I’m not exactly sure how I didn’t end up blogging at all about my last 3 trips–Columbia in late November 2013, a quick getaway to Las Vegas around Christmas 2013 and a long weekend in Fort Myers, Florida in January 2014. It seems a bit overwhelming now to go back and write about all of those experiences but what comes to mind as I think about those trips is the time spent with friends and how that was what made them all so special.
Over the years, I’ve gone from traveling mostly with friends, to traveling mostly alone, and most recently to frequently traveling alone but visiting friends in the places I go. All of those ways of traveling have been wonderful and when I think back about the trips I have taken, usually what I remember most are connections that I’ve made or interactions with old and new friends. Traveling alone is the easiest way to meet new people. When I travel with friends, I get to spend quality time with them in a way that can be hard to do in the normal day to day routines of life at home. And visiting people offers an opportunity to reconnect with wonderful friends that I have made who are living all over the world.
In Colombia, I started out in Bogota, where I stayed at a hostel but spent most of my time with Natalia, a friend that I met here in New York about 2 years ago, who then moved back to her native Colombia about a year before my visit. It was wonderful to see her, and also to have a local’s perspective as I explored the city. Then I headed to Cali, where I stayed with Magda, who I met about 7 years ago when she lived in New York for 5 months studying English. It was so fabulous to reconnect with her, and also to meet and spend time with her mom, a a cousin and some of her friends. It is also such a fabulous experience to stay in somebody’s home and get to experience what daily life is like in other places. I went to the gym with Magda, ate home cooked meals, and went to the supermarket, in addition to doing more typically touristy activities.
Going to Las Vegas was a spontaneous decision, based on the fact that my Turkish friends Ilay and Zeren were already going there on the exact dates that I had off from work around Christmas time. When I was able to find a cheap flight at the last minute, I decided to join them. Las Vegas was never very high on my list of places that I wanted to visit, and if my friends weren’t already going, it never would have occurred to me to go. But the time spent with friends was definitely the highlight of the trip. And we did manage to squeeze out a (very long) day trip to the Grand Canyon, which was absolutely spectacular.
In Fort Myers, I stayed with Macaire, a friend from college. We had lost touch over time but then reconnected a few years ago. Unfortunately, I was sick for the better part of that trip, but it was still great to spend time with her, catch up on our lives, and reminisce. It was also nice to meet her husband Mark, to say nothing of their menagerie of 5 cats and large lapdog, Thunder.
Next up on the agenda are Israel and Turkey in July. While I am excited to return to Israel for the first time in 20 years and to see areas of Turkey that I haven’t been to yet, I am sure that what will stay with me more than anything else will be the experiences that I will share with good friends in both countries. I can’t wait to have some more wonderful adventures!
Fierce Sunflower 