Old Friends, New Places

Travel is fun. Group travel can be even more fun. But I think my favorite of all might be solo(ish) travel that becomes group travel along the way.

We have been unbelievably lucky on this journey so far, because in all but one stop, we have seen familiar faces everywhere we’ve gone. We saw Colorado friends in London, our home exchange host from 12 years ago in Edinburgh, and in Copenhagen we’ve met up with three separate friend units! First with friends from our Austin days, who we’ve known since Sagan and their oldest were wee little babies. Then with a badass lady a generation up from us who we know through Mike’s mom. She’s been cycling and cruising all over northern Europe for weeks now. And last night, more Colorado friends who used to be our nextdoor neighbors.

Story and Kelli have a shared love of horses and just happened to stumble across this gorgeous guy named Toby on our hike together.

There is something so special about sharing travel experiences with friends and family. As we sat having drinks along the canal in Nyhavn last night, I got a little giggly at how surreal it all was. There was an accordion player walking by and all these different languages being spoken around us, and there we were talking about our kids and dogs and houses back home, just like we would anywhere.

Nyhavn at night.

These two geniuses decided to share a hot dog between dinner and dessert.

The day before, we’d spent a couple hours discovering this gorgeous rooftop deck where our other friend was staying. We opened their bottle of wine and dug into their “food bag” of goodies they’d bought at the corner store.

And reuniting with our friends with kids - kids who we’ve known since they were in diapers - was fun in so many different ways, I can’t even list them all. They told us some of the local history they’d learned in the week before we arrived. Story playfully bickered with their younger boys. The older kids talked about engines and global warming and evil plots to let the canal boats loose from the docks. At the end of the night, an elaborate game of Capture the Flag broke out in the royal gardens.

We will still be seeing more friends along the way, and that is what I look forward to above all else. That’s not to say I’m unenthusiastic about seeing the Eiffel Tower or Parthenon or whatever, but the real reason I love traveling is the people. When familiar people are thrown into the mix, it’s all the more special.

Meeting new friends is pretty special, too.