It’s a very transcient thing, this travelling life. Quite nomadic, going from place to place, seeking all sorts of adventures. Sometimes you make wonderful connections. Be it with people or places. And at those times, it’s hard to realise that it can’t last, that you must get going again. Of course you take the memory with you, but that’s still different from being there yourself, in the flesh.
I’ve met people on my travels that I wish I could’ve hung out longer with. Just because there was a connection, a good vibe. There’ve been places that I instantly connected with. Like Hopewell, New Zealand. And there too, connection or not, I had to say goodbye again.
That’s the other side of travelling, I suppose. Only staying somewhere shortly, you have little time to make more than fleeting connections. You don’t have time to really truly get to know people or a place, like you would at home. At the same time, I find it freeing, because if, for example, you don’t connect with people at the hostel you’re staying, you also aren’t stuck with them forever, haha. It gives you the freedom to do what you want to do and not what your usual environment expects from you.
It always takes me some getting used to when I start travelling. Because I like a certain predictability in order to dive into the unknown, the unpredictable, and head to the next adventure. I’m a homey person as well. Having no fixed sense of permanence is perhaps what I find so freeing about travelling. This duality of travelling fascinates me.
Alive and Trekking 
How long are you intending on travelling for, San. Or is it the intermittent of short holidays regularly that prevents you from connecting for longer?
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This summer I basically have regular length holidays. Sweden/Åland is for about two weeks (I’m off for three), Iceland is for about 11 days. Wish I could go way waaay longer, but I gotta do this thing called work and pay for bills, hahaha!
I do think it’s the intermittent character of travelling that prevents people from connecting longer. Usually when backpacking you spend a few days in each place. You can connect with people, but it tends to not last. Even if you add eachother on Facebook, it’s usually more of a ‘hi, hello, how are you’, rather than a deeper friendship or something like that. And it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that I’ve noticed when people get back to their busy daily lives, contact waters down.
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Indeed. I think most of us collect acquaintenances and friends throughout our lives. It is impossible to keep in touch with everyone. The friendships that get deeper and last are the ones where there is some kind of similar connection in hobbies/values/characteristics.
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Absolutely! And having both acquaintances and friends is great. I think for me it’s key to not force things. If a friendship doesn’t form or deepen, it doesn’t mean that this is the end. Sometimes casual contact through Facebook is all that’s in the relationship. Trying to force something more out of it doesn’t make sense to me. And I’ve known my closest friends for years and years. It takes time to grow but a friendship only grows like that if there is enough to build on. Sometimes a travel or holiday isn’t enough for that, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be any contact. If that makes sense. 🙂
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It makes perfect sense, San. And maintaining contact via Facebook leaves the door open to further deepening of the friendship if the universe and circumstances are open to that.
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I also have interesting places planned.. 1 return holiday place which enables deeper friendships and always new places.. Every year I try to visit some new country.. The anticipation is over whelming sometimes.. -)
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Sounds like a good balance between familiar and new! The anticipation is half the adventure 😛
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