Oddly enough, the day I wrote my last post, I was invited to go on the hostel's pub crawl with some folks I met on a walking tour and a guy in my hostel. I mentioned this invitation via text to my beloved best friend and #1 travel companion - and of course, she talked me into it. (Her sage words of advice before my departure - be good, be safe, be bold. Well, here was the bold. Plus, if you're going to party as a woman traveling alone, best to do it with a local guide taking care of you.)
Let us from here on refer to the guy from my hostel as Hostel Guy (see previous post...and also that guy in a hostel who is strumming a guitar he found in the common area and sharing his bottle of wine with anyone who's around...and who's traveling to get some distance from challenging life circumstances...etc. In many ways, he IS your typical backpacker.) But despite it all, Hostel Guy and I wound up hitting it off and that same night, he suggested we travel together for a while. We enjoyed our last two days in Lisbon together and then he came with me to Sevilla. Many hours were passed wandering through parks, enjoying drinks and meals at the "tapateria" near our pension in Sevilla, and climbing into fountains for the perfect photo. To be fair, there was also a lot of eye-rolling at his raunchy sense of humor or needling me for my feminism - but that's all one.
It was oddly refreshing - together we did a lot of everyday things that don't scream "Eurotrip." We got haircuts. We searched for a post office. We hung out at the beach. We got tattoos together. We went to the movies (I bet Pitch Perfect 2 is even better in English). We played at a playground. We walked and ate and drank and talked a LOT. We discovered major similarities and a world of difference between us. Hostel Guy has been in Europe for almost two months already and previously spent eight days in Barcelona, so we parted ways this morning - he's off to Madrid and Florence.
Hostel Guy said something interesting when talking about two guys he met and became very close to in Paris. "When you're overseas, it's like relationships are on fast-forward." Too true. This is a concept that, as an expat, I am already familiar with; I have been blessed in my two short years in Korea with four wonderful women who I consider among my best friends, just as close as those from high school or college. Similarly, taking a risk and doing something outside my comfort zone turned into a fun adventure with a fantastic bro and travel buddy extraordinaire, as well as a new perspective on travel.
Now, this is hardly a retraction of my previous post - I stand by my own travel style. But as I committed to doing at the beginning of this trip, remaining open-minded while traveling has challenged me and changed me. I still love waking up early, going on walking tours, making my own walking tours, sitting in Starbucks and reading for a few hours. But I've learned that if I let myself be open to it, I can also love new people and their travel styles, even when talking to someone I don't know scares the introverted bejeezus right out of me.
So here's to you, Hostel Guy. Thanks for changing my perspective. Now back to solo excursions and exploring Barcelona!
(Full disclosure - as I write this, I am reading Kristin Chenoweth's autobiography in bed in my new hostel. Baby steps. All in good time!)
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