Just see what happens

by Benjamin de Jager (Netherlands)

Making a local connection USA

“It will come out February 6th so that’s in less than 2 weeks from now!”, I tell them. I must have said it at least 300 times by now, but I always try to stay enthusiastic about it. People love talking to game developers and sometimes you end up meeting some pretty cool people. I traveled all the way from the Netherlands to San Antonio, Texas, to show my game. I figured since the flight tickets were already paid for I’d make a small holiday out of it. The plan was to stay a couple of days in Austin after the show and then one or two days in Houston. I didn’t book any hostel or anything for those extra days and figured I’d just see what happens. They were 3 guys that made a podcast about videogames. I eventually asked them where they were from. Matt replied: “We’re from Austin”, “Oh cool! Do you have any recommendations since I’m heading over there after the show.” I asked. We chatted a bit about Austin and I wrote down some recommendations for hostels and stuff to see after which we said our goodbyes. The next day on the show floor I came across Matt in the hallway, he asked whether or not I found a hostel yet and told me if I didn’t find any I could crash at his place. At that point, I figured I’d just be bold and ask him: “It’d be awesome if I could crash at your place anyway”, he looked at me for a second and said “Sure, no problem! I have to check with my girlfriend though, just to make sure”. We exchanged contact info and went on our way. I ended up staying at his place for 2 nights, on a king-size airbed in a private room. Which was really awesome. The first night I went to downtown Austin on my own and met some cool people to hang out with at this live jazz pub in Rainey street per Matt’s suggestion. The next day I toured Austin by day, visiting a bunch of parks, the public library, the bat bridge, a disc golf course, graffiti park, and the Capitol building. That evening I had some local bbq, Texas baby, with Matt after which we even recorded an interview for the podcast. To close off the evening we went for some drinks in a very American snooker bar including a classic coin-operated-jukebox I only know from the movies. The next day I went over to Houston by bus, Matt didn’t know anyone in Houston so I ended up booking a hostel for my last night in Texas. I met some people at the hostel. Some guy called Dave was asking around if anyone wanted to go for drinks. I wasn’t sure. At that point, I felt pretty fulfilled about the trip so far and preferred to just chill for a bit. Then I realised that I talked to a guy from Houston at the show and that he recommended me two video game bars, so after 45 minutes of contemplating I figured that if I was going out for some drinks I wanted to go to one of these bars. I told Dave this, he agreed and so we hopped into an Uber towards Sigma Brewery. We arrived at the pub and I got out of the Uber. You could see the bar from the street but you had to walk around and up the pathway leading to the entrance. Looking at the pathway I saw a guy heading for the entrance of the bar, it took a couple of seconds but then right before he entered I yelled: “HEY DUDE!” thinking I recognised him. The guy stopped, turned around towards me, looked down and yelled back: “DUDE!”. This was the same guy who suggested me this exact bar 4 days earlier, serendipity man. He already announced my arrival by the time I entered the pub so his friends, the bartender and another guy called Andrew welcomed me with open arms. That night was filled with awesome conversations and free drinks... Sometimes it's good to let go. Just to see what happens.