Getting Into the Flow of Travel

There's something I've noticed from being on the road. When you're wandering far from home, things just seem to work out. You meet people you need to meet, or you miss your bus and discover that there's another one leaving five minutes later that is more direct. This only seems to happen in non-Western countries, and I've begun to call it the "flow of travel."

When I was a reporter for Reuters covering Kumbh Mela, a giant Hindu pilgrimage, I was in the midst of several million pilgrims, but I kept bumping into people I wanted to see. It got to the point where if I wanted to talk to another reporter or interview subject, I would just assume that sometime that day I'd see them. It nearly always worked. Weird, I know, but anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time on the road knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Just yesterday, I blogged about how I want to meet some Ethiopians and make some contacts there before Almudena and I go to Ethiopia. Well, last night Almudena sent me a text. She just got to Baltimore for a conference. The taxi driver at the airport was Ethiopian! They talked about his country, and he gave her his email address, saying he's got some contacts for us in Addis Ababa. Now that's what I call flow.