April 18, 2010
It’s nice to travel with people. For much of this trip I have been alone. I am not lonely, but many, many hours have been spent with little more than the scenery to keep me company. Some nights I get to stay with friends in their homes, in a bed, with a hot shower and a meal accompanied by a napkin. When I’m not that lucky, I have to be aggressive to have company. I have walked up to a table of 3 and asked if I can join them for dinner. Other times I’ll offer to share a bottle of wine or my bounty of food. Being an extrovert on the road takes a lot of work. This past week has been my first opportunity to really travel with friends. As mentioned in my prior posts, I picked up Sally the English surfer in Blenheim and we worked our way down the coast. Her only requirement was that I drop her off in Christchurch on the afternoon of the 14th so she could catch a flight to Auckland. As I mentioned before, in Kaikoura, I made friends with another beautiful surfer girl, Lauren. Lauren, Sally and I got along really well so the idea of traveling together seemed obvious.
Lauren has her own car, “Nitro”—a beat up blue Subaru Legacy hatchback with a spidered windshield and a thick coating of dust. Unlike my luxury accommodations, Lauren lives a more modest traveler’s life. When night falls, she slides her surfboard under the car, lays out a sleeping bag and big blanket and sleeps diagonally across the trunk and a folded down seat. Bags of groceries, toiletries, cookware and clothes all managed to fit in the floor well between the back and front seats. It made me feel silly for having all of my comfort toys. Well, it made me feel silly until nightfall and I retreated to my totally flat bed with sheets and a comforter; then I felt a lot better about it. Either way, Lauren was mobile and excited to travel with us for a few days before she had to meet her friend in Queenstown.
After our time in Kaikoura on the beach, we went to the Hanmer Hot Springs (overrated, expensive tourist trap) and Grey Lake camping area (isolated, quiet and green) as a trio. After Sally was dropped off at the Christchurch airport, Lauren and I stayed in Christchurch (dirty and forgettable) for a night and Lake Tekapu (otherworldly blue water) for another. One really takes for granted the daily social interactions with friends and family. It was so nice to be able to share a joke, prepare a meal together or keep a running conversation. I have really missed that and it wasn’t apparent to me until I had it back. The cliché is that solo travels are to find the things that are missing within, but sometimes what’s missing is external. I don’t mean to say that I was missing friendship before I left, but making fresh connections reminded me how important that bond is in my life. Now that the girls are gone and I’m back on my own, I already miss them.
