Backpacking with Julia
While Julia and I have been together for over a couple years and taken some brief vacations, this trip is by far the longest. Spending this much one on one time together has taught us a lot about each other, and also pointed out some funny differences. Julia seems to have perfected the art of traveling during her yearlong backpacking trip through Central America and Asia. While I have also done quite a bit of traveling, this is one of my first times where I have had to carry everything I need to survive on my back for several months at a time. At the beginning of the trip I found myself turning my backpack inside out every time I needed to find something. On the other hand, Julia has her backpack clearly organized with a special compartment for each item. Whenever I ask her for sunscreen or even a piece of paper and a pen, she knows exactly where to look and can pull it out in less than 10 seconds, while the same task would have taken me at least 10 minutes.
Most people that know Julia have seen her amazing planning skills in action, and she is no different while traveling. For example, it typically takes me a minute or two to find the page I need in our travel guidebook (The Lonely Planet), but somehow it only takes Julia one or two seconds. She seems to have the book memorized and I guess her color coded tags help.
I have also recently noticed how much more social Julia is than me, and I think her parents must have forgotten to warn her about the dangers of “talking to strangers” as a child. On some stretches of this trip we have gone for days without seeing other backpackers, so when we do, Julia wastes no time in striking up a conversation even if it is 4am at the bus station. On the other hand, talking to other backpackers has turned out to be one of the best sources of information while traveling and we have been given some great tips on places to stay to sites to visit from travelers coming in the opposite direction.
While I am quickly climbing the backpacking learning curve, it’s comforting for now to be traveling with an expert.
-Chris
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