Greetings,

Last we spoke, yours truly was swimming or should one say, drowning in a sea of indecision. Oh the decisions!?! Suffice to say, decided to do what any reasonable gentleman would do, stay put. Life is filled with uncertainty and all I’m sure of is that a single step in one direction can change your life completely. Just ask anyone who has stepped into traffic too soon… If you have no defined time line, what’s the rush?

Today is dedicated to “Getting to know Istanbul“.

Istanbul is a vibrant place, decided to go to the most touristic place known to man to enjoy one last evening with a friend and enjoy a beverage or so while playing on their free wifi and watching life walk on by, Istanbul style. Today I’m still in the city and will probably spend the night, why you ask? Just as I was drowning in indecision, an email came up from an agency I’ve been talking with. We’ll leave it at that but if it’s a “yes”, yours truly may be doing something interesting, quite soon.

I digress.

Naturally, I’ll always be a tourist, I come on a tourist visa, I stay in short term accommodation and newsflash, I look and speak like a tourist. That doesn’t mean I have to be a stereotypical tourist, I’m not, clearly. The sights that most people look for are wonderful, but I’m interested in making some connections. Many people are happy being nodes on the network of life, if you think being a node is “cool”, you have no idea what it’s like being a hub. This is a very geeky network reference to your social positioning, fyi.

Today, before my friend actually left to catch his flight we went on a stroll until we found a small tea shop and sat down. Immediately after sitting down, this gent offered us a cigarette, thank you sir. So we bought him a tea, he tried to say no but the deal was done, he joined us. We made small talk about WWF wrestling, I’m not a fan but know some of the names and he was quite into it.

Next thing you know he has the waiter take a photo of the 3 of us. I’ve had this happen before and it’s nothing new but it never registered before. Many people who see countless tourists, never meet one, even for a moment and are incredibly curious about us. We’re strange fish in their aquarium and while we’re learning about their culture, we never even give them a few glimpses into ours.

You’ll know if someone is interested in being friendly or not, the rules are universal.

Don’t let a language or foreign country stop you from making friends in the most random of places. It will enrich your life and theirs. Not sure how many people he has met like that but he left smiling and high fiving. I’ve met countless people in such said circumstances and am incredibly pleased each time. It’s what makes this trip for me and why I’m so addicted to travel.

Life is too short to be isolated, life is to short to be unfriendly.

Be a friendly fish, especially when in foreign aquariums.

Tips hat,