I received an email about a blogging contest sponsored by Expedia that suggested I blog about an experience meeting an interesting person while traveling. It really did get me thinking as there really is an abundance of interesting people we meet when we travel. We connect with a few of them and then still fewer knit themselves onto the fabric we remember the trip by.
Over the past few years, I’ve found that there are good trips, great trips and special trips. A good trip is almost any travel you plan. Every journey is an experience. Then you have the great trip when you have an experience that you will remember for a long long time. Great company, great places all add up to this experience. Special trips are harder to create. These trips involve the magic of people, places, circumstance, bonds and energy. I can think of very few special trips and the person who came to mind played his part in making that trip special.
We were on a university trip to a hill station in Malaysia. There was an undeniable magic right from the start. Somehow, you just knew it would be special. Maybe it was the fact that most of us thought it would be our last university trip. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a long overdue trip after a year or so spent in different parts of the world thanks to exchange programs or the like. It’s hard to describe it.
We stayed in a small town up in the hills. It had one central winding road and that was it. 9 of us were staying in one of the flats on a lane and Mr.Wan owned a travel agency on the same lane.
We met him by accident. We were looking for some advice on where we could watch the Manchester derby (Manchester United vs Manchester City) and if there was a pub that would broadcast the game. It turns out that the only pub in town was closed so he suggested we watch it at home. This conversation carried on and we asked him about the various treks that were available. He immediately fished out a map with the various trails and began helping us plan our 3 and a half or so days with us.
From then on, Mr.Wan unofficially became our official advisor. We went on a trek that evening, watched the Manchester derby (which played it’s part in making the trip magical. Michael Owen won it for United in the 95th minute! 4-3!) and went for another trek in the morning. Again, Mr.Wan played his part – drove us all back to our rooms to change from our pants to shorts so we could at least spot any leeches and insects on our legs. We had another fantastic day thanks to him.
We were soon approaching decision time. One of the big attractions of the area is going caving (as the name suggests, exploring caves) and white water rafting. This was all in all an expensive package considering our university student budgets. 2-3 of the 9 were game for both. Most were not. What did I do next? Go back to Mr.Wan, of course.
Mr.Wan outdid himself then and came back with a persuasion master class. He had me to go back to my friends and offer everyone caving alone for a small amount. Everyone said yes. He didn’t open the rafting topic till the morning we went driving. Just before we went, he quickly checked in about the rafting and mentioned that rafting was just next door to where we are going and is a mind blowing experience. Besides, he would give those interest in going for both experiences a nice combined rate with a neat discount.
We drove downhill behind him and I could virtually picture him smiling as the number of people who said they’d like to go rafting climbed to 6. Following our fantastic caving experience, he threw out another offer for Rafting. Now, we were up to 8. Our lone fighter had no chance of surviving. And we were soon on our way..
My biggest learning from special trips is that you can’t plan them. We can plan great trips by getting people and places right and then hope they’re special. This one just turned out to be so. I remember spending 3-4 hours or so afterwards typing out a whole journal for the trip because a friend had requested it. I have it in my email somewhere and should check it out. It was just that special..
And Mr.Wan was an immense part of that experience.
Why, then, did I call him Mr.One in the title? As you might have guessed, it is very close to how his name is pronounced. And I was reminded of a late night we had a few months down the line. We were all discussing our (erstwhile unsuccessful) job hunts and joking about alternate careers when a friend suggested I would have no problem with a back up. I could just go back, join Mr.Wan’s agency and become Mr.Two!
Mr.Wan had etched himself in our folklore..
Over the past few years, I’ve found that there are good trips, great trips and special trips. A good trip is almost any travel you plan. Every journey is an experience. Then you have the great trip when you have an experience that you will remember for a long long time. Great company, great places all add up to this experience. Special trips are harder to create. These trips involve the magic of people, places, circumstance, bonds and energy. I can think of very few special trips and the person who came to mind played his part in making that trip special.
We were on a university trip to a hill station in Malaysia. There was an undeniable magic right from the start. Somehow, you just knew it would be special. Maybe it was the fact that most of us thought it would be our last university trip. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a long overdue trip after a year or so spent in different parts of the world thanks to exchange programs or the like. It’s hard to describe it.
We stayed in a small town up in the hills. It had one central winding road and that was it. 9 of us were staying in one of the flats on a lane and Mr.Wan owned a travel agency on the same lane.
We met him by accident. We were looking for some advice on where we could watch the Manchester derby (Manchester United vs Manchester City) and if there was a pub that would broadcast the game. It turns out that the only pub in town was closed so he suggested we watch it at home. This conversation carried on and we asked him about the various treks that were available. He immediately fished out a map with the various trails and began helping us plan our 3 and a half or so days with us.
From then on, Mr.Wan unofficially became our official advisor. We went on a trek that evening, watched the Manchester derby (which played it’s part in making the trip magical. Michael Owen won it for United in the 95th minute! 4-3!) and went for another trek in the morning. Again, Mr.Wan played his part – drove us all back to our rooms to change from our pants to shorts so we could at least spot any leeches and insects on our legs. We had another fantastic day thanks to him.
We were soon approaching decision time. One of the big attractions of the area is going caving (as the name suggests, exploring caves) and white water rafting. This was all in all an expensive package considering our university student budgets. 2-3 of the 9 were game for both. Most were not. What did I do next? Go back to Mr.Wan, of course.
Mr.Wan outdid himself then and came back with a persuasion master class. He had me to go back to my friends and offer everyone caving alone for a small amount. Everyone said yes. He didn’t open the rafting topic till the morning we went driving. Just before we went, he quickly checked in about the rafting and mentioned that rafting was just next door to where we are going and is a mind blowing experience. Besides, he would give those interest in going for both experiences a nice combined rate with a neat discount.
We drove downhill behind him and I could virtually picture him smiling as the number of people who said they’d like to go rafting climbed to 6. Following our fantastic caving experience, he threw out another offer for Rafting. Now, we were up to 8. Our lone fighter had no chance of surviving. And we were soon on our way..
My biggest learning from special trips is that you can’t plan them. We can plan great trips by getting people and places right and then hope they’re special. This one just turned out to be so. I remember spending 3-4 hours or so afterwards typing out a whole journal for the trip because a friend had requested it. I have it in my email somewhere and should check it out. It was just that special..
And Mr.Wan was an immense part of that experience.
Why, then, did I call him Mr.One in the title? As you might have guessed, it is very close to how his name is pronounced. And I was reminded of a late night we had a few months down the line. We were all discussing our (erstwhile unsuccessful) job hunts and joking about alternate careers when a friend suggested I would have no problem with a back up. I could just go back, join Mr.Wan’s agency and become Mr.Two!
Mr.Wan had etched himself in our folklore..
A Learning a Day 