We're nearly there now, number four of five, wahoooo! I hope you have all suitably killed time in the past few weeks whilst I have been writing these. But now, the most important one. Let's face it, the best (and probably most socially healthy) way to kill time whilst on the tracks is without a doubt, making conversation with the closest person to you.
Meeting new people from all over the planet is my favourite thing about travelling, as I'm sure most of you will agree. Building a collection of pals to track down on your future travels in their home countries is a serious perk. I think by the time I make it to Australia, I won't have any problem in finding free accomadation on other people's floors, you Aussie's get everywhere! The fact that you all seem to leave your own country in hoards doesn't give me much of an incentive to head down under, but I just have to now. To see all those friendly faces at least.
So, a nice personal post is as follows; my favourite people met in my favourite circumstances whilst I've been on the move. For all of you not mentioned, you are truly treasured also, and most of you tie in with the folks on here so you are not forgotten!
1) Laura from Melboure, Australia: Obviously I have to start with an Aussie. I met Laura when she spoke to me through an intercom whilst I was standing outside a building in Budapest, Hungary. We'd spent three days in Budapest previously, and loved it so much that we braved another nineteen hour train ride just to come back again. Laura wasn't working at our hostel when we left the first time, and we wondered who on earth it was when a woman answered the intercom. As it turns out, she is bloody awesome. Myself and Laura have met up a few times since meeting, which is fairly impressive considering she's based on the other side of the world! She is half the reason I would ever go to Australia.
2) Brad and Jordan, from Vancouver, BC: The first words uttered between myself and these two fellows was when they asked me if my pizza was good (it wasn't...) in a hostel in Prague. This resulted in a huge night out in this beautiful city and a good old session of bonding. Drinks were enjoyed by all, and we left them a couple of days later. Two weeks or so after that, by complete chance, Jordan comes walking round a corner in Split, Croatia, with his camera in our faces, taking a beautiful shot of Jenna and I mid-eat. Being incredibly unlucky with weather, it rained the entire time we were in Split, joy! So our meeting was a stroke of fate, as we then spent a week hanging out with Brad and Jordan. And, of course being in Vancouver, I met up with Brad who took me on a snowy truck ride up to Mt Seymour.
3) Bryan from Victoria, Vancouver Island: This was the swiftest meeting of them all. I was supposed to Couchsurf with Bryan for a few nights in Victoria. Sadly, Bryan got stuck in Whistler up in the snow and couldn't make it until my last night in the city. So, determined that we would be able to hang out, we made a big night of it. After sitting for hours, comsuming a vast array of different alcohols and having many excited talks about our future travels, we went and hit the town. I think me and Bryan were destined to meet for one night and one night only, picking up our friendship in various countries we find ourselves in in the future.
4) Paul from Melbourne, Australia: Another friend of mine recently made on my current travels, Paul's first words to me were 'What are you reading?'. And a friendship was born! (I was reading a Lonely Planet guide for British Columbia for those who are curious.) More or less every night after that, at around 4pm (seven hours after I woke up, three hours after Paul woke up!!) we would meet and always suggest a beer down in the bar on the ground floor of the hostel. Since both moving away from Vancouver in recent weeks, we have spoken almost every day since.
5) Sean from Seattle, USA: I kind of forced my way into Sean's life. Most of you keeping up with the blog will know that I wrote about a certain artist making deer heads as an art project (see Deery Me.) This artist is Sean! Having gone back to Seattle for New Years Eve a few days ago, I just had to look Sean up and thank him for all his info. As it turns out, he spent all of New Years with me and my four German friends, and a whale of a time it was too. He was the perfect tour guide in Seattle, and joined us for some stunning fireworks at midnight.
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