October 9, 2016
The beauty of traveling is meeting people that you wouldn’t normally cross paths. Some people come into you life for a few hours, a few days, maybe even a few weeks. They essentially fall into three buckets: the acquaintances, the friends, and the romances.
The acquaintances pass through and become a distant memory. Sometimes a connection isn’t made because there isn’t enough time. Other times, it’s just that you don’t have much in common. It can hard with people constantly fluttering in and out because the superficial conversations become exhausting. You could be a different person every day because no really knows who you are. It can feel incredibly lonely.
The friends you cherish because they’re harder to find. You form a bond with these people because you’re both on this same crazy journey traveling the world. Suddenly, you have people to share your days and have easy conversations. People to grab meals with and travel around. You stay in touch long after you say goodbye with hopes of seeing each other again. Sometimes you meet up weeks or years later in a different place with new stories to share. This is what makes traveling the best.
Then occasionally there’s the rare romance where you develop a quick and comfortable connection. It’s not like meeting someone new at home where you slowly hang out and get to know the other person. Instead, it immediately feels like you have nothing but time. It’s strangely easy and uncomplicated. Initially, you brush it off because logically it doesn’t make sense to proceed down this rabbit hole knowing there’s an expiration date. But it seems so far away and the present feels so good.
You slip into it and it fits so nicely. Despite the fact that you know there’s an end – someone is going home or traveling to a new place – but you proceed with an open heart with reckless disregard of what the consequences might be. Challenges of the real world would make this impossible but you turn a blind eye. The more time you spend together, the less you care about the consequences.
Living in the moment is the most freeing feeling – like you’re hopeful and invincible. Until it all comes crashing down because you’ve run out of time. You try to hold on, desperately grasping as it slips away. Wanting just a little more time while knowing no amount of time will make goodbye any easier.
These goodbyes are the hardest. Your heart hurts and loneliness sets it. But you have no choice other than to wipe away the tears, let it go, cherish all the good memories and promise to keep an open heart to enjoy the new experiences to come.
Traveling so far, I’ve struggled to find an emotional balance among the three. Many days, it’s hard to find alone time when you’re surrounded by exciting new friends. It’s easy to get swept up with planning the next adventure that you don’t stop to think and reflect. However, it’s hard to spend so much time with someone and then go your separate ways to start all over again – hoping to make new friends and not just the acquaintances. The romances stay the rarity because they’re harder to bounce back from.
I guess it’s all part of the highs and lows of being a solo traveler. In the end, each day is a new day to do something amazing. And you never know who you might meet tomorrow.
