Making Friends Quickly
Galapagos Island
December 2002
I have just returned from a trip to Galapagos Islands. I am
talking to my friends about the trip and they are amazed that I traveled here
alone.
“Were you afraid,”
one of them asked me.
“Of what,” I wanted to know. This question always took me by
surprise. It stuns me how much fear people conjure up in their own minds.
‘I don’t know. What if you didn’t meet anybody? What if you
need help? Who did you eat with? Are you lonely,” several of them blurted questions
to me.
“No.” I responded to these questions as if they were stupid
questions. “No, when I travel I always meet people. People around the world are
very gregarious. That’s the least of my problems”.
“What do you mean? Did
you meet people on this trip? How long did it take you to meet people?”
“Yes, immediately. I wasn’t even out of the airport and I
had friends. We just got off the plane and a group of us were standing around.
A woman came up to me and asked if I knew where the luggage was. I told her I hadn’t
seen yet. She asked me if I was going on our ship to the Galapagos. I told her yes. She asked me if I was
traveling alone and I told her yes. Then she asked me my name and called her friends
and said ‘hey guys this is Bridget. She’s traveling by herself. I told her she
could hang with us’”.
Her friends greeted me. We grabbed our luggage and headed to
the bus which took us to our boat. Lunch was waiting for us when we arrived. My
six new friends grab a table. Three on each side. They called for me to join
them.
“No I don’t want to
crowd you,” I tell. “I’ll find another table.”
One woman insists and calls the waiter over and tells him, ‘seven
of us will be eating here every night. Could you please make sure the table is
set for the seven of us?’ And that is
right where I ate for the rest of my trip.”
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