It’s always interesting meeting new people on the road as you travel. People from everywhere (although a lot of Germans and French), with a vast array of different experiences. Yet, despite that there tends to be a lot of commonalities between everyone you meet. I think, broadly there are 3 types of people:
- Students studying or having just finished
- Remote working digital nomads
- People having a quarter life crisis
I guess I’m in the first camp, and I’m finding some interesting trends with the other groups. At the bottom of the continent there were more of the third group, while as you get further north I have encountered more of the first. Digital nomads tend to be populated throughout.
It’s also interesting to see what people tend to talk about. Most of the discussions are about people’s recent travels and near future plans, with everyone swapping advice. I am finding it surprising that people tend to tell recent stories only, and in very surface level detail. It’s very different to what I’m used to, where you tell a story of an event with some purpose, focusing on details to make them more entertaining. I’m finding that people aren’t so used to telling stories, or jokes. Definitely a weird part compared to what I’m used to.
I’m not so sure if this is because people are travelling to “find themselves”. I mean. so am I, but I also have retained some identity, and am allowing that to gradually change as I move around. It seems like a lot of people have thrown away a lot of what they were and are attempting to start from scratch. It’s a little jarring occasionally, trying to engage without getting a lot back. It can feel like pushing against a curtain thinking its a wall, trying to engage without much there. I am finding it a little challenging at times, choosing at times to fall back instead of engaging.
At the same time, I’m starting to feel a little bored, missing the challenges of work or study. I’m reading some non-fiction which is fairly engaging, but I am missing having a problem to tackle. I think I’m going to have to put aside a bit of time to try and write some kind of program for a bit. I’ve made a start at a Sudoku solver, and it kinda works part of the time. It’s proving to be an interesting problem, but I’m not terribly motivated to finish it, although that may be because I have no need for it. I think I’m going to have to set aside a few nights and try and complete something. Just need to think of what it is to do now.