Der Reisebegleiter (Companheiro de Viagens)

Sometimes when we travel we find some people through the way, and then you make some new friends. But when you just visit some places and don't stay for too long you just realize that you make a temporary friend. Sometimes this new friendship lasts forever, and sometimes, only for the trip ocasion.
I was reading a blog from a friend of mine, and just wanted to write here her thoughts about it. It was a post I found interesting and make people think about it.


Der Reisebegleiter (Companheiro de viagem)
by Ting Ting

Chooosing a travel companion is at least as uncertain as choosing a marriage partner. The chances of success are perhaps even less. The initial stages of both journeys are filled with enthusiasms, indulgences, and a fairly consistent closing of the eyes to that which may later become, if not unacceptable, at the very least unpleasing.

No cause-and-efect law exists to insist that in choosing a travel companion you will lose a friend. But it's not unlikely. The odds depend on the length and the cruelty of the trip. Some friendship have a strength that will withstand even travel; others, based on happenstance, are by nature short-lived and travel merely hastens their dissolution.

Perhaps I should make it clear that in discussing this matter of travel companions I am confining myself to Platonic friendships. Intimate friends may well be the best companions of all, but entirely different rules of travel prevail. Compromises and concessions, and demands to and from such companions clearly stem from a recognized emotional base that colors ebery issue. I'll confine myself, then, to companions, male and female, who are sharing a trip solely for company.

Why bother at all for a travel companion? Why not travel alone, in single happiness, unhindered and swiftly pursuing one's goal? Some of the answers are obvious: a congenial fellow traveller eases the stress and tensions, adds to the delights and rewards and pays half the bills. If the threat of loneliness is frightening, even a bad-tempered companion will prevent that, and quite often bring you to the point where you sincerely wish you were alone.

Finding a suitable companion is something of an art and something of a gamble. But the choice should be determined by one essential rule: Both travellers should b going on the trip with the same idea in mind.