Meet Ali

This is Ali.

Ali is from Iran but is Canadian, he is traveling to Vietnam to meet his wife who is there visiting family, he spits a bit when he talks, and he's a pretty big fan of Bernie Sanders. 

When I first sat down there was no one next to me, and I was happy about that, because a little extra room never hurts. When Ali sat down I was a little perturbed that someone had intruded on my personal (extra) space, but as with all of life's other minor inconveniences, I dealt with it. 

We didn't talk for the first 3-4 hours of the flight, we were both too busy eating the (surprisingly decent) meal that China Airlines provided us and trying to catch some shuteye. Once I realized that the next 7 hours would be incredibly boring if I didn't talk to anyone I decided to ask whether or not Taiwan was his destination or a layover. 

We ended up talking about all sorts of things. He told me a great deal about Ho Chi Minh City, where to stay, how to haggle with shop owners. We talked about Iran and his life back there. We talked about government and conspiracy theories and what the role of the government should be. I told him I'm planning on going to Austria later this year; he has a brother that lives there, a sister in Germany, two brothers in France and two in England (I'm assuming that's all of them, but who knows?). After explaining how this was my first time traveling abroad he gave me some tips for dealing with stomach flu from eating street food in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and where to get a cell phone set up. 

I'm glad that I got to know Ali. We are both going the same place; maybe we will meet up again, maybe not. But it just goes to show you how beneficial it can be to open yourself up to a stranger and let them open themselves up to you. You both may learn something.