How to spend 8 days hiking with friends, and still find things to talk about
Why do we crave travel? How is it that immersing ourselves in new parts of the world fills our cups? It’s the overwhelming combination of senses, for sure, experiencing sights + tastes + sounds + smells + touch. Our Tour de Mont Blanc hit all those notes. Glacial peaks floating on the horizon, the medley of Swiss cows, the physical exhaustion after a day of rocky ascents. Raclette and bordeaux! But for me, the most impactful part of exploring the world could never come from a book or the Travel Channel. Group travel or solo travel, it’s all about connecting with people. And connections happen in surprising ways, both with the people you meet and with your travel companions. New friends and old.
Everything about our Mt. Blanc adventure seemed immense: 16 friends hiking village to village around the largest mountain in Europe, hoofing it up and down rugged trails for six to eight hours each day for a week. We planned travel logistics and created packing lists, stocked first aid kits with moleskin and band-aids, broke in new boots and downloaded maps.
At the same time, this trip was about more than the ground we intended to cover. We were celebrating milestones and exploring new terrain, both physical and personal. Traveling without our kids, as a group of couples instead of as families, was a new adventure. While I detest the term “empty nest” many of us were feeling that emptiness, as our kids sailed off to their own new horizons.
Group travel games keep the crowd engaged
We put a little thought into the fact that we’d be spending a LOT of time together, unplugged from social media and emails and funny videos. Just…walking and talking, then eating and talking, then walking and talking some more. Would our deep well of conversation run dry? Maybe we’d start repeating stories and drive each other crazy. Or resort to putting on our headphones just to tune each other out?
Each couple chose one day of the hike to plan some sort of entertainment: a game, a challenge, or a dinner conversation topic. Some were completely goofy, like when Jeff broke out the Andy Warhol wigs he’d managed to bring along, and we all had to wear them to dinner (that evening got a little rowdy.) One day’s challenge was to find a heart-shaped rock during the hike; another day had a post-hike drinking game that required surprising skills.
For my day’s entertainment, I’d written song lyrics on index cards. Just a line or two on each card, from rock anthems and pop classics. Like…I miss the rains down in Africa or Don’t go chasing waterfalls…you get the idea. Each person chose one card, and the challenge was to use their song line in conversation during the day. Just casually sneak that line in. Two points if the other person didn’t recognize it as a song lyric.
Sometimes our activity was a simple question, like Was there a person in your past who changed the trajectory of your life? These questions led to long, slow dinners with lots of wine, real conversations that brought new insights and connections to old friendships. Once we stayed at the table long enough that our hosts broke out a local grappa to sample at the bar. Was it a “thank goodness you are finally wrapping it up!” or was it a love of seeing people enjoying the food and wine and company? I’m sticking with the latter. Connecting more deeply with old friends and sharing a local custom with new friends – that is why we travel.
