“Growl” went the man in a less than intimidating middle-aged white guy corporate voice. Not just any kind of growl, but a goofy one. What made it so funny, right before it became very real, was that is sounded more like the kind of growl a kid makes when trying to imitate a lion than it did any sound an adult would make to actually express aggression.

I had the chance to travel to New York before Christmas this year (got out just before the transit strike) and after a brutal day of traveling I passed this guy, the “growl guy.” I passed him at DFW airport (Dallas, Texas for those of you who don’t speak airport) as I was transitioning to my next leg of travel. That day I was trying to get out of New York before the strike, waiting at La Guardia for half the day and traveling with what seems like is now more mandatory than Air Marshals on planes, a screaming kid. Somebody even brought a dog on the plane as a carry on. Since when can you carry a dog on your lap on a plane? Not only that, but I still had a 5 hour drive to the middle of “no where” west Texas to look forward too.

So when I passed this guy, I secretly laughed at him. We are still talking about a grown man, walking by himself through an airport who let out an audible kid growl for no apparent reason. Then I not so secretly agreed with him. I would have done it in a little more intimidating way, but what is it that makes travel, specifically air travel, make us want to scream.

This started making think about how traveling is so barbaric. Then I started feeling guilty because I just had a vacation and I was already complaining, when other people are starving to death. Nevertheless there is something that happens at airports that feels so violating.

So I pose the question, why does the moving part of traveling drive people so nuts? You can put your own thoughts in the comments, but here is my hypothesis. I think it is the same reason we don’t like the hospital, or death. We are not in control. When you travel on an airline they tell you when and where to sit, which isn’t usually a comfortable place. You have to take off your shoes and hurry through the x-ray area hoping you won’t get groped like a criminal (I am by the way pro-airport security and anti-airport bomb). Not to mention that it is hectic and you know if the bird flu is coming to the US it will probably be from the person you are sitting next too, because they keep coughing in your face and look like the kind of person who doesn’t know how to properly handle their avian. And there is nothing you can do about it.

You can come up with your own airport frustrations, but I think the issue is that we don’t like being out of control. All I know is that the next time I go to the airport I expect the “growl guy” to be running around the baggage claim conveyor belt with his neck tie around his head, full painted warrior face, and shouting out primal chants, Lord of the Flies style. And if I am having an out of control day, I might just join him. You have to take your shoes off anyway, why not rip off the rest and run around screaming and lighting stuff on fire?