Justin - The New Aussie Friend

The great thing about staying in hostels instead of hotels is the people you meet. I have probably run into twenty different nationalities over the last few weeks just in the hostels. I made a good friend in Alicante that I briefly mentioned before.

When I first got to my hostel I went to my room and Justin was in there resting. He was here the night before so he knew a couple places to go and watch the Barcelona-InterMilan game on TV. We went to a bar called Austin (the owners also own another bar nearby called Dos Gringos) and sat in the alley, where they set out tables and chairs, with the rest of the crowd. After getting to know him we realized how similar our stories are. He is a 27 year old living in Sydney working in construction and decided one day to travel. He bought a round the world ticket and is at the tail end of it.

The great thing about making friends like this is learning on a personal level about other cultures. The most rewarding aspect, though, is seeing that regardless of where we were born the events that led me to Alicante were the same events that led Justin there. And halfway between our countries we were able to share similar stories...in Alicante, Spain...in an alley.

This is the group that hung out the last night in Alicante. Three Aussies, a German, A Canadien, and I lived like Spaniards and stayed with the rowds until 4 am. Justin is on the left.