Hemispheres executive editor
CHRIS
WRIGHT
once ranout ofmoneyduringa
road trip fromBoston to San Francisco.
Thatwasno fun.
As a rule, travelers interested in
encountering the local population
shouldavoid theplaces theguidebooks
identify as “a local favorite” (theywill
be filledwithpeople like you).Instead,
find a bar that offers free snacks and
cheap lager.Your fellowdrinkersmight
notbethemostnon-threateningpeople
you’ve evermet, and they almost cer-
tainlywon’t break into a spontaneous
renditionofa local folksong,but they’ll
be real.Also,by the time the15thbowl
of snacks arrives, the language barrier
willhaveceased tomatter. Ioncemade
a bunchof friends in aStockholmbar,
despite the fact thatmy onlymeans of
communicationwas theability toshout
theword“Skål!”
Thatwas agreatnight,more so since
I’d just stumbled into it,which raises
another point: Being broke makes it
difficult toplan ahead,and this in turn
can lead tomoments of extraordinary
serendipity.Amongmymost cherished
memories is the time, hitchhiking
throughnorthernEngland, I got stuck
ina terriblesnowstormandwas rescued
by a lovely couplewho tookme in, fed
meand insistedonapost-prandialsing-
along (theywerehippies).
Even better was the night a few
friends and I shared a carafe of wine
and a basket of breadsticks—all we
could afford—in an Algarve cafe. A
waiter,observing this rabble of sippers
andnibblers,tookpityonusand invited
us to stick around for an after-hours
drinkwith the staff,which involved a
lot of gesturing,clinkingof glasses and
aimless laughter.“Saúde!”
I told Bernard this story, and he
snorted with derision: “Pah!”Only
someone who had never experienced
realpoverty,hesaid,wouldromanticize
it like that.At least,I think that’swhat
hewas saying.Itwashard to tell,given
thathewasspeaking throughamouth-
ful of the ham-and-cheese sandwich
he’d just takenoffmyplate.
THEREISAPLACE
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