Editor’s Letter.

SO YOU’RE on a plane. Are you planning on talking to the stranger sitting next to you?

I doubt you’ll be shocked to hear that some 24 per cent of business travellers prefer to avoid conversation on a flight. And we’ve all been there – so immersed in work (or the inflight magazine in your hands!) that our fellow traveller is lucky if they get a hello nod.

But a 2014 study by behavioural scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder found that talking to strangers reaps significant rewards. They asked commuters on trains and buses to either sit in solitude or interact with those around them. Those who struck up a conversation reported feeling much happier at the end of the trip.

As Schroeder says, “Humans are social animals.” Of course, no-one wants to sit next to someone who doesn’t know that headphones-on means “I don’t want to talk” but, in my experience, having a chat with your seat mate can lead to some fascinating conversations. Call it the journalist in me but I love hearing about other people’s lives and what motivates them. On a flight to Los Angeles last year, I sat next to a doctor on his way to a conference. He was erudite and interesting and our conversation veered far beyond mundane small talk. A friend of mine, Steve Taylor, was reading Dave Eggers’ memoir on a trip from Melbourne to Sydney a few years ago when the gentleman next to him asked him about it. After chatting about books for a while, his new friend said, “By the way, I’m Tom Stoppard.” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Are Dead just happens to be Steve’s favourite play so you can imagine how thrilled he was to meet one of his literary heroes.

Of course, conversations can sometimes lead to other things (love is in the air?) but that may be a column for another time...

Have a great month. Kirsten Galliott Editor-in- Chief