on picking up backpackers from the side of the road

i'm not a dumb girl; my parents taught me to not take candy from strangers, don't walk alone late at night in sketchy neighborhoods, smell the milk before you drink it, etc.

however, they also instilled in me a sense of adventure, which includes things such as moving to chicagoland for school and moving to amsterdam to work at a hostel in the red light district. both of these things could have been dangerous and probably were at some point, but when done correctly, end up being great stories.

i will admit, i have done some things that probably make my parents and/or friends cringe a little when they think about it. hitchhiking to antwerpen, for instance. but again, i like to think that i am a smart girl and have the ability to assess situations before i get myself into them: picking up some backpackers from the side of the road being no exception.

i was driving home from hanging out with my good friend stephanie around 9:30 on a saturday night. i live in a quiet neighborhood in the safest city in america (which is about as exciting as it sounds), so when i saw a guy and a girl standing on the side of the road with giant backpacks and looking really confused, i pulled over and asked if i could help them. not even necessarily because i thought they needed help, but because my town is boring. very, very boring. and these people were clearly not boring.

they were hesitant at first, politely declining a ride anywhere, but eventually i looked up the address they were trying to get to and convinced them to get in my car because it was literally down the street from me and they couldn't possibly walk any further with those giant bags. they piled in the back of my car and i found out the girl was from new zealand and the guy was from chicago. the guy then pointed because he saw his friend walking over to meet them, so i pulled over and yelled out the window, "hey, want a ride?" and he jumped in as well. we immediately started chatting about chicago and new zealand and my time in amsterdam and they were all so fun to talk to. we exchanged phone numbers and talked about getting together later.

later in the night i ended up biking over to their house down the street from me, and hung out into the wee hours of the morning with my 3 new friends. we talked about life and love and traveling and it made me feel like i was sitting back at the hostel in amsterdam, meeting random people with the same sense of adventure i've experienced most of my life and swapping tips for where to stay when i end up in south america.

it was awesome. and i'm not saying you should always pick up people off the side of the road because you probably shouldn't most of the time. but then there is that one time, where you pass them and then turn around because you just think you should. and it ends up being great.