I've just done a thing. Pretty soon I will be quitting my job in banking after nearly five years in the industry to go back to school to get my masters in secondary English education. It's a step in my life that's mostly exciting and a smidge scary but something that I feel I absolutely have to do. Banking was always just a way to pay off my undergrad loans so that I could eventually go back to teach.
Before starting school, however, I will be going to visit my signother in his homeland of England since it will be a while until we are both free again. Because he still has to study for exams and such during his Spring Break, he'll be kicking me out after a little over a week and because I have no real commitments at this time, it seemed like a waste to just go back to America right away. Sure, I won't have much money but plenty of wanderers don't have much!
One problem: I have never really traveled alone before. I've taken most of my plane rides alone but I've always been meeting someone there. Only once have I ever stayed in a hotel alone and that was when I drove up to Montreal to meet Ana (and at the time I had kind of stupidly thought most people in Montreal speak English). With this in mind I decided to pick a place on these foundations:
1.) A place in Europe that I haven't been
2.) Where English is widely spoken (or at least Spanish)
3.) And that would be safe to travel alone while being female
Essentially this list lead me to the Nordic and northern countries. I've been to The Netherlands and while I love Amsterdam and would like to go back, it wouldn't be as fun alone. I've seen all the museums and the nightlife stuff is only fun with someone else. I can't go to Sweden because the signother is half-Swedish and has family there and would be sad if I went without him. Norway got ruled out partially because I know absolutely nothing about Oslo and partially because it's close to where the signother's family is in Sweden anyway and could be part of a trip there. He even has an uncle who knows it well and could show us around. Everyone I know who has been to Finland has said it's boring so I've never had a desire to go. Iceland is somewhere I really want to go but the signother poo-pooed it so hard I kind of backed away. Relatedly it's the only other country aside from Ireland (which I've been to a lot) that is in between our countries so perhaps it would be better to go together.
So that left me with Denmark and, more specifically, Copenhagen. The signother, in spite of his joking inbred Swedish hatred for the Danes, gave full approval when I mentioned that it's near water and looks like Amsterdam, knowing that I would probably be happy there. So I've booked it and gotten myself a bed in a hostel.
Now, I've stayed in hostels before but I've never had to share a room with anyone other than the signother. While there's obviously the fear of thieves (I literally have nothing worth stealing though), murderers (that'd be a hard murder to get away with), and loud people (ugh), I'm actually pretty excited for this. I've had good and bad roommates before, I'm pretty friendly and very quiet, and I'm pretty shameless and don't get uncomfortable easily. Maybe I'll even make a friend who will hang out with me.
And this got me thinking about all the amusing strangers who have passed through my life in brief moments while traveling excluding family of friends, friends of friends, and tour guides. This is my ode to these people.
My First London Cab Driver
The first time I went to London was a big deal: I met my signother for the first time in person (we had met online a little more than a year prior) and it was my first time ever visiting another country. The signother and I met at the airport and then traveled by train and then tube to his hood in Wimbledon where we then needed to take a cab to get to his house. This craziness was all because he didn't have his license yet and I was insistent on the fact that we need to meet before I meet his parents. So we got into the cab and when the driver noticed my suitcase he said enthusiastically, "Ah, a suitcase! I'm jealous. Coming here or going somewhere else?" I told him I had come here. He said, "Oh, for the tennis or for the handsome guy sitting next to you?" Next ensued a long pause before he exclaimed jokingly, "I've made you uncomfortable! Great way to start my morning!" Eventually I answered with, "Both" even though I obviously didn't care about the tennis. When we told this story to my signother's mom, she said, "Oh, so you got a real London cabbie then!"
Katrina From Germany
This one isn't really a tale of my travels so much as a tale of hers. I was in New York City which is only a two and a half hour trip for me and I go there every few months but I was mostly going to be on my own. I had come down to see my friend Alex but I stayed around to go see "Once" by myself right before the Tonys. Courtney, another friend, kept me company waiting in line for tickets and, because Courtney's really friendly, we talked a bit to the girl behind us about my and her odds of getting tickets. Luckily, she ended up getting the last one and I was sitting next to her during the show. At intermission, we talked the whole time about how she had just graduated college and was going on a trip around the world. This was her one day in New York before heading to DC and seeing "Once" had been get biggest wish. We talked about places we love and the show and then settled in for the second half. When the show was over we parted ways on the street and I asked her name, realizing then that I never had before.
The One Employee At The Dublin Writers Museum
On our first trip to Ireland, the signother and I stayed with a friend of his family's and after going to his office and eating lunch with him, we headed out on our own. Our first stop on an unusually warm day was the Dublin Writers Museum where there was a guy standing outside in the sun. He told us the museum was closed and then admitted he was joking and motioned us inside. It turned out he was the only person working there and there was no one else in the museum so he had been trying to enjoy the rare rain-free day. He gave us our audio guides and I walked over to the door to look at a drawing of James Joyce, accidently setting off the alarm on the guide that is meant to keep people from stealing them. The guy motioned to me with a look of joking disgruntlement as he reset my guide and told my signother to keep an eye on me. Later, I dropped my camera on the ground and looked over to see the guy shaking his head at me. He kept the act up the whole time we were there.
