I was winding down my first trip that had gone right around the world, and I had done it in 8-weeks. It had been sometimes chaotic, often busy, but also, often amazing. I had spent 12 days in China, and though I had gotten extremely lucky with the weather, my tight train connections, and all my ‘high-speed-touristing’, 12 days was definitely enough for a first look at the country.
I wasn’t necessarily sick of being…constantly on display, or being stared at, touched, approached by anyone and everyone from 5-80…but after a while, being constantly surrounded by people, and the busy-ness of being in the hearts of cities of 20 million people…let’s just say that I was going to enjoy my time on the islands of Guam and Hawaii.
I had arrived very early for my flight to Guam. I had heard that the Hong Kong airport was sometimes confusing, and I was planning to take the subway out. I ended up arriving about 5 hours before my flight.
Resigned to spending the time in the airport, I staked out a table at a restaurant and settled in, comfortably close to an electrical plug in, and the toilets.
I’d been so used to hearing foreign languages that whenever English or French was spoken in the vicinity, my ears honed onto it.
Such was the case when an interesting-looking older man sat at the table next to mine. When I heard him order in English, and then we exchanged smiles, that was as good an introduction I needed.
Desperate for conversation, I asked if he wanted to join me. He accepted and proceeded to position his table and chair towards my own.
At first, we covered the basics most travelers do. Where are you from/going/doing, how long have you been gone, etc.
Gradually, as we both realized that we had several hours to pass, our conversation became more genuine.
It turned out that he had been married almost 40 years. He and his wife had decided to retire and were planning to spend at least a few years travelling. They planned to see and do everything they had put off while raising a family, working, etc. Their trip included big ticket items like a cruise to Antarctica, an African Safari, and smaller but personal bucket list items like celebrating New Years Eve in Times Square, a romantic Valentines Day dinner in Paris, and seeing the town his wife was from.
They had carefully planned, dreamed, added to and explored a list of possibilities for almost 5 years.
The year they had planned to retire, his wife became very ill. In the span of about a month, she had passed away.
Devastated, he put the travel plans on hold and considered cancelling his trip altogether, however, ultimately, he decided it would be a powerful way to remember and grieve, and he decided to travel solo.
He had been traveling for just over two years, and when we met in Hong Kong, he was preparing for his final stop in Australia before heading home.
When the time to begin to gather ourselves and make our way to our respective gates, he insisted on letting me know a few amazing things.
He told me that he felt very fortunate to have had the conversation with me. Throughout his travels, he was approached or welcomed into conversation very rarely. He had been yearning for conversation, the same way we all begin to when we travel in foreign countries. To hear familiar words with familiar accents, to be able to understand intrinsically where someone starts off their travels. It’s a unique form of homesickness.
He told me he knew that I was someone very special, and that his wife had guided the two of us together. He just knew that I would be doing great things in my life (no pressure, right!?), and that he knew our sudden connection would be a memory that he carried with him forever.
His advice for fellow, younger traveled: do it now. Travel far and wide, with someone you love, or learn to travel and love your own company, just as it is. Push yourself and grow in ways you never thought possible. And never forget that a smile and a hello can change the course of a day, a trip, or a lifetime.
He then shook my hand, and left with (I hope!) happy tears in his eyes.
I don’t know how, but someone I always seem to find myself in more than my share of amazing travel moments like these.
Have you ever instantly bonded with fellow travelers, or encountered someone who had a profound effect on your travel plans?
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