Faraway Friends


      https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1pt1O98NzW3-qGd2WNuQfOZU2BCK0Tlvg


One of the benefits of travel is that I get to meet faraway friends. Every time I travel I meet at least one new friend. When I was in Santorini, I met two nice Filipina ladies traveling together. One was a local from Athens, Greece and the other one was from Canada. They have become my Facebook friends since then. 

I flew straight to New York from my Venice/Santorini trip and from there took the taxi to New Jersey to start a new life there. Soon, I learned through Facebook that two of my schoolmates from high school live not too far from me, one in New Jersey and the other one in New York. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1gPyGq8HzumSec_EUZlNIiy_LfUxXP8Cr


We got together eventually. It was strange in a good way. I have not seen them since I was in high school in the Philippines, so it was like I was getting to know them again, but at the same time it was like we picked up where we left off. I didn’t get the chance to see Brooklyn Bridge the first time I was in New York and I wanted to see it at night, so they took me to see it. They treated me to dinner and some drinks. We had a chance to catch up and reminisce about old times.
     https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Xo6gjgz1FekK04KWzhNivUoSc8x9w4eb

I never expected to see them again after all these years. It is a mystery to me how the world that seems so big can also be so small. There is a quote that goes, “You never really travel alone. The world is full of friends waiting to get to know you.” I’m so lucky ― not only do I get to meet new friends, but I also get to meet old friends again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hello

Image
About 2 weeks ago, as I was doing my regular walk on the sand, this kid, out of the blue, said hello to me. I was surprised. He is probably between 5-6 years old. I was surprised because normally, when people say something to me, they say it in Bulgarian. They assume because I’m here I speak the language. So, how could this kid assume that I speak English? A little over a week ago, it happened again. The kid said hello to me again. My curiosity was killing me. I thought of asking where they are from on my way back. I saw them sitting on the sand, farther from the water, where I was walking barefooted. I switched my direction towards them. And they knew, the two dads, I was approaching them. They started to smile as they watched me walk closer to them. I felt a little nervous. I was gonna do it anyway. I said, “Hi, I was just wondering, where are you guys from? Are you from the US or from UK? I asked because it was the second time your son said hello to me. Usually, they talk to me in B...
Read more

Christmas in November

Image
When I left New Jersey and went back to California, it hurt my relationship with my boyfriend to a point where he stopped answering my calls. Eventually, I gave up trying. This is why they say long distance relationship never works. I had a dilemma. My vacation has already been approved by my employer and I had already bought a non-refundable ticket long before all these happened. I decided to just go and see what happens even though we haven’t spoken for months. I thought I would give it one last chance.  Since I was not sure what was waiting for me when I got to New Jersey, I needed a plan B. What would I do during that long weekend all by myself in case he refused to see me? It was that time of the year when they light the tree in New York City, the  lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Plaza which happens the wee...
Read more

“If It’s Not This, It’s Something Else”

Image
“If it’s not this, it’s something else.” I heard that from the movie, Elizabethtown, before and I have been thinking about it lately.  I have been thinking about it lately because the reason why I chose Sunny Beach is because it’s a walkable place. I wanted to be car free. I was tired of my car problems in the past. The first time I went swimming at the beach, I hurt my foot. It was not severe. I just have mild discomfort. Still, I have to be careful when I walk, so it won’t get worse. It’s a little bit swollen. It made me think of “If it’s not this, it’s something else” because I don’t have car problems anymore, but now I have a walking problem instead. The second time I went swimming, I noticed that the water made my foot feel better. It made the pain go away. It happened again the third time, so I decided to walk on the sand daily. I thought maybe, it would completely heal the pain. I started yesterday and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s one of those things that you do that yo...
Read more