Make friends

One of the most important things I've learned about traveling is to talk to people and to make friends. I can't tell you how many times my trip has been saved or started due to the fact that I knew someone in the area.

The first example is when I was 16. My mother and I took a trip to the UK. I had been there once before, but my mom was new to it. We planned a crazy, whirlwind trip from London to Scotland, ending up in Ireland.

We were in Aberdeen Scotland (a great city) and we were trying to figure out how to get from Aberdeen to Holyhead England so that we could get a ferry to Ireland. While we were studying our maps and tour books, a nice English lady struck up a conversation with my mom. When the woman found out about our predicament she offered for us to stay at their house. My mom accepted her offer.

I was mortified. I couldn't believe that my mom would jeopardize her son's safety by staying at a stranger's house. I continued to freak all the way down to Birmingham, England. I was convinced that the elderly couple were going to either kill us or sell us into slavery or something. Needless to say, I was not comfortable.

Of course all my concerns were for naught. Nothing bad happened. Only the opposite actually. I was taught a lot about England (especially during the War) and my eyes were beginning to open to new points of view. It was a great and rewarding experience.

If it hadn't been for that elderly couple, we would probably never had made it to Holyhead, or at least we wouldn't have made our ferry. It just goes to show you the importance of making connections.

Several of my trips owe their awesomeness to the people of the place I was visiting. Another example is of my friend Kenny. He allowed me to crash at his place in Montreal, drove me around to all the cool places in the city and even took me out to steak on my birthday. I had a blast in Montreal. I doubt I would have had half as fun of a time if I had gone around the city by myself. I hadn't intended on staying with him, but he offered and I knew that if I hung out with him I would have a far better time than if I went alone.

I make friends rather easily and I can say that I have friends all over the world. Having this network is great. Not only might I get a place to crash or some great insider tips of a particular city, but I get motivation to go to different places. If I hadn't known my friend Tiffany, I probably would never have gone to the Philippines. But I did meet her and I'm glad I did. Not only is she a great friend, but she inspired me to visit her country and I'm better for having done so. I learned a lot about a place I knew little of previous to my venture there and on top of that, my perspective on life changed just a little bit more. Also, I got to eat so much good food with her and her family. I still crave this one dish her dad made. Man was it good.

What I'm trying to say is: make friends! Network network network! A friend may not be able to give you a place to stay, but they could tell you where to go and what to do, or give you good places to eat and where to avoid. They could merely tell you about their city or country and thus inspire you to travel there. They could forever alter your life by merely telling you about their native lands. So get out there and make friends. There's no such thing as having "too many friends".

Also, turn it around. Open your place up to your friends you meet. Offer them the chance to visit your hometown. If you can't do that, give them info and inspiration. I always tell my friends "You have a couch in Memphis." And I mean that. If they ever come to where I'm living, they can crash with me. I will always open my door to friends. It's hard sometimes, but I know that they may very well help me out someday in the future.

Use common sense of course. If you get a weird vibe or don't know the person very well go to a hostel. I seem to have a pretty decent gut feeling and I do well when I follow it.

Now, I'm not saying just make friends so that you can crash somewhere for free. Sure it's an added bonus, but it's not the primary objective. For me, I want to learn as much as I can about the world and the many cultures found throughout its diverse landscape. I make friends and that makes me want to visit them and to see their country (or state). If they offer to put me up, I go for it, but I always try to not overstay my welcome. That's an important thing, not overstaying your welcome. I try to keep my trips limited to a week, no more than that or my friends will start getting tired of me (it's hard with my winning personality though).

To my friends; thanks for everything. You have all enriched my life and got me to experience really cool things. I hope I can do for you or others in the future.

My last bit of advice is to pay it forward. If someone opened up their place for you while you explored their city, do the same for them. Or if they don't come to see you, open your place up to another friend. Keep in mind "Whatever goes around comes around.

Montreal

Well today is my last day here in Montreal. I've had a really good albeit short trip. I actually made contact with an old friend who lives here shortly before leaving. I ended up staying at his place and without him, I doubt I would have had as great of a trip.

