Worth the Investment

I admire people who have the passion to travel the world. Case in point, last Thursday I was in back to back meetings all day and had to escape the craziness just to catch up on a few things. So I packed up my laptop and my ever growing to-do list and made my way one block over to Red Star Tavern. I was approached by a friendly waiter named James, and we immediately began a conversation about craft beers, what he likes, the kind of beer he brews at home and how in Europe there are only a few beers to choose from when you at a restaurant or bar. As a high school senior, James traveled to Zurich, Rome and Lugano so he could relates to what I was talking about.

I told him about my travels to Germany and Switzerland and my plans to head to northern Europe later this summer. He began to tell me how he and his girlfriend were saving money for a trip to Thailand. As of now, they have $2,000 saved which should hopefully cover airfare. Best of all, he’s told me that they really didn’t have any definitive plans as to what they were going to do when they got there. James simply said, “We’ll figure that out when we get there.” In truth, this approach to travel is becoming more and rare what with over plan trip thanks to the internet. James’s plans for Thailand is what travel should be about: Exploration and taking oneself out of their comfort level.

When the bill came, the grand total for a couple of craft beers was a whopping $9.99. I gave him a twenty dollar tip with one caveat: He can’t spend that tip on crap. It needs to go in the “Thailand trip fund” and he must email me a picture of he and his girlfriend in while there. He’s immediate response was “holy crap.” A few minutes later, he dropped by and said he texted the receipt with tip to his girlfriend and she is so excited. Not excited as I’ll be when I get the picture of them together in Thailand.