The Travel Series: Fast Friends & the Various Purposes They Serve

Whether you’re traveling or not, fast friends exist in all areas and cultures of the world. Urban dictionary describes a fast friend as a loyal, close, and permanent friend. It’s really the way that you make these friends that is most important, not necessarily whether or not you ever see them again. The point is that you’ve found a common factor to bond over almost immediately. You can’t always choose your fast friends, but beggars can’t be choosey in these situations. 

There’s a fast friend for almost every situation in life (though I’m sure there are exceptions for situations I have not found myself in). My favorite kind of fast friends are the ones you meet while traveling. They are a herd of characters, and you need them. They don’t make it into the pictures, there’s no commitment to share the intimate details of your life, and you probably didn’t even catch their name – pure bliss. Here are a few examples of my favorites for your reference:

1. The Airplane Friend – you have to sit next to this person for the next 5+ hours so it’s important to lay groundwork right away. You are either popping in some headphones and appearing unavailable for the rest of the flight, or you are friends. Sorry, there’s rarely a choice. You’ve struck gold if you’re sitting next to someone who knows when to shut up. If you’re me, you’ve just gotten on the plane in a scuffle of bags that don’t fit in the overhead bin and free water bottles that you can’t carry. The struggle is obviously real and this girl has been blessed with the window seat. While she probably thinks she got lucky with the window, the poor thing doesn’t know that I’m actually a tray sleeper and may not get up to go to the bathroom for the entire flight due to some very serious claustrophobia. I have no choice but to make the first move and address the elephant in the room: hint, it’s me, the person dropping my things everywhere and blocking the aisle. I like to think I have a lot of good qualities; I keep a lifetime supply of antihistamines, tissues, gum, and sleep aids, I always have an extra pair of headphones, and I’m of legal drinking age in the entire world. Sure, I’m a serial tray sleeper and I’m afraid of the bathrooms, but I’ll get up if you want to use it at your own risk.
2. The De-Plane Friend – if you’re 5’2 and disorganized, you need the de-plane friend who will grab your bag from the overhead bin that you battled with 5 hours ago in a massive display of shortness. In order to make this friend, personal experience has taught me that you first scan the crowd. If there is no one around you who looks physically capable of reaching the overhead bin, you’ll need to let a few people pass you before you make a pathetic attempt to get your own bag. You want to use the lack of strength available in your flimsy wrist to prove that you might harm yourself or others if you have to remove your own bag from the overhead bin. Your hero, male or female, will arrive within 4-10 seconds to grab it for you. No one wants to wait on the plane even a second longer than they have to, thus we applaud the de-plane friend and thank them for stepping up (literally).
3. The Fellow Lost Friend – whether you’re in Iceland and can’t read the roadside map to find the nearest waterfall (hypothetical, of course), or you’re in Las Vegas and can’t find the nearest bar (available every 6 feet), we inevitably hope for the other person wondering “where the hell am I”. The Fellow Lost Friend will recognize the look of confusion in your eyes and make themselves available to exchange “where are we’s”. They are the last person you are going to get help with directions from, but you ask anyway, and they ask you and you have no idea either, but a friend none-the-less. You exchange “good lucks” and continue on your separate journeys to find God-knows-what. Bonus points if your Fellow Lost Friend speaks your native tongue. It’s the luck of the draw on that one. 

Other Fast Friends not mentioned here include the Instant Photographer (also known as the person you trust to adjust the lighting on your iPhone just so), the Clueless American Comrade (for when you yourself are the Clueless American), and the Shamelessly Loud Dude (he gets annoying fast but does his best to keep things lit). All hail the Fast Friend and the many shapes he or she may take throughout our lives. Thanks for all you do.