Profiling

When I stayed two nights in a regular hotel for lack of availability at hostels, I did not meet a soul. My aloneness was announced at breakfast. There were name placecards. Not being use to elegance or service, I sat down at the wrong table. Quickly the kitchen was alerted!! I was guided to another table and the 2nd place setting whisked away.  

BRANDED that I was the only non-couple in the hotel!! 


This is the reason I stay at hostels. One meets others. It may be a simple conversation in the common area or getting to know better those who linger a few days. 


I do things I would never do in America. NEVER. Last night, while eating a half-salad with roasted vegetables and drinking a liter of beer, I noticed a man close to the age back in the day. I could tell he was not Slovene. Perhaps American? After an hour of observation (he could not see me), I went up and started a conversation. It lasted two hours. He wasn't American but from the Netherlands and travels to the US on business.

Traveling makes one accessible, out of need and challenge. Traveling provides opportunity to exercise my risk factor.


People Rundown

20 year old who has papers from three countries. Born in Germany, moved to Australia. Parents divorced. His dad is American. What a pleasant young man.


Aging hippie couple have traveled hostel and camping style all their married life. Raised three children and have grandchildren. He is a musician. She a nurse.


A recent graduate who is a water engineer, applied to Peace Corps and waiting. Nerdy and smart.

A German engineer in his thirties who worked and lived in Shanghai for two years. World traveled. Jolly German guy who consults.


Four girls from Hong Kong. I don't know what they said but we kept running into one another.


Young woman from Switzerland who works at a group home for the mentally disabled. We shared dinner and wine. 

A young man in his mid 20s from Serbia. He went to school in Santa Barbara his last two years of high school. He mentioned Isla Vista where there are many apartment buildings. I lived there when attending UCSB. 

A note about Serbia... there are many children born of Serbian mothers who do not know their fathers, a result of war years. I met another young woman, the same, who wants to search for her father.


A bright lit-up young girl from Canada who sparkles as she walks. Trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. Travel is teaching her about people and self. She wears the pride of a young woman who is becoming. She has two degrees but has the sparkle of a 16 year old.

Met a Canadian older couple who travel with their fold-up bikes. We met on a path. If I had seen them elsewhere, I would never guess they travel in such a light and outdoor manner. Of course, when a couple leaves me, I hear the woman say to the husband, she is traveling alone...

RED BULL MAN - not someone I met but to ad-happy Americans, his method of business is unusual. He's Austrian and the company is outside Salzburg. I passed the company complex four times. There is not one sign that even shows the name of the company at the entrance. The owner is a Taurus; thus, the red bull logo.


Former Prime Minister of Slovenia - I saw him closeby when I was on the city free tour. He walks alone with cell phone to his ear. No body guards or entourage. He was the man elected in the transition of 1991 when the country gained independence. (former Yugoslavia to Slovenia) He is pictured with political heavy-weights. Unprotected, unassuming... Amazing...