The road they travel is important “because every step brings us closer towards encountering the other. That is why we are on the road in the first place.”
A quote from The Other – Ryszard Kapuscinski, which summarises my travelspirit. I promised months ago to write about this book, but it was only traveling myself again (finally), that I found the words.

One part about traveling is ofcourse seeing the beautiful landscapes and cities, seeing it for yourself… But to me the essence about traveling is about the people I meet. The reason to travel somewhere is almost always to meet a friend and visit his home country. But I have rarely left on a trip to meet a friend, without meeting someone, with whom I became ‘friends’ and visit this person a next time. The reason I want to travel is not just to find my next traveldestination, it is the meeting itself, the unexpectedness of the meeting, the new insights, views.

As a traveler you seem to have some kind of priviliege to talk to anyone, on the street, on the bus, at the trainstation, in a bar. Sometimes to ask the way to the trainstation, but more often just to get to know the other a little bit. The first question seems to be very often: Where are you from? (which is ofcourse not as easy as it sounds). Co-travelers will be more than happy to talk, because they are also on the road. But even locals will open up easily, much easier than if you had been a Local Stranger. As if Foreign Strangers are more harmless than the person you don’t know who lives next door.

It would be interesting to find a way to use this innocent approach to the other for people in your own community. But in the meantime, I try to keep this travelspirit, meeting people I don’t know, by hosting travelers through couchsurfing. It’s amazing how many people from really all over the world contacted me within a week, asking to surf my couch. You really have to be carefull not to become a budget hotel, or actually a free hotel, but it keeps you on the road, even being at home!