The Two American Girls On The Tube
I lived in Boston for three and a half years. This is important for understanding my behavior. During my second trip to London the signother and I were trying to make our way to St. Paul's Cathedral and had just gotten onto the platform when the doors of the subway were closing. I did what seemed natural: I made a running dash for it. I ran and jumped and the doors tried to crush me to death. Now, in Boston, if there's an obstruction in the doors, they open again so I did this thinking 1.) they would only tap me and 2.) they would then open so he could get on. Instead I had to wiggle my way onto the car with horrified onlookers. Two girls asked if I was okay and I assured them I was fine and that my partner knew the way and we'd meet up when he got there. In the excitement, it took me a few seconds to say, "Oh, hey, you're American!" They said they went to school in DC and it was their first day there and they were on their way to St. Pancreas to see platform 9 3/4 (although they obviously said King's Cross). I told them I had never been and they asked if I was familiar with London and what would I recommend. I tossed out a few obvious suggestions because, heck, I don't know what they like, and got off before them, meeting up with the signother when the next train arrived. What a welcome to London.
Maple Candy Guy In Montreal
After quite an experience driving up to Montreal with instructions written on a paper bag, arriving late, having trouble parking and needing to call Quebec Tourism, and then finally meeting up with my friend Ana, we ended up having a good day exploring Chinatown and Old Montreal. Inside Bonsecours Market there was a gift shop we went in so Ana could get some maple syrup. The guy working there overheard us talking in English and then asked us in rapid, heavily accented English if we realized that Canada has its own white house and that they offered it to Obama when he visited but he refused and then pointed to a shirt that said "Canada's White House" with an igloo. We laughed and he asked us where we were from. On hearing that Ana was from Brazil and up visiting her cousin, he told us all about Canada's immigration laws. Then, on seeing that Ana was getting maple syrup he started explaining the different concentrations of maple syrup and gave us each a piece of maple candy. When we left Ana said he was nice but by the end she could barely understand him because he was talking so fast and admittedly I was having a hard time of it too.
Curious Border Patrol Guy
Obviously, being from two different countries makes people very curious about the relationship between me and my signother but I don't think either of us has encountered a more curious stranger than this one guy at the UK border patrol. After visiting Paris and Amsterdam, we were coming back into the UK to go to the opera for his dad's birthday and to road trip up to Scotland. While he breezed through the EU passport line, I had to talk to someone about my intentions which went something like this: "Why are you coming to the UK?" "Spending time with my boyfriend." "Is he American too?" "No, British." "Are you staying with him?" "Yes, in Wimbledon." "That's a very long distance relationship." "Yeah." "How did you two meet?" "Online a few years ago." (I have a ton of London stamps in my passport so he knew I had been there before). "That must be hard. How often do you see each other?" "Twice a year if we're lucky." "Wow. Is he traveling with you now?" "Yeah, he's right over there" (I point to him waiting behind the gates clearly wondering why I'm being interrogated when I've been to England so many times before). "Huh. Most people wouldn't be able to do that." "Well, we're not most people, I guess." (Finally stamps my book). "Well, enjoy your time together!" "Thanks."
Joe, The Australian
During a mildly conflicted trip through Ireland the signother and I stopped off in what ended up being one of our favorite Irish towns: Kilkenny. We went to Kilkenny Castle and Rothe House and then realizing we still had some time before stuff closed we looked at the free little map we got at the castle and realized there was a brewery across the street called Smithwick's. Neither of us had tried the beer before but we figured what the hell and went. We had a really fun tour guide named Shelia and the only other person on the tour was a guy named Joe from Australia. He had graduated college and was travelling through Europe and America, his journey eventually ending in Brooklyn where his sister lives. At the end of the tour we each got pints (the beer's really good by the way) and the three of us sat and chatted until they kicked us out. We gave him suggestions for what to do in New York and Brooklyn and he told us about the weirdness of shooting a gun in Texas (which neither of us have done) and then we parted ways as he went off to catch a bus to Dublin. Shelia took a bunch of pictures of us throughout the tour so Joe remains the only stranger I have pictures with.
The Two Nicest Guys In Milan
The signother and I lived a tourist's worst nightmare in Milan. After getting off the train from Verona, we headed over to where the hotel we were staying at was supposed to be only to find an office building. Multiple attempts to call the hotel wouldn't work from his phone and we realized we were stuck with no plan. He asked a janitor in Italian about the hotel, which he had never heard of, and then soon an accountant whose office was in the building joined in. It would take too long to explain the full story but ultimately, the accountant let us use his phone to call the hotel, let us store our bags in his office, and recommended a great, really cheap restaurant nearby. The janitor let us sleep in his office for two hours (we were both sick) and then went with us to check out the room we were given (which sucked) and to help us deal with the guy who "ran the hotel" and screwed over both us and many other travelers. Both the guys kept insisting that "true Italians" would never do something like this. We tried to give the accountant money but he refused. The janitor had left by the time we came back so we slipped money under his office door with a note of thanks. The kindness of strangers can be amazing.
Siena Bus Station Guy
While all the stories on this list are of people who I encountered who were nice or funny and who I chatted with for some amount of time, this guy did not fall into any of these categories but was very memorable. After a seemingly neverending bus ride from San Gimingano to Siena, we finally got to the station and realized we had no time to explore Siena because we had dinner plans with friends of the signother's parents and we needed to find a bus to the nearest stop to their house in nowhere Tuscany. On asking the guy working at the station when the next bus was he told us it was departing from the other station in a few minutes. We asked if there was any way we could get there in time and he said with more laughter than I have ever heard in the voice of someone who wasn't actually laughing, "it's impossible!" At this point I was so broken and tired I thought it was the funniest thing ever. Things worked out all right. The friends picked us up from Siena and we had an hour to explore the signother's favorite Italian city but I will always remember the guy who made no attempts to hide his schadenfreude.
Here's to meeting more interesting people in Denmark!
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