Temporary Best Friends

Long term traveling is an experience that is difficult to describe/understand unless you’ve experienced it yourself. I’m not saying I’m an expert as its only 2.5 weeks into a 3.5 month journey. I met a guy (Ryan from Winnipeg) who has been cycling around the world for the past 4 years, so compared to him I’m quite the amateur. Despite my amateur status I’m going to try and provide some insight into how relationships work and what has gone on through my head in the first few weeks. I am technically traveling alone, but except for a few intentional solo missions, I have rarely been alone for more than a few minutes upon arrival at any hostel. The interactions always begin with the same routine questions: Where are you from? How long are you traveling? Where have you been? Where are you going? What is your job back home? Something in the answers usually is the bridge to the second part of the conversation. A discussion of the common places you’ve been or questions about your hometown etc. After the introduction/small talk has run its course the next topic is always: What are you doing today? My favourite example of this was when I arrived in Tallinn. I walked into my dorm room at the hostel, put down my bag and was immediately greeted by two students from Germany ( and the aforementioned conversation took place). No less than 15 minutes later we were en route to go out for dinner and a night on the town.  Its pretty amazing how quickly you can become “friends” with complete strangers. It’s a shame this type of human connection doesn’t exist in normal life. When was the last time you sat on a bus or walked through a grocery store and just introduced yourself to a random stranger? My mom has a rare ability to get complete strangers to tell her their life story mere moments after meeting, but for the rest of us it’s a rare occurrence.  Its becoming even more rare as we are plugged into headphones or mesmerized by our iPhones in more and more of our daily lives. I hope when I get home I’m able to take this process and disconnect from the wired world long enough to meet a stranger on a bus. Ok, that was a bit of a social commentary/tangent, so back to finish the story of travelers. Random strangers from all over the world become your best friends in a very short term, and just as fast as they become friends, they are gone! Paths may cross again somewhere down the line, but in most cases its just a series of hellos and goodbyes. I don’t recommend this if you have attachment or abandonment issues. I’ve been fortunate to meet some great people in a short period of time, and the modern technology of facebook means there is a much higher probability that someday, somewhere down the line I will reconnect with some of them. I expect the parade of new best friends will continue throughout the trek, but for now I will just say there is a definite part of me that misses the familiar faces back home.