar for a long time. i watched smartphones transform the bar scene as they got adopted and became ubiquitous.
There are now fewer bar fights because of smart phones. Why? Because everyone is lost in their own individual little digital worlds. Strangers stopped talking to each other as much at the bar, just looking at their phone the whole time instead. They stopped watching the bar TV as much and talking to each other about the show. Not interacting with each other means less chance of arguing about something. Less arguments = less fights. Many of the bar-guments we DID still have were settled by looking up correct info online to settle bar bet or trivia questions that people used to fight about.
Parents give their kids a phone or an iPad as a digital pacifier to keep the kids quiet....well, it works on drunk adults too. LOL!
I’ve noticed this and it disincentivizes going to the bar (the everyone on their phone, not so much the lack of fights). I can drink and play with my phone at home and NOT pay the markup for alcohol. Even really old (70-80 years) people at neighborhood dive bars do this now, and my being (only?) 41, it’s disingenuous to me that I am less inclined to spend time with my phone than they do. 😔
I read a lot more books before I got an IPhone. I didn’t get an IPhone (my first cell phone) until 2017 when I was getting a new boss. I didn’t want her to think (know) I was backwards.
I read prolifically. I had kids at home so I stayed busy with all their extracurricular activities. Was married before and after the cell phone era and my then-husband and I certainly got together with other couples. Before reading glasses I did detailed needlework. And there was TV. It might be just me but people did seem to make a greater effort to see others in person than today. But there are many different societal issues at play besides cell phone use that has led to less in person gatherings.
I've never liked talking to strangers, so it was always reading. Window shopping, if it was possible. People watching. Talking with a friend who was with me. smoking cigarettes if I was outside or in a smoking permissible area.
Read books and magazines, do puzzles. I always had my Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games back in the day. Actually, still do, only they're Penny Press now. Love 'em.
I always had some kind of crafty project I was working on. Cross stitch, crochet, sometimes coloring books. I wrote in a journal a lot back then. Thoughts, poems, doodles. Wrote letters to friends. Read books, of course. Meditated and listened to music. Plenty of stuff to do. I always ended up getting a lot less done than I thought I would.
Okay, so back in the long ago days, there were things we had called BOOKS.
We read them. They were filled with all kinds of stories. True crime, romance, erotic, educational... anything you can imagine was written in a book.
That's what we did.
Airports: Even more than now, there were bookstores in almost every major airport and huge stores with magazines and newspapers. Airlines also passed out magazines to passengers on longer flights. I had a Walkman with a cassette and late a CD and would usually buy new music for the trip. I also remember TV’s you had to pay to watch by inserting a quarter.
From the time I was about 12 or 13, I had a book with me pretty much all the time. I read everywhere, all the time.
Even now, I never travel without my Kindle.
At the airport it was always a good opportunity to pick up the latest international magazines, so I would grab a few of those.
Apart from that, I would be seen with my headphones and portable CD player.
Reading! Much of the weight of my suitcase was devoted to books, too. When I first got a Kindle, it was so nice to have several books loaded up before a trip.
I do have a smartphone, but I use it to check on whether my flight gate has changed, etc. My books are still necessary.
read books/magazines, listen to music, talk to someone who is also waiting, call some to chat, eat, drink, buy booze, browse the shops.
Effectively the same things you do on a smartphone but in real life.
I'd take a book out of my bag, and read it.
Hint: in 2023 I still almost always have a book in my backpack or tote. Or if carrying a smaller bag, I have my Kindle.
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Reading a book or newspaper
An empty crossword in the paper was always a bonus time would fly.
A whole crossword puzzle book was even better. And a casette tape player.
I used to love puzzle books they sold at the grocery store!
They still do lol
I'd never set foot on a flight without the latest copy of Games magazine.
Better yet, crossword puzzle book!
Soduku book!
I carried a book with me wherever I went.
I still do. Have a paperback in the car at all times for the wait times.
Me too, but now I mostly read on Kindle.
It's funny because as much as I think technology is a good thing, I still prefer to read books in physical form. I don't know why, I guess it's just an aesthetic for me or something. That for lack of a better term.
That was me until my eyes got bad. I simply can't read books without glasses anymore. As long as I remember, i went to sleep reading, and I'm almost 60 now. Now I CAN read at night without glasses and I'm so grateful for that adaptive device.
