Wild World

“Oh baby, baby it’s a wild world.”
                        -    Wild World by Cat Stevens

While I was in the Toronto airport, waiting for the plane to London, I was listening to a shuffled playlist of all my songs on my ipod and this lovely tune came on. I was happy to hear such a mellow melody as I had been waiting for over 4 hours for this darn flight! Yet, as I listened to the words of the song, I realised that it wasn’t a soothing message at all, for the situation I found myself. What Cat Stevens is essentially doing in this song is warning his lady friend of the dangers of the world. So, as I sat in the airport facing the large window that displayed the giant plane I would soon be getting on to take me out into this “wild world”, this song wasn’t exactly as calming as I would have liked. It is rather discouraging that one of his first lines says,

“A lot of nice things turn bad out there.”

However, now that I have successfully come out on the other side of the first day of my travels, I have concluded that Mr. Stevens is a little too world-weary.
I completely disagree with his verse,

“It’s hard to get by just upon a smile, girl.”

In my experience, this is just simply not the case. If, by ‘smile’, he means being nice, well, as a traveller I am inclined to reject this theory. 
Don’t get me wrong, I am not being naïve in thinking that I can smile my way through a successful travelling experience. But I truly believe that it is not hard to get by when being a kind person. Actually, I think that the truth is quite opposite to what the song says. It is much easier to do well in this world by being pleasant than it is by being pessimistic and unsociable. Wouldn’t you agree? Like, get real Cat Stevens.
Yesterday alone, I experienced many cases where my happy demeanour played a roll in making my life easier. Let me eloborate.
When checking my baggage I was shocked to hear that my carry-on was only allowed to be 5 kilos when I thought it was allowed to be 11. I looked at the Air Transat regulations (because that’s who I booked with) and I was flying with an airline that was not Air Transat. So my carry-on was 4 kilos over. And on top of that, my checked baggage was 1 kilo over. The penalty for weight overage was 20 dollars per kilo. I had to pay 100 dollars because the man behind the desk told me I should check both bags. My response to that was “You’re joking, right?” I seriously thought he was pulling my leg. And when he assured me that it was not a joke I am sure my face demonstrated a not-so-impressed look. BUT, I didn’t put up a fuss and got out my credit card. And surely for that reason he lowered my fine by 20 dollars. Woohoo!
Later on in the day I was delighted to meet up with two friends. One friend is from back home (Calla) and the other is one that I met cherry picking this summer (Milo). I have to say, Calla is turning out to be a perfect travelling partner. Milo, who is from England, was so helpful in showing us around the Southbank in London and he even brought us to the Tate Modern Art Gallery for something to do while he went to meet up with a friend. He took us to the outdoor Christmas market along the water where we had a delicious Bratwurst sausage from a German sausage tent and watched kids play in a human snow globe. Now, had I not been a pleasant person to Milo upon meeting him this summer and had I not befriended Calla back home, my first day here in London would not have been as rewarding.
Finally, last night we stayed in a strangers home; courtesy of couchsurfing.org. Now, based on the lyrics of his song, Cat Stevens would not have been impressed with this decision (and neither was my father).

“Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there, just remember there’s a lot of bad anywhere.”

I am happy to say that Sami, the guy we stayed with, was very nice and extremely welcoming – a newfound friend, indeed. Yet, keeping in mind that the experience could have been less fortunate, Calla and I had a code word to say in case either of us felt uncomfortable. That word was not needed in this particular case and everything worked out well.

See! Being adventurous, yet cautious as well as utilizing your smile can get you far in travelling.

Now, in Brockley, I sit in a quaint little coffee shop with comfy couches and eccentric artsy décor. Calla and I are about to get on a train back into the city to run some errands before Natalie arrives later today. We have decided not to stay at Sami’s again tonight because it is a little too small to add another person for sleeping comfort levels. So, we are going to look for a hostel to sleep at tonight.

But for now, I will enjoy this relaxing atmosphere with reggae music and hot coffee – in this not-so-wild world.