I have been gone from home for 82 days (wow time flies!!!). 23/82 days have been wwoofing, as discussed in my previous post, and the remaining 59 days, I have been travelling through different hostels. When you live in dorm rooms with 8 to 16 people per room, it is inevitable that you will meet people from all over the world.
I thought it would be interesting to make a list of the people of different nationalities I have had a conversation with for more than 15 minutes (less than that doesn’t count!). Here it is – I’ve tried to put it in order as much as possible of most to least common:
- German
- English
- Kiwi
- Deutsch
- Swedish
- French
- American
- Scottish
- Spanish
My friend Birgitte from Belgium, at Eli Creek on Fraser Island. We both agreed that it felt like we had known each other for many years even though it had only been 3 days! - Canadian
At Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel with twin sisters Emma and Rachel, from Vancouver. - Swiss
- Belge
My friend Sorcha who was my roommate in Queenstown. She is from Hamilton, New Zealand. We went out to the ice bar together. Her connections got me into the bar for free! - Chinese
- Japanese
- Kenyan
- Norwegian
- Israeli
Great group of people that I spent 3 days with during my 4WD camping trip on Fraser Island. Sven from Switzerland, Eli from Austria and Izzy, Isa, Gina, Luisa and Hanna from Germany. I can now count to #10 in German and say “how are you”! - Singaporean
My friend Dex, from Singapore, while we were mountain biking in Taupo. We tried to pose in front of the Huka Falls here. - Columbian
- Argentinian
- Indian
- Irish
- Slovenian
- Pakistani
- Australian (I haven’t really spoken to an Australian for more than 15 minutes, except for my doctor in Brisbane…we had great discussions about phlegm and breathing problems haha. But, my wwoof hosts in Alice Springs next week are Australians and my surfing coach in Byron Bay for the past couple of days has been Australian, so I’ve decided to count it on the list!
Good company for supper on Christmas day with Americans, Deutsch, English and Swedish!
I have had a conversation with people from over 20 nationalities in less than 3 months. Therefore, although I have been travelling through New Zealand and Australia, I have been learning about other cultures as well, by the way those people interact with me, but also from the stories they tell about their country. My friend Syed from Pakistan described his country in a way that is completely different from what is often shown in the media…Dex from Singapore explained to me how densely populated Singapore is compared to New Zealand; Singapore has a similar population to that of New Zealand, but is the same size as Great Lake Taupo, which we mountain biked part of the way around. The sisters from Norway spoke to me about “brown cheese”, a Norwegian cheese that I now need to taste!
I have to admit that I have become quite tired of hearing the cliche “where are you from” at the start of a conversation. And then “where have you been, where are you going” comes as the next set of questions. It’s easy to find common ground that way, but it all becomes quite repetitive after a few months! For the past couple of weeks, I have made it my mission to start a conversation with a topic other than travel. For example, I might comment on someone’s music taste or compliment their sunglasses (it has to be genuine though). I am still interested in knowing where they are from and where they are going, but I am trying to ask those questions a little bit later in the dialogue. This should become a useful skill for when I arrive back home and asking someone where they are from will not be a very good conversation starter! For the moment though, I am finding it quite challenging. Just like everything, I expect it will get easier with practice.
Some of my friends have told me that I am brave for embarking on a solo travel journey, but I think this blog post demonstrates that it is less intimidating than one might expect. I have made some lifelong connections. Travellers are generally so friendly and eager to meet new and different people. If everybody had the traveller mentality, the world would be a friendlier, more peaceful place.
** Writing this blog post has taught me that I need to take more pictures with people I’ve met, because some cool friends are missing here**