and Sprinkles on Top

Engaging in Conversation

Posted on 06. Feb, 2009 by Deb in On a Jet Plane, The Girl

I’ve learned that there are less than half the number of women traveling for business as men.  I see it when folks are checking in along side me, in the airport, and in the hotel restaurant….or bar.   More than half of the meals I eat when I am on the road take place at the hotel bar.  After a longish day, who wants to make it even longer by going from an office, to a restaurant and then the hotel?  Besides, if the hotel has a decent restaurant, it’s convenient and filing expenses is easier because there are less receipts to lose.

When I was in DC, I did have favorite restaurants outside of the hotel, of course, but I frequented the ones closest to my hotel more than those that I loved that required a cab ride.    You can’t eat 14 days straight at the same place.  But on trips like this, where I’m in a couple of nights and the weather is rainy?  Yep, hotel dining.   It’s easier overall, as well, to eat at the bar.  The service is usually quick, if you are in the mood to start a conversation, there is the bartender or other patrons in the same boat as you (traveling alone), headline news and/or sports is typically on….

My defense for avoiding conversation when my head is full of work is a book.  It has to be a book, because the newspaper invites conversation and other patrons know that it’s easily interruptible because the articles short.  I know it may be a cop out and when I have amazing food, I really focus in and savor what I am putting into my mouth.  But I rarely go to dinner alone without a book.

I honestly enjoy conversation.  You would be amazed at what a stranger may tell another stranger, especially if he has something weighing on their mind…or their heart.  I usually stick to the subjects of business, where you are from,  the weather, the game, or something similar.    Women can’t be too terribly friendly to strange men, even in the safety of a hotel bar.   I say safety, because the bartender usually watches out for single women alone.  They really do, especially at nice hotels.

But even when you try to stick to safe subjects, you sometimes hear more than you bargained for.  Sometimes, it’s a story that you want to remember – it was poignant or funny.  I have one of those from this trip that, in all honesty, deserves to be one of my 52 stories for this year (I just need to take a photo to go with it).  I had a second conversation last night, that although comment worthy (a daughter with Tourette’s Syndrome) crossed the line when the gent gave me his room number and told me to “call if I wanted to get together later”.  Those are the ones that creep me out, how one moment you can be having a conversation with a stranger and he pushes for something more – even when you’ve told him you are involved with someone and he has told you about his wife.   You are polite in your thank you but no thank you, but it makes the need for a quick escape to the comfort and further safety of your room.

Time to shut down and head to the gate.  Catch ya later.

Tags: Hotel Bars