John

On Dune 45 in Namibia.

In Devil's Pool in 2011.

At my welcome home party.

Dottie and John at our cottage on Ahmic Lake.

Stonehenge 2014.

Return trip to the cottage.

In the Big Pit coal mine in Wales August 2017.

As some of you might have seen, John has posted an incredibly nice tribute to me and our friendship on the post ‘To Kovalam Airport and Farewell’. Since he made it public, I can’t let the opportunity pass to thank him as well.

As most of my friends know, I met John in Cape Town in December 2010 at the start of our 54 day Ultimate Africa journey. We had a great time and more importantly, got along very well as we were sharing a tent. As many people have reminded me it is not easy to find someone you can travel with successfully. Many husbands and wives can’t accomplish that.

Since that trip, John has visited me twice in Canada, where I had the opportunity to share a bit of my country with him, including our family cottage and some of my friends. He also brought along his partner Dottie, who is now a firm friend as well. I visited John in England in 2014 and he took me to Stonehenge, Salisbury and London.

As we stayed in touch he told me that if I ever did another long trip he would love to join me somewhere. So, we made plans. I set off to Iceland in August of 2017 and then on to England to see him and Dottie. He took me on an excellent trip around Cornwall where we saw many of the sites, including the elusive Uffington White Horse. John made plans to join me for two months from mid Jan to mid March. He was willing to go where I was going. So, we met up in Addis Ababa and toured Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and South India together. Although the trips weren’t quite as active has he would have liked, we thoroughly enjoyed them and our time together.

We have both tried to figure out why we get along so well. We both love music but different types, we both exercise a lot (him more strenuously than I), but not together. So what is it? It is simple really, actually as simple as us: we are both fun loving, childlike grown men. We have not totally grown up. We have a very similar sense of humour and make each other laugh a lot. We see the humour in good things, bad things, or just life. We laugh at bodily functions and the ridiculousness of things we see or experience. And maybe mostly importantly, we are able to laugh at ourselves and each other. 

During the trip John had his cellphone pickpocketed, his new camera gave up the ghost and at the airport, in his rush to get through the security screening to wave one last time to me as we departed at the Delhi airport, he left his computer there. Nevertheless, he never really complained or let it get him too down, he just made light of it and moved on. He had already booked and paid for the trip when Dottie needed to undergo a serious surgery. Although he was very concerned about her, and did manage to keep in contact with her, he somehow managed to still focus on the trips and enjoy them. I was more of a complainer as my new laptop that I purchased in January had a malfunction and it was very difficult to get it repaired on the road. We just got on with it. When something went wrong or we lost things we shared what we had. We shared toothpaste, I had an extra camera and sunglasses, etc. We have made plans to pick up the laptop from the Delhi lost and found and mail it to him as it has important things on it, not the least of which is his personal journal of our adventures. Me of all people understand the loss of that alone.

In each of the groups the other participants commented on our close friendship and sense of humour. Many people were jealous of that and referred to it as a bromance. They said they had no one they could share this kind of travel with.

I know how lucky I am to have a friend like John and I look forward to more misadventures with him in the future. So, thank you John, you are a prince among princes and a true friend. Thank you for sharing my ‘zest for life’. Meeting people, both locals and other travellers, is a big part of traveling and to meet someone and make a life-long friend, is special indeed.