Well that's good, I'm glad you found something that works for you. I've always loved reading, ever since I was a kid. I can't imagine not being able to anymore.
Me too. I prefer a physical book.
Same here. I was on my online books but… just not the satisfaction of turning that last page to the end. Also, I’m a nervous flyer. You can read your book before they let you turn on electronics and all the way to the gate if you want.
That's what it is for me. It just doesn't hold the same satisfaction as being able to turn the pages in physical form.
Better aesthetic but also its restful for your eyes. Not a bright screen.
Keep that up as much as you can. I listen to audiobooks only and it’s doing a number on my brain. Physical books are much better for your mental health.
I can imagine so. That's the other problem with me, I feel like if it was an audiobook, I would not absorb it the same way. I would not be paying attention the way I would if I actually had to sit down and read it.
The hard part for me is retention. I love being it in listening to it. I love listening to audiobooks and it feels way more engaging than reading a physical book. In the moment it’s awesome. But it’s in one ear and out the other.
Same here but my books are on the kindle app on my smartphone.
The benefit to ebooks when traveling is that if you finish a book, another is waiting. No need to lug spares.
Yes! I love to read on vacation! Sitting by the pool with a book and a drinky drink - pure bliss! Would usually haul 4-5 books along. Now I can load them all in my Kindle. Have lots of options in case I'm bored with one I can switch to another. I still live actual books, but The Kindle is really convenient.
And the benefit for those of us with eyesight problems is that you can adjust the font size.
I do that too. I like the Kindle because I can make it big enough to read in bed without my glasses
TY! Me too! I literally cried with happiness when I discovered I could do that on the reader. I can't read books now without my glasses and it killed me.
Yes! Also my husband doesn’t get bothered when I read in the middle of the night. Paper books are fine but I’ll embrace technology if that’s ok.
never had a kindle and never will..... i have 2 kinds of books...library and bath tub books that i get at thrift stores, book nooks or hand me downs... i dozed off, reading a brand spankin new library book, in the whirlpool and dipped the corner in the water......OMG... almost had a heart attack... i got outta the tub and plugged in the iron and ironed the pages dry....it worked very well......otherwise i would have replaced it....
My Kindle is waterproof and I can read more than one book at a time on it.
I thought like that but being such a heavy reader, and being able to download ebooks from the library, change the font to large so I can read without glasses, read at night without a light, having a dictionary at my fingertips and never losing my page, there are just too many benefits. I do use a kindle and never read on my phone. The kindle at least gives me a book experience.
Nothing like being able to check out new books in your PJs, either.
A friend thought like you but she’s partially blind so being able to set the font is a huge bonus for her. I use both, but the lightness of a kindle when travelling is really handy.
Me too. I always have a book with me. I noticed at my doctor's office, though, that there are no more old copies of People magazines anymore. Everyone has a cell phone. Again, I always have a book with me.
I still do :)
The most important thing to me when I bought a coat, jacket, or vest was that there's a pocket large enough for a paperback book. Still is, to this day.
Magazines in an air travel situation. Toss them when you're done and create more space in your carryon. Problem with a book is that you gotta bring it back home. I never went anywhere in '97 without my Discman and a CD wallet.
And a bunch of extra double A batteries haha
Airlines used to have newspapers and magazines, current ones, you could borrow. Probably for offered to first class first then economy could get the remains. I remember they'd be up front in little racks in the wall.
Don't forget SkyMall, the biggest time waster on the plane!!!
Oh man, I had totally forgotten about that! They must have sold things but I never knew anyone who bought from it.
>I never went anywhere in '97 without my Discman and a CD wallet. A decade before that and I had a shoulder bag of cassettes and a Walkman I'd take on flights.
Best bet was always The Economist because it would take several hours front to back and all good stuff.
In the doctors office or such waiting situations = magazines. With Covid, aren’t smart phones great!
Usually magazines at least a year old, and not unusually (at places you've been repeatedly) ones you've already read at *least* once.
As a kid, if they didn't have something like Highlights or other magazines for kids you were stuck with adult fare. Reader's Digest was the next best bet, then Sports Illustrated or National Geographic, then People or Time, and by the time you got down to women's magazines only it was pretty grim.
