… faraway couches

Earlier, I disclosed that having almost all our friends live at least an hours-long train ride away has taken a toll on the duck who is much more social than I am. We’ve had a long talk in which I apologized for not honoring the duck’s extravert needs, and the duck promised to give me a heads-up before sending off any villain-club application forms. Like the duck, I don’t love living far away from most of our friends. But I also think it isn’t all bad. When I asserted that in our discussion, the duck demanded scientific proof. I laughed. The duck stared at me with a straight face.

Befuddled, I grabbed a pen from my neverending stash, some paper, and a couch catalog for the duck to peruse as I composed this list:

5 upsides to having faraway friends

• No more travel planning. If you have friends in numerous places, you also have an automatic list of just as many places to visit. Why travel somewhere completely unfamiliar if your friends’ current places of residence come with a built-in travel guide?
• No more meticulous travel planning. Even though I love lists, I can do without generalized sightseeing checklists. Also, I’m usually too lazy to even look them up. Instead, when we visit a friend (or travel with one who is much more travel-savvy than us) we like to go to the places they suggest. All our friends have immaculate tastes (with a duck-and-me-shaped exception, ha!). So, even if we weren’t lazy, the duck and I wouldn’t pick spots nearly as excellent as the ones our friends do.
• No more future travel planning. While the duck and I can’t be considered avid travelers, we have several moves to look back on. As have our friends. Every time a friend moves to a new place, our list of friend-approved places to visit gains a new entry.
• No more travels outside. I’m exaggerating. Even if it weren’t for the duck’s routine nocturnal whispers, I would crave fresh air at some point. However, when we travel to visit friends, we have a reason to spend quality time inside, catching up. (During our most recent friend-visiting trip, we only left the apartment for groceries and a short stroll to meet some fluffy animals – we had a new season of Stranger Things, a movie, and lots of snacks to get through.)
• No more travels from the sofa. When the duck and I (invite ourselves to) visit friends whose homes come with an adequate place for us to sleep, we often get to stay with them. If we’re put up on their comfy couch (or bed, mattress, sleeping pad, set of chairs, etc.), we hardly have to move at all. It’s perfect laziness! (Plus, we save on accommodation costs and don’t have to attend large catching-up gatherings if, unlike the duck, I don’t feel like small talk.) I yet have to sleep in our friend B’s bathtub, which I invited myself into years ago…

Before I could get to reason #6, the duck stopped me. This wasn’t even close to the scientific proof the duck had in mind. Still, it was enough to appease the duck for the time being. Except for a single vague tear slowly drying on the duck’s left cheek, there was no change to the stern expression from before. However, the duck’s promise to cease the questionable correspondence with verified villains, for now, was convincing. Indeed, I haven’t seen the duck write any covert letters since (which, I choose to believe, isn’t because the duck has gotten better at secrecy).

How do you usually choose your travel destinations? Are you more of a solo-, team- or group traveler?