Wanted: Cooler Travel Friends

I’ve made a fair amount of acquaintances on my travels over the years, ones that I’ve had wicked times with creating memories that I treasure and know I’ll never forget, but I currently feel I’m in a rut. Yes, it may sound like I’m just being greedy or whiny but, uh, shut up? Chewy’s having one of those days!

See, I really enjoy having a good time as you may be able to tell from my ramblings on here, but lately the people I choose to travel with have been really bringing me down. It’s made me really question my preferred type of travel and shaken the very core philosophy that made this guy the rockin good time that he is.

You know when you’re all geared up to go out on the town or just chill in with a few pints and your good friend who used to be cool is now being super lame? Like, instead of talking and laughing they’re moping or finding ways to skip out on the revelry? You wonder ‘what gives’ and you can’t really put your finger on what it is, but you know that they probably either just don’t enjoy doing what they used to or they’re starting to become unhappy people. Major buzzkill.

I pride myself on being a happy drunk – if I feel like I’m not able to put forth my A-game, I sit one out. This is the same philosophy I have towards travelling, except when I’m out on the open road I’m usually riding such an adrenaline high that all bad vibes just get pushed aside. If I meet a group of people while travelling and find out they’re kinda depressing partiers, (you know, negative, catty, grumpy) then I avoid them for that kind of activity. Everyone’s got their own shit, I understand that – but some people just serially get depressed when they drink… and that doesn’t sit well with me.

A recent trip I went on had everyone else wanting to go out and get blasted but I felt myself resisting, but I chalked that up to the general suck-tastic nature of the group. Seriously – you could cut the tension with a knife when we were sightseeing and WHY WOULD I WANT TO PARTY IN THAT ATMOSPHERE? Some people would say ‘Hey Chewy, just get wasted and ignore it’. Well, that’s not how I roll – alcohol is for good times, not for blocking out things that annoy me. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d ever be sober…

Which brings me to my first point – I think I need cooler travel friends. The people who I used to go with and were awesome have since moved away (as have I) and the current lot that I associate with are really better for regular life. It takes a special breed to be a good travel friend – they can’t be overbearing, they have to be adventurous and they have to be able to commit. This last point is what I sorely need in travel friends.

I don’t want to be that guy who goes away by himself all the time despite how great some people make that out to be, just as I don’t want to drink alone. I never have and never will. If that means I travel and drink less, well so be it – I want to enjoy it when I do it and I want to do it with good people to create more of those great memories.

Cool travel friends – I know you’re out there! Chewy needs you!