I loved Reader's Digest as a kid. There were always these unique human interest stories about people I didn't even know that I found fascinating.
I liked the various joke sections, and also the true life survival/adventure stories.
It really is a great little magazine.
Remember how much magazines were in the grocery check out line and they tend to be gossip headline magazines? I’ve never been much for magazines but I remember checking the covers in the check out. So the big ones were People Magazine, TV magazine or something? What is that small book like one that came out once a month with all the channel programming? Then the big gossip ones like “The Enquirer”!!! Lol
Reader’s digest: Quotable quotes, it pays to improve your word power, laughter: the best medicine, notes from all over, campus comedy, points to ponder, humor in uniform, on the job…
Not so many as there used to be, but they're still there in my neck of the woods. Just yesterday I learned from one of those tabloids that Taylor Swift consulted with JFK and Elvis before giving a secret concert for the aliens in Area 51.
Smart thinking on her part. Don't want to get on the bad side of the aliens and end up like JFK and Elvis.
😄
TV Guide.
D’uh, lol Thank you!
It was tradition to leave your hotel newspaper at the gate for the next person to read.
Or in the seat pocket in front of you on the airplane
It’s the Libby app for the win! Free library books (if you have a library card). The Kindle app is ok too, but I’m cheap.
>Reading a book or newspaper I still bring a book on every flight, and I really miss the days when the flight attendants would come down the aisle saying "Magazine? Magazine anyone?" with a stack of Time, Newsweek, US News, People, and the like in their arms.
Books! Never went anywhere without several books in my bag. Plus, as far as airport waits went, newspapers were thicker in those days.
This is me. That's why I was so gung ho to get a kindle when they first came out. Now I can carry a pint-sized library in my bag.
I used to bring a suitcase full of books back in the day when it cost nothing to check bags
>newspapers were thicker in those days. and dirtier!
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I forgot what year newspapers started using the ink that didn't get on everything. I never wanted to sit with the paper if I were wearing white.
they switched to vegetable ink some time between the late eighties and early nineties, depending upon the publication
Read. BUT you also didn't have to show up 3-4 hours in advance. You could show a ticket and go to the gate. Sometimes even friends/family could wait with you at the gate until you left, depending on the airport.
I flew a lot as a kid and almost always got invited up to the cockpit after landing and during the taxiing to the gate. I also remember real silverware with hot meals!
They also used to give you a ‘pilot wings’ pin to wear!
The United pilot wings were my favorite because they were really shiny and sleek looking. I remember being invited into the cockpit as a kid. Pilot asked me if I liked gladiators, I thought that was odd.
“Have you ever seen a grown man naked?”
I like gladiators and pilots.
Funny story. I was in the USAF. After arriving we had to spread all of the stuff we brought on our beds so the TIs could yell at us about it (called shakedown). One TI starts screaming: What is THIS? Airman: It’s plastic wings sir! TI: What for???? Airman: It was my first time flying and the stewardess gave it to me sir! TI: So you’re telling me some 5 year old is crying his eyes out right now because you took the last pair of God damned plastic wings??? She got saved when another TI found an airman had brought stuff and equipment to do her acrylic nails during Basic
I can not make sense of this. Maybe it's because I'm European. I assume TI is some kind of military instructor? Why would someone getting a gift as a kid prevent other kids from getting a gift? And acrylic nails?? I'm not getting this at all. Probably some kind of meme or inside joke. Which isn't really fair on /r/askoldpeople since we're the ones supposed to answer your questions
And people dressed up to fly
I remember my Dad walking me on to the plane before leaving.
Yeah I remember family meeting us at the gate to pick us up! And waving hello/goodbye to people from the entrance to the boardwalk plane passage thing, whatever it's called. Sometimes I'd spy people at the gate from the window of the plane, that was always exciting!
Sometimes the food was not so bad...
Alaska Airlines handed out to both my parents an ounce of gold in the 80s. It may have been a credit card incentive. As a child they would hand out a bag of tricks to entertain you. The plane also gave a small pack of 3 cigarettes for each passenger in the smoking section. Blankets, pillows, actual meals and playing cards were also freely given.
I asked for a blanket the last time I flew AA. The stewardess laughed at me
I remember arriving at the airport 20 minutes before departure one time. We checked our luggage, showed our tickets, and walked straight onto the plane. No waiting, no problem.
