The Garden Hotel in Narita Japan has a beautiful little lounge area just a short walk from the lobby with an excellent view of some rice fields just across the canal. This is generally where I can find a nice place to work that gets me out of my room, but still has the all important wifi. As I edited some photos, I heard someone playing an out of tune piano which spends most of its time sadly collecting dust in the corner. I couldn’t think of a better way to work that to listen to someone playing and smiled at my present situation in a private concert. After a few minutes of listening, I couldn’t resist any longer and decided to go say hello.
The stranger playing the piano turned out to be a flight attendant named “Alvin.” We chatted for a little about flying life and how much fun it is to travel all over the world and have random experiences. He asked if I played piano, and I replied, “a little.” We continued sharing stories about our favorite destinations and generally having a great time. Somehow the fact that Alvin was a beat boxer came up, and of course, I wanted to hear it. Well, Alvin was not just a beat boxer, he was a really good beat boxer. We decided the only logical next step was to have a jam session.
I took the piano, and he the beats. Upon first playing with an actual beatboxer, I was so excited, I just kept laughing and smiling to the point we had to stop and allow me to compose myself. Alvin was much more professional.
We played some improvised blues, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Whiter Shade of pale, Bob Dylan, and basically as many songs as I could come up with.
Alvin’s ability to adjust to different styles of music, and timing, (and cover my mistakes) was amazing and I was grateful to be a part of the moment. Imagine the chances. Two airline people, from different parts of the world, coming together to create a mini concert for themselves and whomever decided to pass by. The little out of tune baby grand collecting dust in the corner helped create a morning I will never forget.
This was early in my international travels and it taught me a really important lesson. When you’re traveling, always go say hi to people, you never know what kind of amazing stuff will happen. Being shy doesn’t get you far in the world. When you are traveling, someone else is traveling too. They want to meet people just like you. And always be on the lookout for an out of tune old piano somewhere, you never know who you’ll meet because of it.
