Some people say that the most important part of traveling is not the destination, but the journey itself. It’s how the way we reach the destination. It’s all that we see during the trip. It’s how we enjoy every step we walk. It’s how we color every seconds of it, with lots of laughs or meaningful conversations.
On top of that, a fun travel companion could be a great addition to our journey. Or simply makes it more memorable.
A fun travel companion could be anyone. He could be someone traveling with you since the beginning. He could be someone you met at the airport. He could also be a doctor who accidentally sharing a seat with you on a bus to Phnom Penh.
What makes a fun conversation, fun? It could be anything, like interesting topics, willingness to talk or simply your current mood.
When it comes to talk with stranger, not everyone feels comfort doing it. There’s always resistance to “open” ourselves, even for simple things like telling our first name or where we come from. But a fun travel companion somehow makes us feel safe and comfort finding topics to chat. Then without you even realized, you can hear yourself talking too much about yourself, what brought you to the city, where are you heading to and what do you love about Cambodia.
Discussing current weather could be boring. I know. It never works for me.
You might started the convo by asking the ticket price. But once you feel comfort to chat, the topics could be anything like the movie that being played by the bus operator, what kind of phone do you use or how expensive the hotel rate in Siem Reap. In less than one hour, you found yourself discussing serious things like why did he choose radiology over other specializations or three main problems that most people face at their 30-ish age. Some personal things like why haven’t you married yet, or how do we compromise the peer-pressure stressing us to marry soon.
It was something inside him that made any topics sounds interesting. And a great travel companion like this that makes your short trip even more memorable.
I regret our very short meeting at Tuol Sleng. I should’ve asked for your email.