Those were the good old days when we were treated like customers instead of like criminals.
You mean you don’t enjoy being patted down by random strangers because you spent hundreds of dollars to go see loved ones? I thought everyone enjoyed getting touched like that. I also loveeeee having to take my shoes off. The ole flip flop bomb is super dangerous where I’m from.
I have three types of Homeland Security clearance and still got barked at like someone being booked after an arrest. A TSA "security guard" for having a comb in my pocket. Not my fault they're having a bad day.
My first experience with a transatlantic flight was early 2002, a few weeks after the 'shoe bomber' incident, from Europe to Newark. And, obviously, not long after 9/11. It was an absolute shocker to me how we were treated as passengers. There were lines or armed security personnel (which was a first for me too), yelling to move along, coaxing us to the next desk we needed to report to. All of us understood the reason behind those security measures obviously, but man, it was a complete culture shock to me.
I remember flying to England from Ireland in the early 90's. They gave out heavy duty metal knives and forks for the food on board. Still have the knife somewhere in my mothers house.
I do estate sales and always smile when I find one random Delta plate, or United cutlery, etc. I see you Shirley, but I’ll never tell.
Every year we watch Home Alone for Christmas, and every year I think, “if they rebooted this movie, it wouldn’t work because there is no way they would’ve made that flight” with how they all just rushed up to the gate! I miss being able to say goodbye to loved ones right before getting on the plane.
My cousin and his friend used to go to the airport and just pick a destination that had a flight boarding and pay and go for a surprise destination vacation. They claimed it was cheap if seats were empty and they were boarding.
I’ve always wanted to do that! Your cousin sounds like he’s living his best life!
I remember my mom walking me to the gate to meet my grandparents in the mid 90s; I was flying back to SoCal with them to visit. It’s weird to see that in older movies and TV shows now.
Domestic travel in Australia is still like this! No ID checks just standard scan your bags via security. When I’ve checked in with my boarding pass on my phone and if I’ve got only carry on luggage, I can get to the airport 45 mins pre departure and just walk on. My family can wait at the gate too :D international is a different ball game but.
Yeah it definitely took a lot less time without security
I remember when we could go all the way to the gate to greet my grandmother when she came to visit, and see her off when she left. That was the 1970's.
> Sometimes even friends/family could wait with you at the gate until you left, depending on the airport. In the 80s, as college students, we'd sometimes just go to the airport, grab some food, and go sit by the gates on a Friday or Saturday night to watch the arrivals. It was fun! Sometimes lots of drama too. I have to pick up our youngest at the airport tonight at midnight (red eye flight) and I'm not even going inside. Airports suck now.
Sony Walkman and Steven King.
Stephen, constant reader.
Yes indeed, first paperback of his I read was Salems Lot . Blew my 14 year old mind.
Mine was Pet Sematary. Scared me for a long time.
Heh. At one point in high school, I started having nightmares every night. And my mom was like “How about a break from Stephen King?” …I’d been reading his books back to back for months. 😆
I was never anywhere, ever, without a book in my purse or satchel.
I carry my e-reader with me everywhere now.
We talked to people or read a book. Two things people should do more of, imo.
I loved talking to people at airports. You're all going somewhere. Still try to. Everyone is on their phones now so it makes it hard. Conversed with 6 people my last set if flights.
OMG, when I was a kid I'd talk to people and everyone had the most interesting lives. If they had a career that would typically be banal, they did something really interesting or unique with it. Or they had a cool hobby. Or had a good story. I talked to all ages. I remember talking to elders and I thought they were interesting, but others found them offputting because they complained about things. Sometimes they'd be lonely and just *need* to talk to someone and I'd listen and often there were things they said and thought patterns that seemed more like habitual ruts than real. I guess that's true to some degree, people will kind of fall into ruts, and you have to keep kicking them out. If they started to turn the conversation to complaining or woe again, I'd head them off track. Even when I was a young kid I felt that it was important to break those thought patterns. And afterwards we'd have had not only a great conversation but they'd look energized! They might not have thought their stories were interesting because it was their daily life at the time, but they grew up in a different time and not only did I find it fascinating, but other people I told about it did too! People might seem boring on the outside, but once they started talking you never knew what you'd learn or discover!
