Why do I keep meeting interesting people?

Why do I keep meeting really interesting folks during my travels?

This question puzzles me.

It seems that the more obscure the location, the more interesting, entertaining, expanding and generally good-fun the people are that I meet!

Why I wonder?

Luck?

Serendipity?

A case in point....

Imagine the scene: It's a hot steamy summer evening, dead calm. The sun casts a golden steamy haze as it goes down over the Neretva river, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We're 1,350km from home.

The day had been a scorcher: 40+ degrees centigrade.

To round things off, my aircon has broken; my van has been like a sauna. The cool river water looks looks like the perfect antidote.

I watch a dragonfly traverse the wide, stony-bottomed river.

It moves swiftly and decidedly from point A to B, stops abruptly, hovers effortlessly... then he's off again.

I think he's making it up as he goes along; his next move is based solely on what he discovers from his last.

I think I like his style.

Mostar

My son and I are camped in a straightforward but tidy campsite just to the west of Mostar. The views of the river and mountains beyond are stunning.

My eldest son, recently turned 18, has already discovered the open air bar. He's drinking a beer, sharing stories, and comparing lifestyles with a local lad of similar age.

I'm digging into bread and honey, purchased at the roadside from a Bosnian beekeeper. It's a BIG jar, 3x the size of what I know as normal. In this single sitting, I've already chomped through the equivalent of a standard British honeypot, solo.

The urgency to make dinner has waned. The pre-dinner snack has become the starter, main course and desert all-in-one. I'm stuffed, satiated.

There's a satisfying chink-hisss sound as I crack open an ice cold bottle of beer.

Gulp... Gulp... Glug.

Ahhh.... bliss.

It doesn't get any better than this.

The Ancient City

We'd spent most of the day touring the ancient city of Mostar: We mooched, we ate. We soaked up the Middle-East meets West atmosphere and culture.

We sat in the shade of the famous Stari Most (Old Bridge) to escape the midday sun, and watched as the brave - and the downright crazy - jumped the 20m from the bridge to the river below.

Made even more nuts by the low water levels from the summer heat.

I've gave my son 'the look' which is shorthand for 'I know what your thinking, but don't even think it!'

Evening Approaches

Now, installed in our campsite, beds set up for the night: my son in the roof top tent above, and me in the BootCamp inside the van, it was time to relax, enjoy the evening, reflect on the day past, and consider what we might do the next day.

In the distance, the engine roar of a late arrival at the campsite.

A fully kitted-out, overland-equipped Jeep pulled into the space next to me. Impressive; I was immediately intrigued.

British number plates, the first I'd seen for some time.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Nick."

"Likewise. I'm Alex"

"Nice rig!"

And we're off, like two blokes do. Chinwagging about our 'stuff.'

Typical.

But Alex was definitely not of the 'all the gear, no idea' stereotype - he really knew his sh*t.

A professional in the overlanding scene, he builds complete vehicles, designs accessories and kit. In his spare time, he raced and adventured all over the world.

My jaw was wide open hearing the stories of the places he'd been: Europe, Africa, the Middle East ... this was next-level stuff.

The layer of trail dust on his Jeep attested to the fact that he'd arrived in Mostar by the road less travelled. This rugged, mountainous and stunningly beautiful country is as good as it gets for offroad and overland enthusiasts. By going off the beaten track, you are rewarded with wide open spaces, vast scenes and wild camping that is difficult to beat, and hard to find in more populous north western Europe.

After draining Alex dry for information: Where had he been? What route did he take? Where was he going? What kit did he use? I gave him the tour of my Volkswagen T5 Caravelle van with it's BootCamp installed.

I talked him through the time and attention I'd taken when designing it, the quality I'd strived for, the features: "Looks really good. I like it, a lot" he said.

Sometimes, as a product designer, you can spend a lot of time in your own head. So far I'd spend almost 3-months, and travelled around 10,000km doing product testing of my self-designed BootCamp. In all honesty, I'd started to loose perspective on it a bit.

A bit of external validation, from someone who knows their stuff, gave me a valuable boost to my morale, and finally put to sleep those nagging thoughts of 'why don't I just go and get a regular job!?'

At that point, we'd been talking for almost an hour, and I thought it was only fair to let Alex return to his girlfriend. After all, it was her that he was on holiday with, not me!

To Bee or Not to Bee

Returning to my honey, and vowing that this one last slice would be the last, I reflected on a bee story I'd once been told:

Apparently, within ordered bee society there are certain bees, scout bees, who basically ignore their management and simply go off wandering. By doing so, by going off-piste, they discover new food sources that the colony wouldn't have otherwise discovered.

On their return, they signal the direction of their newly found resource by performing a 'waggle dance': they shake their tail in the direction of the new flowers.

Some of the drones follow the signal, and the whole colony benefits. The majority however, ignore the signal, and go about their business: "Thanks, but no thanks. I like things just the way they are."

Adventure isn't for everyone, bee or human alike.

Whether this bee story is 100% true to the scientific facts, I don't know.

But I like it, it's a good story.

And of course, never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Daybreak

So, it's now the next day. We're getting ready to travel the next leg of our journey.

But now I have a new route to Sarajevo. I'll be following a different path, based on Alex' advice.

Perhaps not the full off-road adventure, but as much of a version of the road less travelled as our family-van-cum-adventure-vehicle can handle.

And in a couple of weeks time, our family van will be back home, doing it's day-to-day family duties: the school run, the supermarket shop, the daily commute.

With only a layer of trail dust and it's all-terrain tyres to attest to the fact that it, and it's occupants, had only recently been camped on a mountain peak, not a soul in sight, with the wide expanses and natural beauty of the Balkans laid out in front of us.

Fin.

So, is it any wonder that I keep meeting cool, interesting, expanding, informative, transformative people when I'm on my travels?

No - not all all.

That's exactly where you find them.

See you on the road...