travel with a stranger

In 2005, I went alone to New York City for four days. I am a female in my early 30s, 5 ft. 6 and 120 pounds. While dorkily trying to photograph myself in front of the Statue of Liberty, a 6 ft. 4 guy from Australia offered to take the photo of me. We got to talking and he told me that he was on a lay-over from a business trip for a couple of days before returning to Australia. First, follow your “gut” instinct…I am a pretty good judge of character and I did not have a bad feeling about him. However, I still kept a certain distance by not telling him too much personal information. Second, I never revealed to him where I was staying and I never went to his hotel. We travelled together all day, every day and had a wonderful time. At the end of the day, we would agree on a time and place to meet (the police station in Times Square at 8 am, for example). Having this new companion was great for my trip. I had someone to take photos of me. I had someone interesting to learn about. At 6 foot 4, he was also a great bodyguard and I went out at night more with him than I would have by myself. That was back in 2005 and we are still Facebook friends. I recommend travelling with strangers, but BE CAREFUL IF YOU ARE FEMALE!!! Be honest with yourself: if you choose “bad” people and can’t judge character well, then don’t do this. 23 months ago