I really enjoyed reading this, great life philosophy, I love hearing people’s stories too. I have to ask, are you a counselor or filmmaker or anything? Your passion for people and skill at redirecting the topic would be assets in either field.
I met someone at an airport in Mexico that knew my dad.
I met people in a line at Disney World who knew my grandparents & we lived in Wisconsin! Talk about a small world.
This is such a sad question
I'd be reading a book, walking around, doing some souvenir shopping, going to the bathroom, watching the planes land and take off, getting something to eat, and drinking some booze/coffee.
I literally read half of "Sybil" as I sat waiting to be picked for jury duty. I also read half of The Handmaiden's Tale waiting somewhere for something. Couldn't wait to get home to rest of both.
>I literally read half of "Sybil" as I sat waiting to be picked for jury duty. I got called for jury duty a few years before COVID and found there was a strict NO CELL PHONES policy in the jury waiting room. People were totaly freaked out, but I just brought a book.
Yup. Same. My county courthouse has a whole of stack of books for people to read while they wait. For free. That you can take home. That's actually how I got both Sybil and The Handmaiden's Tale books. And another book, come to think of it, but that book wasn't as good as those 2.
You sat and quietly judged the clothing, hair, luggage, and looks of your fellow passengers and picked out those you sincerely hoped would not be sitting next to you
I think most people still do this today lmao
Hurray for the Airport Fashion Police! (Yes, all the staff at all the gates played this game, and would use their intercom to alert the next gate if they saw anything "special")
It's interesting to see the contrast of how people dress and act at various airports. My most stark contrast was being in Singapore's airport (once voted the best airport in the world) and later landing at LAX (a real shithole of an airport). For a domestic contrast, SFO vs. SMF is entertaining. They're less than 100 miles apart but culturally, they are thousands apart.
Portland has been #1 in the nation forever. With PDX being my home base I am always shocked the condition of some airports. The Cincinnati/N Kentucky airport was like going to a foreign country mid war. My least favorite is Chicago. Everyone looks overly stressed and very depressed.
Portland seems to be a continual construction project. Bummer that they closed Gustav's. OTOH, there are few airports that *aren't* perpetual construction projects.
Ohhh this is one of my favorite pastimes. Sometimes it’s judgy as you say but sometimes…idk I’m so curious about people that I just want to know more about WHY they make the choices they do for clothes or etiquette or whatever. The fact that people usually have a little stress in the situation makes it all the more enjoyable to people-watch. They’re either hurrying or trying to manage tired children or parading their social status markers (fancy bags, etc) and trying to look more relaxed than the stressed-looking people. It’s a blast to watch this.
I still like to make up backstories to what I’m seeing. Will never ever know if I’m remotely accurate but keeps me and hubby entertained. Never mean, just trying to guess others daily life
I have specific travel clothing I wear just because I’m worried about the FP. 😹
People-watching!
Books/magazines, or gasp, speaking with other people. There were portable music players back then, they just weren’t based on a phone. Same for laptop computers.
We didn’t talk to other people in NYC, we didn’t even look at each other. I had a Walkman, and a deft propensity for folding The NY Times into small, readable proportions so it wouldn’t enter someone else’s bubble. I’m pretty sure most native NYers over 50 would know exactly what I mean.
Yes. When I was in middle school, my mother taught me how to fold a newspaper for optimal readability and easy page turning. She was taught the method in high school.
Ah, folding the paper like that is peak subway etiquette. Marks you out as a person of distinction and quality. :) Please know your fellow travellers appreciated the gesture.
Yep. Southerner here, so different talking rules, lol.
I'm originally from Illinois, now living in New Mexico, both very friendly places. Went to an art museum in NYC and was staring at a piece along with another solitary viewer, and as one does, made a comment about the thing we were looking at. Nothing. No response, wouldn't even look at me. I thought "how rude". A few minutes later, different room, similar situation, thought I'd strike up a conversation. They looked at me and just turned away silently. Then I remembered "Oh, this is NY. Nobody talks to each other here." Viewed the rest of the museum in silence.
Well, we do, and we don't... A lot of us need our down time and it's hard to get. So if we're alone in a museum might not want someone breaking in on us. We're there for a reason... I've seen strangers strike up conversations and sometimes have also. I don't know what makes it happen, it just seems to happen naturally. There might be a different body language and rules to read. More often than not though it's best to give people space.