One thing about this trip is that nothing has really gone right. It's not a bad thing, but most of our plans went awry. First off, my plane from Atlanta to Montreal was delayed. There was a gate change and then no one really knew what time it was going to depart or when it would arrive. Finally about 30 minutes late the plane leaves. Once I met up with my friend we headed back to his house only to encounter construction and confusing detours. After about an hour we finally made it back to his place.

The next day my friend, his girl friend and myself went to the Tibetan restaurant that was mentioned in the last post. We work our way through China town and even more detours and we cruise around the block a couple times before finding a decent parking place. We arrive at the restaurant to find it closed due to an emergency. So after a quick walk around we choose a sandwich shop called Dagwood's. It's not too bad, but there is nothing really worthy of writing. After Dagwood's my friend and I headed to the old part of Montreal. There we saw the Basilique Notre-Dame. It was nice, but we encountered another problem: the area in front of the chapel was under construction, limiting good photography spots. I did manage a few good shots though. We bought tickets for the evening light show and then embarked on some souvenir shopping. I picked up some hockey shirts for myself and my roommate. I also got my girl friend some nice Canadiana stuff. I also toured the riverfront area and got some really nice pictures.

Evening brought poutine. Poutine is a really simple dish and I'm very surprised we don't have it in the United States, something I want to change. It's french fries with gravy and chunks of white cheddar cheese. It makes for an awesome side dish or meal. I first had it in Toronto a few years back and had it once in Memphis (not very good I might add). What I had here though was awesome. I chose to get something a little different and opted for the Italian poutine. It basically substitutes tomato sauce for the gravy. It was nevertheless great. After dinner my friend and I headed back to the Basilique Notre-Dame. We watched our show and I took some shots of the Basilique. We left the building and I, feeling a bit thirsty and unwilling to give up the chance to enjoy some Canadian beer, asked to find a nice quiet bar in order to enjoy some beer. We found a place nearby and grabbed a couple beers. I had a nice dark ale, unfortunately I forget the name of it. The company was called Sleeman's though. If you ever have the chance you should try it. I asked the waiter if I could buy a glass to take home as I collect them and was told no. I unfortunately felt back to steal one even though he said it was ok. I left empty handed.

Saturday saw a late start. I was perfectly happy with that as I was tired and the whole point of this trip was to relax, which I did. We went for a late lunch to Schwartz's deli. It's famous for smoked meat sandwiches. I got a large plate which was a bit too much food for me, but it was pretty good. I was a bit surprised at the mild taste of the meat. I was expecting something more flavorful. I still enjoyed though. Be prepared to stand in line for a long while. We waited for about 30-45 minutes just to get a seat. We then headed to the Montreal Botanic Gardens. I've been to botanic gardens in the past, but this was definitely one of the best I've ever been too. They had a very large green house filled with various plants from around the globe and an insectarium. I found both very interesting. They also had a Japanese garden and a Chinese garden. Both were very nice and peaceful allowing for more relaxation. The Japanese garden was particularly nice as the last one I had been to in the Philippines left something to be desired. I really felt like I was back in Japan at some points. The evening finished with a great steak dinner at Baton Rouge. This place is classy and a bit expensive. Steaks range from $24 to $32. But they rock and are well worth the money. The only bad thing was that they seemed to run out of stuff fairly early. I originally wanted the prime rib, but had to get a sirloin instead. One of my friends wanted seafood linguini but they were out of the red sauce. A quick ride after dinner and we were at our last stop for the night: The Comedy Nest. It was a pretty cool place. The drinks were slightly above average for bars, but pretty decent on their booze level. The opening act/host was really funny as was the second act. The third act was sadly from the US and wasn't as funny as the others. Her stuff mainly revolved around sex jokes and race jokes. It was nothing I hadn't heard from junior high school students. The headliner was awesome. He was very funny and did some great stuff. If you ever get to see Winston Spear, you should.

Today was another slow start. Again I just rested up and got ready to return home. We ate a great breakfast at Tutti Frutti and are now back at my friend's house preparing to go to the airport.

All in all the trip has been awesome. One complaint that I have is that I brought too much money. I didn't come close to spending everything at all. Oh well. I guess it's better to have too much than not enough.

And that wraps up this adventure.