Mucho Gusto, Santiago?

I noticed a handsome young Argentine man standing near me while I was waiting to board the plane. When I say young I mean clearly in his twenties (turned out to be 27). Naturally, I avoided making eye contact with him like the plague. Why, you might ask? Because I could hear the echoing of my father's voice paired with the image of Liam Neeson in Taken telling me not to trust ANYONE while traveling. Sustained eye contact = inviting someone to approach you. That's "Father Advice to Daughters 101". So I started thinking about what I would tell a man who approached me in this kind of situation. Fake name? Jordan. Fake current living situation? Brooklyn, New York, New York. Fake reason for going to Buenos Aires? Studying and living in Palermo. And so on. I had my lies down and ready.

Of course I am in the last group of ten people to board and end up seated right next to the guy! I am silent, still averting my eyes, and feeling like a total jerk because, really, this person hasn't done anything incriminating in the slightest. My father's/Liam Neeson's/Agent Gideon's Criminal Minds team's voice fed my paranoia much more than my own instincts about this young man did. So when he (Santiago) courteously offered a place in the overhead compartment for my massive purse, I gave him an appreciative smile as I insist, "No! No! Está bien. Es el tuyo." Then with an hour and ten minute wait for the plane to ascend, we took the opportunity to exhaust my knowledge of Spanish. I was forced to blow my cover when he said something that was clearly a question and my brain failed to process what sounded like a melted mess of phonemes that resembled the Spanish language. The jig was up. He seemed like a decent human being, probably not about to go all Taken 2 on my culo, so I answered a few questions honestly, but stuck with my lies about what I am doing in Buenos Aires. Throughout the duration of the flight he actually gave me several tips and golden nuggets of information, including his email in case I have any more questions and need his help. This is where my dad would go, "Awww nooo c'monnn..it's all a ploy!" I think that's probably not the case in this scenario, but I suppose I shouldn't rule it out. I'm obviously not about to email him and make plans to meet up somewhere alone though. So in general I don't think that accepting an email address from someone you just met is at all threatening... I've just watched way too many episodes of Criminal Minds not to be somewhat skeptical. Better safe (and maybe on the paranoid side) than sorry..... right?