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Meeting The World Backpacker Who Spiced up My Life
It’s rare you will meet someone who will change your life in your hometown or limiting yourself to what you believe are the boundaries of your own comfort zone.
When you travel you meet people with the most inspirational and life-changing stories. Some you’d think were fictional and would only happen in movies.
A couple of weeks into my time working at a hostel in Europe “That Guy Waffle” showed up out of nowhere. Apparently he had worked at the hostel for five summers, and contributing to the hostels reputation as a true party hostel. Stories from the “Debaucherous Summer of 20___” amazed me- I will keep details to a minimum.
But there was something that had me hooked on this guy and his one-of-a-kind way of story-telling which came across as innocent and civilised.
The first night I met him he cracked a bottle of a champagne and danced salsa with me on the dance floor. He was so unique and exciting. He didn’t give a rat’s ass and challenged me up dancing on the tables. People say I’m mental. This guy was absolutely NUTS.
At the beach bar the next day I was working on my computer on some signs and blogs for the hostel. Waffle came and sat next to me and we talked for about an hour. I asked him his story, where he was from and where he was going next. He didn’t really know.
Waffle is a real life Forest Gump. He just travels with no plan or destination, showing up and working at random hostels and pub crawls around the world. He grew up all over the world staying with extended family members short periods of time. All he owns in life is a backpack of clothes, a passport, and extraordinary memories, some of which he will tell.
When I asked him his nationality, he said “Some sort of Spanish”- a response which later inspired an idea for one of the theme parties I planned at the hostel.
Waffle was so charismatic and could turn the most boring place into a party. He was always joking around, being silly and having fun. However, he was educated with a BA and pursuing a masters, had joined a Foreign Military, and loved to read intellectual books.
Marriage, kids, or settling down was never part of his plan; and the strangest thing is, he is happy with the idea of being alone.
Two days after he showed up he hurt his foot on The Booze Cruise. How? His response was “I don’t know. Sh*t got weird”.
However it happened, the guy was hopping around on one foot trying to do everything for himself. On a massive resort with a million steps, taking care of yourself isn’t easy. So I made sure he got dinner every night, helped him as much as he’d let me, and together with some other guests we got him a pair of crutches from town.
By his last night here I think he enjoyed the help and even bossed me around to get him ice cream. I don’t know why, but the guy with so many repulsive stories just seemed so adorable trying to eat strawberry ice cream while balancing on crutches. He didn’t let his injury stop him. Dancing at night he managed to still rock his salsa moves on one foot.
After a few days of being an invalid, he went to another European country to seek care on what he found out was a broken foot.
I’ll be surprised if I see Waffle ever again, but one thing I know is that he inspired me to keep on travelling. I want to see more places and spend the next few years seeing the world.
My goal is to find someone as adventurous as I am to conquer the planet with. But until that happens, like Waffle, I’ll do it alone.
It’s strange to think that someone is happy to live without any connections to any place or people. But Waffle is a rare find. I’m happy to know he will continue to live and change lives the way he’s changed mine.
Love from Lala.
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