A love story?

by Nathan dos Santos (Brazil)

Making a local connection Brazil

I always wanted to travel alone. I just thought it would be a fantastic experience. People learn a lot of, traveling, meeting new people and cultures. It is a rich experience that can help view things from a different perspective. Besides my romantic view about travel, I was raised being overprotective by my parents. So when started to get my own money and tasted freedom and independence, it was amazing. I felt alive. But I wanted more. I wanted to test myself and feel how well I could be on my own, traveling. But I needed to go to a place where I didn’t know anybody. So, I chose Curitiba, a big city. It is 476,59 miles of distance from the city I live in. I’m not a rural kind of person, I prefer big urban cities. But Curitiba is not an ordinary capital. It is one of the cities with most green areas and is in the top 21 of the most intelligent cities. It’s amazing, it’s a capital, but clean, beautiful and a lot less stressful. Well, in May 2019, my travel date came. I arrived in Curitiba and it was SO COLD, I didn’t expect that. But on my way to the hostel, while I was freezing, I was admiring the landscape and after the green areas, the city, the buildings were so perfect, no traffic. I fell in love at the beginning. One of my worries traveling alone was be alone the entire travel. Well, let me explain. I wanted to travel alone, but of course, I didn’t want to stay completely alone in an unknown city for 4 days. I wanted to meet someone. I wanted to meet people. There was the hostel, I expected to find some people cool to explore the town and enjoy the nights with me, BUT it seemed I got a piece of bad luck. I chose a date that the city wasn’t very visited. Maybe I got a little scared, but I remembered something. I was a single person and there is Tinder. Looking for someone to kiss? Not exactly, but it didn’t sound bad too. I arrived at the hostel at 4 PM. When was kind of 9 PM, I was out dining and matched with a guy called Felipe - you are probably thinking “hm, now is when the love story begins” - I and Felipe got out to a party with some friends of him, and sure, we kissed, but this story is not a love story - sorry disappoint you-. I thought that going out with Felipe would be something of one night, but actually, we spent the rest of the days together. He was with me in almost every place that I wanted to visit. I, Felipe and his friend got out every day. Do you already felt a fast and strong connection with someone you just met? It seemed that Felipe and I were friends by years. We saw the world and people of the same way, enjoyed the same things and had an incredible good synergy. At some point, we started to share things that just our closest friends knew. Unfortunately, the days passed and I had to flee. It was so sad to say goodbye to Curitiba, Felipe and the friends I made. But I was sure it was a “see you later” and not a “goodbye”. Well, how I sad, this story isn't a love story, it is about a strong connection that I did, a friendship. And strong connections can’t just break apart from nothing. Felipe and I kept in touch and in the end of the year, I came back. I spent two weeks there. Including the New Year. I met new people, discovered more about Curitiba and could spend more time with an amazing person that I met on a personal experience. There are some people that just pass. You met them, is cool, but nothing really special. And there are some people that stay for life. It seems that those people should never be out of your life. And Felipe was this kind of person to me. An incredible connecting that I did on my first travel by myself.