Travelling alone, do you talk to strangers?

Next to the fake wedding band tips, "don't talk with strangers" is the second most popular tips for women travelling alone. And it's the second most tips I oppose to.

On a recent ads of an airlines, they said sth like "journeys are made by the people you travel with" which I totally agree with. What's the point of travelling if you don't immerse yourself on the culture and the trip itself. I have to say I'm a different person when I travel alone. I take time to talk with strangers, I enjoy their life stories. If I didn't talk with strangers, I would have never got the chance to listen to some most wonderful stories in my life.

On my last trip across Italy, I got to listen to the story of a lady who has been waiting on her husband across the globe all their 30 years of marriage, while he taking time for his photos. She told me she indeed has been meeting and knowing the most wonderful people when she waits for him like that. You're such a lucky man, D! There are not that many patient women I've known of in my life.

I also talked with a lady, whose 2 husbands passed away too early in her life. People are always like... "I'm sorry" when they know about that. But for her, she feels blessed because she got the chance to be loved by 2 wonderful men in her life. Indeed, I think, you're life is blessed or miserable totally depends on how you see it yourself, people don't live your life, hence, they don't really know it.

I was fascinated by the narrow streets of San Gimignano

In a restaurant, I was having the moment of my life, taking a picture with my Italian handsome and cute waiter. The stranger sitting next to my table snapped the picture himself and he was like "oh, it's so cute!" (BTW, sir, I've actually, sadly passed the "cute" age a very long time ago.) I was like... "sir, any chance, can you send me that cute picture?" and gave him my email address, and totally forgot about it when I was back to work. Almost a month after that, I got the pic in my mailbox. It was, indeed, a cute one. Thank you, J!

I also "starred" in a travel guides vid of a stranger. Or another chance, I got tips from a stranger to not talk (whatsoever) with the people hanging around the ticket machines in train stations. They are scam and they would try to grab my money and the ticket machine are very easy to deal with as long as I can use English. I was lucky enough to not have to use those machine since I already had my ticket before the trip but those are still good tips and for me to be careful of those people when I was in the station.

So, in my defence, the tips should be "choose who you talk to, don't skip all strangers" just because you're so afraid of the risk. For me, travelling is not just the road, the sceneries, the fabulous buildings and monuments, travelling is immersing myself in the culture, talking with people and see the world through others' eyes which is another journey itself. Don't rip yourself the chance of knowing people and their point of view about the world we're living in. Talk to strangers, just use your common sense and be wise about who you talk with.

Enjoy life the fullest! Enjoy your trips.