Common Language of Travel

If you have never traveled anywhere, it is hard to speak with someone who has. I've spent practically every evening this week at a local coffee shop called the Drama Cup(previously known as the Muddy Cup). I go there to write and it is the perfect environment in which to do so. I've talked to the owner sparingly until last night when we sat down and talked for a few hours.

What was the impetus for this conversation? He had just bought a new 2-month old puppy.
What kept the conversation going though? He had lived in foreign countries and I've just gotten back from doing the same thing.

The very interesting thing is that our experiences in those foreign countries could not have been more different. My budget was limited and I lived very well while I was there, but definitively more "local". His experience was spending a ridiculous amount of money (think six figures) in the span of three months in Thailand. In any other context, this would most likely kill sociability. But we were talking about traveling. So it didn't even make a difference. We shared stories and coincidentally talked about how hard it is to relate the experience to someone who has not traveled.

It has nothing to do with elitism, if it sounds that way. It's just common ground. Traveling has a way of putting things in a certain perspective that you can't really relate to if you haven't. I can say this having been in both positions in my life. I feel privileged though to now be on the side of those who have traveled simply because I like the fact that I have. The only question I have to put to rest now is when I can make my next trip outside the U.S. border.