On the plane, destination Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
I sat next to this really cool girl named Remsha on the plane. She was traveling home to Pakistan after ending her freshman year at DePauw University in Indiana. During the 13-hour ride, we started up a conversation.
I could go into the details of it, but there was one part in particular that stood out. We brought up the topic of past trips, and she offhandedly said something pretty wise: the aspect of traveling that really sticks in one's brain is not a country's architecture or cultural history, but instead the human interaction within the location's borders.
This is important to remember. While other factors still greatly influence a trip, people's treatment creates the true experience in the end. Not just in travel; it applies to pretty much any situation. It's the people you meet that mold a positive or negative memory.
I don't know if Remsha realized it, but only a few hours into my trip, she was already proving her theory correct. A simple conversation can, and evidently did, leave a lasting impact.