The first time I met Nat was in San Jose, Costa Rica. It was three years ago and I was a vacation tourist then. Nat says I asked him for directions but I actually do not remember. There was a street parade going on on the avenue so we watched it together for about 10 minutes then we said good-bye.
About a year ago, I noticed on facebook that we’d become long-term travelers around the world and I thought it was an interesting coincidence. Recently, while looking at his travel updates, I had a gut feeling that we were not too far away from each other, and finally, we could arrange to meet in Amsterdam, supposedly just one day before his departure from the city.
It is fair to say that our first encounter was brief and since then we were between almost strangers and acquaintances. But the fact that we have lots in common in what we experience these days got me excited about seeing him again.
We talked about traveling from deep subjects such as why we choose to do this to practical ones such as how much you spend a day. It felt great to be able to understand and to be understood in many aspects. One remark of his that I want to remember for a long time was “People need to travel more, but not as tourists, just to help get rid of the sheer amount of our ignorance towards other cultures.”
I am looking forward to finding out when and where I run into you again. Safe travels.
with Nat (USA)
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, September 25, 2018
