When I first
visited the USA four years ago, I noticed a trend. When meeting any
new American woman, within five minutes I would invariably be asked,
“Do you surf?”
Growing up in
small country towns up to 500 kilometres (~300 Miles) away from the
nearest coastline, surfing was not something I often had the chance
to do, and by the time I did live somewhere coastal, the closest
beach was St Kilda, which has about as many waves as your average
coffee cup.
The problem I had
was that the look of disappointment on the faces of these American
women was hard to take. I was shattering their image of what an
Australian man really was. I guess not being six feet tall and having
long blonde hair played a part, but the no surfing thing certainly
helped.
I've realised
recently though, that I'm actually somewhat of a surfing champion.
While throwing on a wetsuit and running out to the waves with a board
may never happen regularly for me, I've found something else I love
to surf: couches.
Poutine; one of the things from Canada I missed the most
Anyone paying
attention will note that I haven’t added to this blog in well over
a month. What have I been doing in that time? I've been travelling
through Canada and the USA meeting up with old friends, going to my
favourite bars and eating all of my favourite food all over again. In
short, nothing remotely new. Unlike while in India and Burma, I
haven't been discovering new cultures, cuisines, cities and people.
I've gone back to a bunch of places that I'd already discovered.
While this may not
seem like the greatest use of my time (and limited money) while out
of the country for a year, it has reminded me of the number one
reason I love to travel – meeting and becoming genuine friends with
people in other countries.
In the two months
since I left India (including my time in the UK, Spain and Sweden)
I've been fortunate enough to be welcomes into the homes of many
different people. These people vary greatly in their backgrounds as
well as my level of familiarity with them before coming into their
homes.
My second time at the Daily Show
I've been hosted
by not only my sister and some great friends who've hosted me
numerous times before, but also people whom I've not seen in up to
seven years, and others that were probably best described as “friends
of friends” that welcomed me as though we'd been close forever.
I have also used
the official Couch Surfing website where I've stayed with people who
were literally strangers before staying with them, but for the most
part I've stayed with people I've met through my network of
travelling friends. To put it into perspective, in the 64 days I've
spent in Europe and North America since leaving India, I've spent
just 10 nights in paid accommodation, and only two nights since
arriving in North America six weeks ago.
A group of my friends in Montreal, Canada
To me that says a
lot about the welcoming and kind nature of the people I've met in my
last eight years of travelling, and one of the reasons its going to
be so difficult to let go of this lifestyle I the future.
While I may not be
discovering any new cities just now, it has been far from boring.
Reconnecting with people I haven't seen in years is as much of a
reward as seeing a great monument for the first time. Just as those
said monuments have stood the test of time, so too do many of these
friendships.
And hey, some
things do change. When an American girl asks me if I surf these
days, I answer with a firm “Yes, of course”.