One of the nicest things about staying in hostels when traveling is meeting so many different people. Sadly, most of these meetings tend to be like “ships that pass in the night” – never to be seen again.
Yet it is not always the case. We have just had the pleasure of hosting four young Swedish backpackers who met in Austin Texas, of all places! They were two groups of travelers who were not acquainted with each other until they arrived at the same hostel in the Lone Star State!
Each pair had been traveling by car throughout the U.S.A. and met in an Austin, Texas hostel. It was by mere chance that the two pairs of Swedes met at all. They became friends in a brief period finding comfort in their cultural similarities.
Then the two pairs parted ways – one heading east; one west. Both traveled extensively throughout the United States one visiting the deep south; places with names like Chatanooga and Biloxi. The second pair took a far different route exploring another part of the vast North American Continent.
So the four new friends continued their separate journeys like “ships that pass in the night” probably never to meet again, but with memories safely banked. But the world in the 21st Century is really changing. It is much smaller today! The two pairs of Swedes drove thousands of miles in different directions.
Purely by chance, in this “smaller world”, both pairs of Swedes made their way to the Canadiana in Toronto this week arriving at our hostel in Toronto within one hour of each other and rekindled their brief friendship that began weeks ago so far away. Some things it seems are just meant to be.
I remember these guys!
Hope they’re having fun on their travels.