Why you should talk to strangers when you travel

I met Jason in December 2013 while traveling in Bangkok with my cousin and her friend. We were eating pad thai from a street vendor when I heard him converse with somebody in English at a table nearby. Since I’m always intrigued by other Americans while traveling abroad, I said hi and introduced myself. I found out that Jason’s an Air Force pilot who was there as part of a language program.

Jason and I hit it off, and he became our tour guide for the next few days, which was perfect because 1) he had an excellent sense of direction and 2) he spoke Thai. Apparently, speaking Thai is also the key to not getting ripped off by taxi drivers in Thailand: I was complaining to Jason about how the taxi drivers would just quote exorbitant prices for where I want to go when he was like, “What? They just use the meter for me.” I remember being both annoyed and impressed (but mostly annoyed) at the same time. Ever since then he’d always give me a hard time about paying full price for taxis when he’s not around.

Since that trip, we’ve exchanged a handful of e-mails, and met up a couple times when he happened to visit the Bay Area (he lives on the East Coast). We hadn’t kept in touch for about 4 years when he called me out of the blue a few months ago to discuss an entrepreneurial idea he was mulling over. We talked for about 30 minutes and caught up on life, and he e-mailed me some materials to look at.

Last Tuesday he texted me to let me know he will be in town on Wednesday with his family, and was wondering if I might be free for an early lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him, and happily moved a meeting to make it happen. It was wonderful to meet him, his wife, their 4 kids (ages 9, 7, 5, 3), and his mother-in-law for lunch. I had met his wife Courtney and their oldest kid Bryce once before, but it had been a while. Still, conversation over lunch flowed easily, and it was really fun to get to know his whole family.

Friendships like Jason’s are rare, both for how well we get along and how rarely we actually spend time with each other. It also doesn’t fit my conventional idea of what friendships should look like…maybe that’s why it felt magical to meet up after so many years. In the grand scheme of things our lunch last week was just a small snapshot in time, but I’m so grateful I got to connect with him, however brief. Not only did it make the world feel like a smaller place, it also reminded me that we are more connected than we know, and that my next friend could just be a conversation away.