BFFs or Best Friends in Travel

After two long weeks of "backpacking" (or should I say roller bagging?) across France and Italy, all I can say is this: thank god for new best friends. I mean seriously, you meet the most random assortment of people traveling. So while the sights and scenery in France and Italy may have been epic . . . I think the people were the best part of the trip.

At my third hostel, I met a girl named Amy who is also in Europe studying abroad and who goes to school near my hometown. I met two boys on a bus who are studying abroad in Coppenhagen and go to Vandy. Turns out they were essentially on the same trip as me, right down to the hostels where unbeknown to us we had been neighbors for two stops. Soulmates? I think yes. Then there were the super friendly and helpful (also protective) Brazilian boys studying in Ireland. They helped us get on the right bus to our hostel in Venice and kept any sketchy people away from us. Oh the Brazilian boys. They also had really nice balance standing on the bus. So helpful. On one train, I met a really nice Swiss girl who is going to med school and who translated the Italian train announcements into English for us! In Florence, I met a cute couple from NY in the hostel who gave us tips about the city and shared funny travel stories about Rome with us. The guy looked JUST like Kurt from Glee. So much that I think I stared a bit. At the same hostel, I met the professional American football player in a Spanish league who was from Boston, went to Harvard, and is visiting my hometown this summer for a music festival. Turns out we know some of the same people at my college. Again, like all the others, he was so friendly and funny and had some great tips about things to go and places to stay.

I mean literally everywhere I went on spring break there was some fascinating person to talk to whether it was the Nigerian man who sat next to me in the airport coming home and then on the plane who is getting is masters in Glasgow to the girl studying in Stirling who is planning a visit to St A's. People. . . they make travel fun! They also make sure I get off the right bus, on the correct train, and avoid the bad parts of town.