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It took me by surprise to find something completely unexpected on the opposite side of the world from my birthplace. When you travel you never expect to run into people from the same place as you. Especially as a Canadian. Even more so an Albertan. When you do it’s pretty mind-blowing. Yet I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Getting To Know People As A Traveller
As I travel more and more I’ve noticed something I find interesting. Every time people meet some variation of the same three questions occur.
1. What’s your name?
The obvious question that everyone everywhere asks when meeting someone.
2. How old are you?
I’ve found this is more often asked by guys. For years asking someone their age, especially women, was considered rude. These days it’s almost essential. As you know people flirt and the last thing they want to do is start flirting with a minor.
3. Where are you from?
As a traveller, this is pretty much a key question. It allows for so many conversations and other questions to occur. I quite often see it being asked even before names are shared. It’s that important.
Yet when I lost my voice in the first week I was in Croatia this year (2022) I couldn’t answer these. Asking them was out of the question. So while I was meeting a bunch of the important people I would see constantly for the next few months I was basically mute. It sucked. It wasn’t until a week or two later that I was actually able to communicate with others. By that time the questions didn’t really come up.
Tower Pub Crawl
One of the things I found myself doing quite regularly as I helped at Hurricane Hostel was taking people out in the evenings. I would take them around to different bars around the city or down to the pub crawl. The pub crawl was normally banging.
How could it not be? 24 Euros for unlimited drinks from 9-11. The downside is that it is usually full of 18-20-year-olds that can’t hold their liquor. Yet that was something I bonded with Randy about.
Randy is this really awesome dude working for Tower Pub Crawl that I hit it off with immediately. Skinny as a beanpole, but towering over everyone at around at least six foot seven. He put the tower in Tower Pub Crawl.
Seriously though this guy was huge. Long brown hair with faded sides was always tied up neatly in a bun as he sported his tank tops. Yet the thing that made Randy stand out was his tattoos.
Randy has some of the coolest tattoos I have ever seen and he was covered in a patchwork manner. A raven covered each hand, Norse ruins up his forearm and a third raven danced upon his shoulder.
Randy and I would stand in the sound booth and set up the cue to play classics. We played Kid Cudi, Dr. Dre, daft punk, and many others as we watched to see if the 18-20-year-olds would recognize anything.
We bonded over that many a night despite the fact I couldn’t speak.
Sanctuary
After my voice came back Randy and I would chat a bunch. We would talk about music, people, tattoos, etc, but the topic of our origins never really came up. That is until one night.
After the pub crawl moved on to their second or third location a few of us split off to go hang out at Sanctuary. As Chad owned both Tower and Sanctuary it was a sweet place to close out the evening.
Even though it was getting pretty late the heat still hung in the air. Radiating off the streets, buildings, and people as if someone had turned on a space heater. I was sweating like a pedophile on a playground. Hell, my sweat was sweating.
The first thing we did when we got to Sanctuary was help clean up. It was nearing closing time and there were some cops around so closing on time was essential.
The Question
After cleaning up we headed outside for a smoke and to let the guys finish closing. As we exited the building I couldn’t help but groan, “Fuck it’s hot”
“Yeah, I know man. I’m used to -50 degrees,” chimed Randy as he wiped his forehead with his shirt. Immediately I thought, ‘hey sounds like home’. So I finally asked the question.
“Where are you from?
“Canada”
“Whereabouts?”
“Alberta”
“No shit I was born in Edmonton”
At my saying that this look of complete disbelief settled upon his face. So we got to talking about where we grew up. Turns out we grew up less than 20 blocks from each other. I had gone to school in the area where he had lived.
The more we talked the crazier it got. We quickly discovered that we had worked in several of the same areas, sometimes the same places, but somehow kept missing each other. Not just in Edmonton either, but down in Calgary as well!
A lifetime of just barely missing each other resulted in us meeting in Croatia. The other side of the world from Alberta. It’s things like this that make me realize how small the world truly is.
So the next time you’re in a foreign country keep an open mind and be open to meeting people. You might just find someone who lived up the street from you.
Until next time, stay authentic, stay nomadic, and let the world inscribe itself upon you as you inscribe yourself upon it.
