Hi everyone!
It’s been officially two weeks since my last post and it seems I’ve already fallen behind my usual Monday posting date. I have a good excuse though – vacation! I was in New York for about 6 days last week and it was so nice to enjoy some warm weather and good company.
As in the title I wanted to talk a little bit about travel camaraderie and the many ways I encounter it throughout my travels (mostly on the route to and from NYC). On my trip there, my train (after connecting to the bus) was delayed by an hour, bringing me to the train station a mere 10 minutes before my bus transfer – oh did I mention that the bus station was a 10 minute taxi ride away? Luckily my gym sessions have been paying off and I sprinted to the cabs and made it there in time. All this to say – there was another girl who arrived last minute at the boarding gate and I reassured her about the route and even gave her advice about where to sit on the bus. She was so thankful and throughout the trip we chatted here and there.
On my trip home I had a similar experience where I got to lend another solo female traveller some tips on how to make the trip as painless as possible – and how to snag two seats to yourself. We bonded over talking about where in the world we had been and about what we loved in New York. This type of connection isn’t easy for me to make with any plain old strangers – but travel brings out this very friendly, outgoing part of me that invites conversation from people. It turned out there was another issue with travel – the driver forgot to let a girl off at one of the stops along the way to the Canadian border – yikes – and had to go all the way back.
This new friend of mine and I knew there was a bus ahead of us at Canadian Customs and after passing through the border the driver on the other bus driver told us to hop on his bus because he was headed to our final destination. It worked out so well and we didn’t get stuck having to backtrack an hour to let this girl off at her stop like the 40+ other people on that bus that did. This camaraderie can be great for even having someone to look out for you if you’re traveling alone, or to save you a spot in the customs line!
So if you’re traveling alone – smile at a fellow traveler, be cautious, but know that we’re all human beings and looking out for each others well being is an innate quality inside all of us.
Until next time!
Creating Caitlyn 