One of the nice things about traveling is that every trip
offers opportunities to make new friendships or nurture old ones--if you make
it a priority and take the time. You could ask an old friend to travel with you
or simply engage in conversation with a potential new friend you meet across
the aisle on a plane.
You can rekindle an old friendship by making plans to meet
someone from your past who lives en route or at your destination (perhaps
someone you knew from childhood or college).Or you can take a chance and catch
up with someone you only knew virtually.
Every connection starts with one person being brave enough
to make a move---to take the initiative and hope the other person will respond
in kind. As scary as it might feel at the moment you do it, it usually works.
Last weekend, I was visiting family in Westlake
Village, California and took advantage
of a serendipitous opportunity to meet Victoria Clayton-Alexander,
another writer whom I knew lived just a few blocks away. I invited her to visit
me at their home and a few hours later, she arrived with a smile on her face
and a box of yummy Italian pastries. We all sat around the kitchen island drinking
coffee and the conversation flowed effortlessly. I soon realized that she and I
had many more connections than our writing.
High on that experience, a few days later when I got to a meeting in Phoenix, I emailed another writer I had only
known virtually before. Jackie Dishner, a fellow member of the American Society of
Journalists and Authors, responded enthusiastically and was willing to meet at
my hotel. We were soon sitting on lawn chairs drinking iced tea in the warm Arizona sun while we
exchanged stories about our work and our lives.
Yes, instead of making these connections, I could have
visited another museum, spent more time with my husband, gone shopping, or
fallen into the trap of staying on top of my email in my hotel room, but these
brief interludes turned out to be amongst the most memorable of my trip---and I
have every hope that the friendships will be lasting ones.
Do you have any stories of travel and friendship to share?
Have friends enhanced your travel or has travel enhanced your friendships?
| 