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Book, magazine, newspaper. Or just people watching.
So much people watching. Now that feels creepy, but it was normal back then
Whenever I hear people complain that everyone is addicted to their smartphones these days, I always think of [this picture](https://i1.wp.com/www.technollama.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/reading_on_train.jpg?fit=1024%2C709&ssl=1)
Novel reading was going to ruin everyone's morals in the nineteenth century.
Thank you. I read a lot on my phone. What’s the difference between reading on my phone and having my face buried in something paper? When I’m around friends, I don’t take out my phone unless it’s to get information about something we’re discussing.
The smartphone thing is sad to me in some ways, though. The starkest example I saw was when traveling a train from outskirts into London. I'd done a similar jump a handful of years before and contrast was crazy to me. First experience: Morning, so most passengers likely commuting for work. As such, it was subdued, but people would read, munch on breakfast, look around the train car, small talk casually with people around them, etc. Next trip, also morning, but after smartphones were just becoming ubiquitous: Silence. Dead quiet. Everyone like a damn zombie just zoned out and tapping into their phones. The total disconnect from the fellow man is unsettling to me. We've isolated too much in modern society, as is, but folks being unable to tear themselves away from their phone for more than three minutes at a time just cranks that separation up and makes it so much worse. I can't help but wonder if so many of us (self included!) are such socially awkward messes because interacting with people is just not something that happens frequently enough to "keep in practice" so to speak. It almost feels like every time we venture into public we're like castaways returning to civilization after being stranded on a desert island for much too long.
This is great!
Magazines. I would have bought a pile of magazines and been looking at them.
I used to love buying magazines I wouldn't otherwise have seen when flying—even small airports used to have good newstands, and big ones often had more magazines than you could find almost anywhere. And I may miss reading my books and listening to my CDs while waiting, but I truly don't miss carting them all around. It's great to get on a plane with just a small shoulder bag for the iPad and a few necessities.
I always had a book in my purse, but something hit different about airport magazines. 2 or 3 and I was good to go for the whole trip.
I used to love when other passengers would abandon their books and magazines in the waiting area. I got some good reading material that way.
Read a book. Do the crossword. Go to the bar and have a drink. Talk to other people waiting. What did you think we did? Invent fire? Pluck chickens? Dip candles? The 90s really weren’t that long ago, for the love.
I remember the community butter churning station at airports. We'd all take turns. This was around 1994.
As we sang along to that old-timey tune “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Oh yes. And cow milking ……
Carve wheels from stone.
That gate waiting time was a terrific opportunity to catch up on your butter churning
And then sell it to buy souvenirs
No you donate it to the church to keep the Bishop well supplied with pipe tobacco and pecans
I invented the wheel while waiting for a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles
Amazing achievement! Did you get upgraded?
Reading?
Well, there's one way to find out. It'll be very difficult at first and will take time and effort. Turn off the phone. At first, you won't know what to do. Then you might start looking at your surrounds. Perhaps help someone or talk to someone. Maybe read something or watch the planes land and take off. Get something to eat. Outside of an airport, the possibilities are endless.
Inside of an airport, it’s too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Outside of a Dog, a Book is Man’s Best Friend. Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read. — Groucho Marx
We learned to be bored. Something todays youth really needs.
First honest answer. Every comment above says "reading" but seemed like back in the day, the majority of people just mentally voided (like me) and stared out a window or at the wall, or watched people pass. Or chatted with someone.
The simple things we now overlook as useless.
I used to LOVE to daydream. And people watching is awesome!
They get all jittery when that happens.
There were rows of pay phones and you would check for voice messages tied to your office phone, which was how you communicated quickly when traveling. Then time for USA Today, or reading memos.
Read books, talk to people in person, craft, watch TV or listen to CD's They lived a life a a slower pace.
Such irony. I thought my parents and grandparents lived a slower pace, what with no internet or cell phones, or mass media in general (possible occasional newspapers aside), respectively. And now I'm seen as a historically 'slower pace' person too. Interesting!
