My Nepal Travel Buddies: a profile of Sam and Sarah

Sam and Sarah

The other night, at four-thirty in the morning, I and two other women found ourselves in a discussion we never imagined having: the value and convenience of a chamber pot. While Albus Dumbledore might have lightheartedly enjoyed the conversation, we were debating actually getting one for our shared room. (The answer was, of course, yes.) Since I’ve become so intimate with these two gals, I thought I’d introduce them to you.

I enjoy Sam (25, South African) very much. She got here about a week before I came, and we’ve been spending most of our waking (and sleeping) hours together. She’s an awesome travel partner, especially since she’s traveled extensively before (India, Australia, Europe, and she’s lived in UAE) and since we share a lot of the same ideas about travel. You can learn a lot just by hearing other peoples thoughts on the same situation. She said she enjoys my and Sarah’s company as well: “I like how we compliment each other, how we’re different. The humor--traveling these countries you wouldn’t get far without a sense of humor, and we all seem to have a sense of humor. And a lack of prudishness--the topics that you’re forced to talk about, you cant exactly avoid sometimes if you’re going to survive.” All three of us are interested in what we do, as well, which Sam is grateful of: “I like how gung-ho you guys are… it’s good to have that, to kind of force each other out of our comfort zones. All of us are willing to try everything; we encourage each other to get involved.” And of course, as I have discovered, just the comfort of having other people around often turns crises into adventures to laugh about. I also like Sam because we both seem to have really funny weeing stories and we aren’t afraid of sharing them, and because she said her funniest memory of Nepal was Sean Connery’s birthday party--extra brownie points.

Sarah is in the same situation as I am--22, American, just out of college and taking some time to travel and volunteer before starting the rest of her life. She likes volunteering because she is able to work one-on-one with the kids and really watch them learn. When I asked her what she liked about the three of us, her face lit up in a huge smile and a gasp; just that warmed my heartstrings. “It made me so happy when you guys showed up the first day and I saw that there would be fun people to hang out with here… I just had the occasional image of myself stuck on the side of a mountain, in some village somewhere,” she said. “I like that we all get along, we take things similarly. We have a tendency to laugh a lot about things… like being stuck in Nepalgunj for three days would not be funny, but it was with you guys.” Sarah says that her favorite thing about Nepal is “all the different stuff we’ve gotten to do: like riding on the top of the bus, milking the cows, all the new experiences. I can actually say I’ve been hiking in the Himalayas. That’s pretty cool.” I have to agree with her, and I’m lucky that my new friends here love to try new things and go on every size adventure.

Just like Sam and Sarah said, I think our best and greatest survival tool is humor. We laugh so much. We laugh that we all daydream about hot showers, instant coffee, and powdered milk (that’s what’s in our personal “Rooms of Requirement” at the moment…), we laugh at each others stories, and we can turn and laugh with each other (instead of sitting down to cry) when something ludicrous and absurd happens. I’m very grateful to have these two women traveling with me because for a confused mind, a homesick heart, and a culturally exhausted spirit, laughter is the best medicine.

Sarah, me, and Sam during a local festival.