Traveling Alone, You Never Know Who You Might Meet

When I was about 15 years old, I took part in a two week audio-visual children's workshop with a friend of mine from school called Wangari.
There were of course loads of other kids from different schools, different backgrounds but unfortunately I really did not get to know any of them.
From the moment I knew Wangari would be there as well, that sealed the deal for me. I had no use for other people, I already had a friend.
So I just skipped that whole awkward phase of trying to get to know other people. I would just be silent and passive in group sessions, then the moment I was with Wangari, I'd say all the things I had been thinking and wishing I could tell someone.

Fast forward...
A few weeks ago, I was in Warsaw all on my own. No Wangari to be my company. What to do?! I looked up a couple of free and cheap touristy things to do...perhaps learn something about the history of the city and see all the important sites. At the hostel where I stayed, I came across a flier of a walking tour of the market square in the city centre...these are traditionally the oldest and most beautiful parts of Polish cities so I thought that would be a great way to spend a few hours. The other great thing about these tourist activities is that you get to meet other foreigners as well, because locals would generally not be attending tours of their own home ground, now would they?

So there we were, me on my own, a couple of groups of people, and a few other lone travelers...of course I went up to one of the lone travelers and made friends.
(You would be amazed the boost of confidence it gives when you know the likelihood of ever meeting these people again is one in seven billion, heh heh)
Besides jokes are always funnier when you can laugh with someone else...beats saying them in your head and then smiling suspiciously, so I had to find a companion!

After the walking tour, we had lunch then visited a museum.

Roderick(the other lone tourist) and I had this conversation about traveling alone. Sometimes you just want to be alone with your thoughts but apart from that, you really never know who you might meet. Sometimes you meet people, and are with them for the shortest of times, perhaps just a day, but you just connect on a whole other level and it feels like you have known them for years and years.
You might find they awaken an interest within you that lay latent, or they suggest a solution that seems perfect for something you have been struggling with for a while...or perhaps they just give you that one day of company amidst a week of solitary travel...
Whatever the case, your paths cross for only an instant, but in the long run this instant comes to mean a lot.
More often than not, since the setting within which you meet is 'on the road', it is unlikely that your paths shall ever cross again, but at least you had the time you did have. Swap Facebook user-names and keep on moving.

You know what, we really are all the same, regardless of who we are, where we are from, what we do for a living, what our dreams and ambitions are, we really are all just the same.
Traveling alone really puts that into perspective.