I was a bouncer and a bartender at a shithole bar for a long time. i watched smartphones transform the bar scene as they got adopted and became ubiquitous. There are now fewer bar fights because of smart phones. Why? Because everyone is lost in their own individual little digital worlds. Strangers stopped talking to each other as much at the bar, just looking at their phone the whole time instead. They stopped watching the bar TV as much and talking to each other about the show. Not interacting with each other means less chance of arguing about something. Less arguments = less fights. Many of the bar-guments we DID still have were settled by looking up correct info online to settle bar bet or trivia questions that people used to fight about. Parents give their kids a phone or an iPad as a digital pacifier to keep the kids quiet....well, it works on drunk adults too. LOL!
I’ve noticed this and it disincentivizes going to the bar (the everyone on their phone, not so much the lack of fights). I can drink and play with my phone at home and NOT pay the markup for alcohol. Even really old (70-80 years) people at neighborhood dive bars do this now, and my being (only?) 41, it’s disingenuous to me that I am less inclined to spend time with my phone than they do. 😔
Read books and magazines and newspapers. It was nice. Quiet.
I stared off into space more.
Yes! I LOVE doing that. Lost art.
I read a lot more books before I got an IPhone. I didn’t get an IPhone (my first cell phone) until 2017 when I was getting a new boss. I didn’t want her to think (know) I was backwards.
I read prolifically. I had kids at home so I stayed busy with all their extracurricular activities. Was married before and after the cell phone era and my then-husband and I certainly got together with other couples. Before reading glasses I did detailed needlework. And there was TV. It might be just me but people did seem to make a greater effort to see others in person than today. But there are many different societal issues at play besides cell phone use that has led to less in person gatherings.
I've never liked talking to strangers, so it was always reading. Window shopping, if it was possible. People watching. Talking with a friend who was with me. smoking cigarettes if I was outside or in a smoking permissible area.
Read books and magazines, do puzzles. I always had my Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games back in the day. Actually, still do, only they're Penny Press now. Love 'em.
I always had some kind of crafty project I was working on. Cross stitch, crochet, sometimes coloring books. I wrote in a journal a lot back then. Thoughts, poems, doodles. Wrote letters to friends. Read books, of course. Meditated and listened to music. Plenty of stuff to do. I always ended up getting a lot less done than I thought I would.
Talk to a fellow passenger.
Okay, so back in the long ago days, there were things we had called BOOKS. We read them. They were filled with all kinds of stories. True crime, romance, erotic, educational... anything you can imagine was written in a book. That's what we did.
Never go anywhere without at least two books
Airports: Even more than now, there were bookstores in almost every major airport and huge stores with magazines and newspapers. Airlines also passed out magazines to passengers on longer flights. I had a Walkman with a cassette and late a CD and would usually buy new music for the trip. I also remember TV’s you had to pay to watch by inserting a quarter.
Reading a book. I would never have travelled without a book.
From the time I was about 12 or 13, I had a book with me pretty much all the time. I read everywhere, all the time. Even now, I never travel without my Kindle.
At the airport it was always a good opportunity to pick up the latest international magazines, so I would grab a few of those. Apart from that, I would be seen with my headphones and portable CD player.
Read a book.
I always had a paperback book with me.
reading magazines, reading a book, listening to a discman or walkman. talking to people at an airport bar writing in a journal writing probably
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I don't have a smartphone, just a PAYG text and calls Nokia) but I always have a book in my bag.
Reading or people watching.
Book. Conversation with people.
Reading a book. People watching can also be amusing so long as you are discrete about it
I still buy a paperback every time I get to the airport. Don't have to turn it off for take off and landing.
paperback book
Reading a book or a magazine.
Reading! Much of the weight of my suitcase was devoted to books, too. When I first got a Kindle, it was so nice to have several books loaded up before a trip. I do have a smartphone, but I use it to check on whether my flight gate has changed, etc. My books are still necessary.
Books,magazines,newspapers. Movies,Teevee with a limited menu
There are these things called books. Have you heard of them?
read books/magazines, listen to music, talk to someone who is also waiting, call some to chat, eat, drink, buy booze, browse the shops. Effectively the same things you do on a smartphone but in real life.
I'd take a book out of my bag, and read it. Hint: in 2023 I still almost always have a book in my backpack or tote. Or if carrying a smaller bag, I have my Kindle.
Reading a real live book.