friends around the world

i have friends in many corners of the world. alex (and his mother) have already insisted i stay with them when i visit sydney (and andrew and john are moving there too in august!), rocky is in melbourne with his pet kangaroos, miyuki in la (though she's from japan), friends across the states, chris in toronto, dan in leeds, emma in hamburg (though she's from nz), friends from australia, new zealand, all across europe (from iceland to greece), south america, africa, all over.

that's part of traveling, part of living in new york city, and part of being a citizen of the world.

last summer, on a berlin city tour i took recommended by chris of toronto, i ended up meeting chris (yes, another one, but this one from just outside of london). my tour guide was from williamsburg (right where i live in nyc). chris and i ended up spending much of the tour talking, and ended up meeting that night for a stroll around the holocaust remembrance memorial and getting drinks at a german pub. he was one of the people i def felt i connected with that i met on my travels. we kept in touch throughout our travels, emailing, and since we've been back, emailing rather sporadically.

in london, we met up by the hmv in covent gardens and ended up lunching, walking a lot, talking. he missed the first english game in the world cup for me (so i must be pretty special, eh?). it's amazing how linked you can feel to people who travels; others, like t, think it's cool but don't get it. i'm feeling antsy already...i've been in the country two weeks and want to leave. i checked plane fares to lisbon for this weekend (too much!). traveling is one of the most important things to me.

so back to friends around the world. i was in london to see a friends' wedding, ended up making friends with their friends, and i have even more friends. but seeing chris in his natural habitat (well, almost; he lives outside london a bit) was really awesome. i'm glad i saw him (and hope he can get his butt over to new york city, which is, i believe, just a bit more fabulous than london!) and it's amazing to have connections, friends, everything, all over.

now if those fares to lisbon would go down a bit, i might make some friends there...