November 24, 2019 – Plan With Friends

THE THOMS SUNDAY TRAVEL SECTION

WHERE TO?                       TASTE.                        SEE

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend – Robert Louis Stevenson.

Travels Abroad

I was sitting with a group of people the other night. As the night progressed, and people moved around, I began talking to one particular gentleman.

I worked on Queen Elizabeth 2. He also had been on that ship. I was there in 1987. He was there at the same time. I was a social director. When he told me his position onboard, the floodgates of memories came washing in.

I knew this person, we had many social interactions on a daily basis. We went on as if it was just yesterday, although the 32 years in between had altered our appearances “slightly.”

For those of you scrambling to do the math, yes, I was seven years old at the time.

Earlier this year, I ran into a fellow crew member from the S.S. Rotterdam (1989) and the same thing despite 30 years between meetings.

In early spring, I met up with a friend I met at camp 41 years ago. A traveling camp on buses.

Those who know me, or follow this blog, know I am a big fan of “memories” over “stuff”. Our junkyards are full of people’s “stuff.”

Personal Travels

looking at your life, it’s a book that writes a new page every day. I hope it’s incredible reading.

The early chapters, where your travels went to the playground or the ice cream store.

Further plot development came in the next chapters. Trips to school, school trips, and maybe summer camps. Remember talking by the fire?

Our “worlds” began to grow as we had different classmates each year. Some people were part of after-school activities. I went to swimming classes at the Y.M.C.A and only remember one person there being from my school. It was not a trip across continents, but it was a trip into a new world.

Remember that person you hung out with after school? The people you went on spring break with? Was there a pen pal from camp?

Chances are, you still remember a face or an incident from those early days.

Now, how many of your art projects, toys, Tiger Beat posters or walkmans do you have from the same period?

Separation Variety

Then you left home for college, the service or maybe a job. You traveled across town, or maybe to a different state or country. Far away places with strange-sounding names.

What is the name of your first roommate or friend in your new location?

Remember your freshman year and that crazy person in the dorm?

What do you remember from freshman chemistry?

Finally, Friday night would roll around. What was the activity? A college party, or a late-night movie?

Did you go out for a $4 value meal? Remember dancing at the club before 9:00 when they started charging admission?

What did you wear for these outings? You must remember, you just HAD to have it.

Travels in our Own Back Yard.

I won’t look any further than my own back yard – Dorothy Gale.

But you do not need to take a bus, a train or a plane, to meet new friends? A trip to a store or a walk in the park just might be hiding a new friend.

Is there a place you go where everybody knows your name?

A coffee shop, a restaurant, or a mom and pop store?

I have restaurants I return to, not because they have the best food in town, but there’s the human element. I feel like part of the “mix.”

And that’s not just in my backyard. There are places all over the world I return because the “place” is a friend.

Maybe it’s a cafe, but it may be a whole neighborhood or maybe an entire town.

That campground or cottage your family went to each summer. Is it a tent or the half-burnt, half-raw meals over a fire you remember? Or the time with family, friends and new friends?

When you go to your childhood town, is it to visit stuff, ribbons, and awards in the attic?

Or is it part a stroll down memory lane?

Reach Out and Touch Someone.

There was a time you could sing that phrase on TV, now I tremble just writing it.

Do you ever stop and think about ol what’s-their-name?

You were best friends in school. You did that cross-country trip one summer or you hiked around after graduation.

They started working at the same first job you did. You would go out for a pizza on Friday nights if you had any money left over.

Where are they now?

In this day and age of instant “knowledge,” you have very few excuses not to know.

It’s time to let your fingers do the walking.

Where in the World Is… 

Are they across town? Meet for a coffee or other beverage.

Are they one town away? Meet halfway for lunch.

Are they in a different state or country? Is it one you want to visit? (hint hint).

I know someone who just met some friends from college at a major amusement “world” near Orlando Florida.

After 30 years apart, they began right where they left off.

I began the year with a “resolution” to have mini-reunions with as many people as I could.

The beginning of the year was amazing. I saw people from my high school days, college days, and days at sea.

Then the year began filling up and I am going into the last month short of my goal.

Next Year, PLAN to See France But See Friends. 

Anymore, I have to plan things if they are going to happen. Trips back home, trips to the grocery store, and sometimes even trips to the kitchen.

Make contact and plan to get together now. While your calendar still has white space on it. When plane tickets are almost affordable this far in advance.

When it is in writing, it just seems to have a better success rate. Non-refundable tickets also support that.

It does not have to be a class reunion. Go to a ball game.

Keep it small but make it happen.

Harry Chapin explained where the expression “we’ll get together then. You know we’ll have a good time then,” leads.

Take A Tip, Take a Trip

You deserve a trip down memory lane. Don’t text, don’t e.mail but pour yourself a beverage and sit down with your phone and call a friend.

Long-distance calls are only for emergencies and holidays no longer holds water.

Then plan to walk down a new lane creating new memories.

In a coffee shop, or at a kitchen table, either one works.

Supersize it and meet for a meal or at a different location.

If it’s still there, go to the malt shop where so many plans for your future began.

Revisit the town where you went for spring break. If there are more than four of you, get additional rooms this time.

But do it. Do it today.

There is a period of gift-giving coming up. Give someone a trip with a friend, or a trip to see a friend.

Don’t forget to give yourself a gift.

“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make today worth remembering.” – Prof. Harold Hill.

So get out there and “travel.”

Meet old friends and make new ones. They are the greatest tchotchke you will bring back from a trip.

Happy Travels.

“See the World” Continued on Page T3          “Taste the World” Continued on T11

PLEASE scroll down to the “Leave a Reply” section at the bottom and tell me your thoughts on: 

“Where would you like to go with a friend? Is it a new place or a familiar old one?” 

Please help me spread the news by rating, commenting, and sharing this blog. – THANKS!