7 - Accompanying

Summary

Fino al momento in cui li ho visti, ora, i miei probabili futuri compagni di viaggio, non sapevo della loro esistenza, nemmeno la presupponevo. […] Essendo domani molto lontano da casa, solo, il mio gruppo si trasformerà immediatamente nella mia improvvisata famiglia, con naturalezza: con loro mangerò, dormirò, camminerò sotto il sole, guarderò il mondo che non ho mai visto.

(Piccolo, 14–15)

(Until the moment I saw my probable future travelling companions, until now, I knew nothing of their existence; I did not even suspect it. […] Tomorrow, since I will be very far from home, alone, my group will immediately become my improvised family, naturally: with them I will eat, sleep, walk in the sun and see the world that I have never seen before.)

Sitting in a Malpensa Airport lounge, Francesco Piccolo speculates about the companions who will join him on his package tour, pondering how they will soon be transformed from unknown strangers into intimate acquaintances. Piccolo emphasizes the intensity and intimacy of sharing a journey and its powerful experiences with others, recognizing that such connections form rapidly, but also dissolve equally rapidly at journey's end (15–16). Travel is a temporary and special state, qualities that shape all travel encounters, but perhaps those in this chapter more than others, since the characters who accompany travellers share the intense experiences of the journey.