A flight attendant has found a way to cure the hassles of air travel, by giving each of her passengers crayons and drawing paper.
As we all know, air travel can be stressful these days. With all the delays, cancellations, and stresses at the security gate, it’s rare to see a smile once you step onto a plane - except if you happen to be traveling with flight attendant Jewel Van Valin, that is.
For the past six years, she’s been handing out Crayola crayons and sheets of paper to all of her passengers, whether young or old. And for most of them, the chance to draw is enough to make them feel like kids again and forget about the hassles of flying.
The first time Van Valin started passing out the child-like art supplies, she noticed a real difference in the cabin’s atmosphere. “They were interacting, talking to one another,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “Crayons are nonthreatening. The pictures tell a lot about a person.”
For the passengers, the creative experience helps the time pass quickly. On a flight to Maui, one passenger, Julie Smith, drew a picture of her vision of Honolulu. “I set my book down and started doodling and pretty soon it was time to land,” she said. Though the experience was several years ago, she’s never forgotten that flight.
The drawings range from amateurish to artistic, but no matter how talented the passenger is, Van Valin keeps them all. Now, she’s hoping to find a space to display them in the Los Angeles International Airport.
The name of her proposed exhibition? “Just Plane Art.”