My best friend Crystal and I have an insatiable wanderlust. From big city hopping and road tripping the US, to backpacking in Europe for a month (on 10 days notice), to spending time in Asia working with human trafficking victims, we have had some adventures together! One of the funniest things that ever happened was at the end of a long day, traveling from Amsterdam to Paris in July 2006. The day that started out great, with a bike tour through the Dutch countryside, but by the afternoon, we seemed to be in a downward spiral. First, we hopped on a train heading from Amsterdam to Paris which was not covered by our Eurail pass as anticipated. We got into Paris much later than expected, and were supposed to be meeting up with Crystal’s aunt who was in town. However, when Crystal called her to get directions to the hotel as planned, our cell phone died and the conversation only produced the names of the metro stop and hotel. I spoke to a policeman in the Metro station with enough broken French to get us on the right train, which was the last train running for the night. We boarded the Metro exhausted and stressed, since we had spent more money than expected on the morning Amsterdam-Paris train, been gone for 26 days, and had no clue how were going to find our hotel. But it doesn’t end there. The first mishap on the Metro: a power failure. The train stopped, the lights went off, and I stopped breathing. Luckily, the power came back moments later. Then it happened again. Once the train started yet again, two Parisian teenage boys entered the car pulling a boom box strapped to a cart that was blasting hip-hop music. The boys proceeded to rap over the music while provocatively dancing with the train’s railing. After a few minutes of this, both boys shoved paper cups in all passengers’ faces in hopes for a tip. The Parisians around us were infuriated by this, and responded with pursed lips and appalled body language. We, however, lost all self-control and erupted with laughter. The pole dancing, rapping Parisian teens managed to take all of the stress of the day away and give us a fresh perspective for the remaining two days of our trip. And we will never forget it!

(Photo: Shibuya, Tokyo 2007)