The Travel Criteria, part 2

“Real talk,” Jason said, as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop, “how was the Portland trip for you?”

We had just gotten back from a rainy weekend trip to Portland. It was our first time traveling together, delayed one and half years due to Covid; we had originally planned to go to Portland in April 2020 (surely the pandemic will be over by then, right?).

“Good,” I said, a bit surprised at his question since we already talked about how I had super low expectations given the weather. Still, we had some good food, saw some waterfalls, and had a generally chill time. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, just ‘cause I know you can be…particular.”

I chuckled a bit to myself. Yeah, he was right, but I’ve also mellowed out a bit in my old age.

Jason and I had met pre-Covid at the work Christian club, and we became friends shortly afterwards when he started coming to my church and community group. We had bonded over conversations on faith, work, adult friendships, and potential pitfalls of traveling with friends. Jason picked up the conversation again this week, while we’re traveling together in Hawaii. “It’s quite a leap of faith for you to travel with me for a week,” he said. “How do you know we won’t hate each other by the end of the trip?”

I laughed, “In general, I think that if I’m friends with you, it means that I’ll be fine traveling with you.”

“That’s not true,” he countered. “Not all friends make good travel companions.”

“Yeah, fair,” I conceded. “What I meant was that if I’m friends with you, I’ll know whether we’re compatible travel partners.”

He agreed. It is funny that Jason was more concerned about traveling together than I was, although I think that just means I have more faith in our friendship than he does. 😂 Seriously though, my general philosophy is to lean into opportunities to travel with friends, because it’s also an opportunity to get to know them better. Sure, there will probably be conflict since that’s what happens when you’re in close proximity with people for extended periods of time, but I just see conflict as part and parcel to any friendship you care about. So even if Jason and I end up hating each other by the end of the week, it’s probably a risk worth taking. 😂😂😂 (I mean, not really, but I presume we’ll be adult enough to resolve the conflict, especially given that he knows how “particular” I am or whatever.)

Who else wants to travel with me? 😂