When i was trekking North America back in 2006 I did it all on the cheap. A lot of
couchsurfing and a lot of
Greyhound. Even if you've never been on a greyhound bus, you more than likely heard about how terrible their service is.
On one occasion i was busing from Boston to Montreal, then to get a second bus to Ottawa. I know what you're thinking; why would i not stop over in Montreal but go all the way to Ottawa? Well, i was planning to go to Montreal on the way back to New England. One thing i quickly worked out is that you don't want to do long trips on greyhound. Not only was it stinking hot and ridiculously humid, it was also very late (schedule, not time of day).
I was going to get the last bus of the night from Montreal to Ottawa, but as you can imagine the first bus was late and i missed the second. Montreal is by no means a bad city to be stuck in, quite the contrary actually, but it also happened to be the final weekend of the
Jazz Festival.
There was absolutely no budget accommodation available. I walked from hostel to hostel growing increasingly frustrated / desperate. One hostel worker was kind enough to give me a list of other hostels and relevant information. I was struggling to find one hostel (i didn't have a phone) when i asked a lady on the street for directions. After briefly explaining my situation (she was an English speaking native of Quebec) she said she'd just call them all and find out for me. Awesome.
After calling about six, she too was becoming increasingly frustrated and eventually came to the following conclusion:
"Fuck it, you seem like a nice enough guy, throw your bags in the back of my car, come out to this 80's bar with me and just stay at my place." Awesome.
Montreal quickly became my favourite city in North America but it wasn't long before i had to move on and finally visit my friend in Ottawa, then go to Toronto,
then head back east.
Pretty much wherever i needed to go (I had to be back in Boston within a few weeks) I was going back through Montreal. I contacted C and she informed me that she was about to head up to Quebec City for a few days to visit her grandparents before she went off to Panama for a couple of months. She offered me a ride (and more free accom) and i got to see more of Canada, with a local (sort of) who was extremely handy; I don't speak french.
It's safe to say, without C i would have been in a lot of trouble that first night. I also wouldn't have seen the cool things that only the locals do and i had my very own translator.
So last weekend when i was walking home from a small night out with a couple of mates at 1am and there was a back packer sitting on a park bench in front of my apartment block; i enquired as to why she was sitting, with all her belongings, by herself and so late at night in
Perth's most violent suburb she informed me of her dilemma. She'd arrived that day (and had accom booked) but there had been a double-booking and all the other hostels in the city area were booked out too.
She was going to sleep on the street, but opted for outside my apartment block because it was well-lit and clean...Not wanting some poor German tourist to be killed in the middle of the night, I offered her my couch. My mate and neighbour has a spare room so she moved in there the next night and the three of us have hung out all the time since. The next day, we were going to the beach to check some
sculptures and then go sailing afterwards. These are not things she would have known about / would generally do, but it's what we already do so bring her along for a good time. Plus i get to practice my German.
Doing all the touristy things are good; but you never experience a place until you experience what the locals experience.
It's often little things that can make huge differences to someone else
I'm done with inspirational quotes for now.
