No Translation Necessary

I have been sitting in the pub of hour hostel for several hours. My company has varied between some Australians, a couple British guy, and my Canadian hostel-mate. Despite any historical disagreements between our nations, the lot of us are enjoying each others company as we nurse what remains of our sickness from the bar crawl last night.

Times like these are what trips like this are really about. The whole idea behind travel abroad is that we learn more about the world beyond our country, and how better to do that than to seek to understand the people who live in it.

Honestly, in the case of our racially similar pals from the pub, our similarities vastly outweighed our differences. Fish and chips and kangaroos are hardly significant when you are having a conversation about Survivor Man or Segway scooters.

Obviously, the commonality of our language is a big part of the reason we have so much in common, but there are groups of people within our own country who don't get along with each other. People from Salt Lake City and people from Las Angeles are arguable no less different than the average American and the rest of the Western world.

I have finished a liter and a half bottle of water since I sat down and finished a box of pizza. The Brits are knocking down a couple beers before they go to the bar down the way, and the Aussies are talking about their plans for the coming days. The Canadian observes quietly, but has know issue with mentioning that I had fallen off the top bunk my first morning in Prague. We're all laughing and enjoying ourselves. Times like these, its easy to get to know the world outside our country.