Travel Companion.....

Lee - I HATE you!

I couldn't put it down either - and simply dn't have time to read it all today.
Uproarious :>))

I'm pretty much with Canayjun. I am fine on my own, and when I have company need time and space to do my own thing.

That link is great Lee...very funny story.

Spent two hours reading it.....impossible to put down..

Edited by: bokajo

Quite entertaining. Just as entertaining are the comments of those who identified with the divas. lol

Why would you want to hear the same stoties from a travel albatross?

Started reading Barb's story, and somehow, I don't always sympathise wth her.
I tok two people (one I had met twice, and his sister whom I had never met, and shared rooms with) to Solomon Islands last year. I was the so-called "expert", but my two companions could not have been easier to get along with.
They were happy to do and see anything on offer. I took them to where they could climb a volcano (No way I could do that, but I was happy to stay at the lodge while they climbed). They got to see things (like a squatter village) they would never have seen without my local knowledge, but hey were great to travel with.

This whole thread has led to some introspection!

Recent irritation has been a travel companion who drops me like a rock when there is someone around with whom she can practise her Spanish! Both of us are experienced travellers, so I would just leave her to chat, and move on. Sometimes I would be caught in a long drive in a car with this happening, but, kicking and screaming, realize that my listening Spanish was getting better, and would interrupt occasionally to get a translation.Generally, I would remind myself that I'm sure that I must be bugging her in some way, so let it go! I'm not really sure if I want to travel with her again, though.

Four friends joined me in Oaxaca last winter but they stayed in the hotel next door. The one fellow in the group amused me when, at the beginning, he would try to direct us, generally in the opposite direction. By the end of their time with me, and when he did get his bearings a bit better, figured he had some need to fill by "being the boss", so let him do so. And, the other day, ran into someone else who I had met up with in Oaxaca who expressed appreciation of having someone around who knew their way around so well, and shared this info with them. Being mostly a solo traveller myself, in many cases, I just pointed out many things, and let them explore on their own.

I did read Barb's story (later that day, tried to figure out where the day had gone - then remembered!!!), and while sympathetic at the beginning, also found myself thinking she was a bit of a control freak. However, I doubt if she will make the same errors of judgement if she should ever contemplate travelling with others again, namely being more forthright about her needs, both before and during the trip. I do think she was broadsided by thinking that she had planned, and therefore others should follow.

Many years ago, I had someone want to join me at the last minute on my trip to Guatemala where I had thought it would be my first solo trip. It was a disaster, and to this day, we no longer speak to one another. At the same time, I will be joining a friend I met years ago in India on a birding trip to Africa. We recently travelled together in Texas, and it must have been okay for her, as she agreed to travel with me again!!

{quote:title=canayjun wrote:}{quote}
go2... i think you have said it in a nutshell... independent travellers CAN travel best together because neither 'needs' the other, and traavelling together with a like minded person can be a lot of fun.

I think maybe because when independent travellers travel together it is always on a temporary basis. Temporary might last a day, week or longer. But when it's no longer what either person wants then they are solo travellers and go their separate ways. No need to get into a state of not talking, cannot watch them eat, all such things are unnecessary as both people are independent and can happily go back to being independent.

A long trip with some travel companions is like studying personality disorders
while confined to a penal institution.