Prepared for a rush

In the Resource section of the text college student Aaron Mashburn offers his “Making Friends Model.” Clay Shivers of Worldhum.com narrates his travel to Bangalore and his own execution of the “Making Friends Model.” Shivers explains through out his piece that for twenty years he has fantasized over a poster of a packed train ride through India. From the poster Shivers longed to reach that magical place, that place directly in the middle of local Indian culture.

Finally upon reaching Bangalore he gets his opportunity to be apart of the crowded train. As anticipation builds, the train takes off and literally is moving so slow that locals are able to out walk the train. This is what’s great about this piece. Because of this situation, a disappointing slow train ride, Shivers meets a friend, Rahim who had previously studied abroad in Pennsylvania. Figuring he has nothing to lose, Shivers follows Rahim and his advice even down dark alley ways to a cheap hostel. This trip was nothing like Shivers had imagined.

Shivers’ disappointment has a lesson for every travel writer. The writer had anticipated  such an extraordinary experience that anything just an inch below that expectation would ruin his trip. But an experienced travel writer, Shiver, shows an example of traveling for one story and coming back with four as explained in Chapter 4. First he makes  a friend and uses this local’s expertise to get a real (maybe too real) first hand account of local Indian life. He gets a taste of local foods and cultural practices.

The aspiring travel writer should observe Shivers relentless pursuit to gain a story even during disappointing experiences. Like Mashburn, Shivers jumps into a friendship and basically trusts the new friend with his life. The aspiring writer should be cautious while meeting this new “friends” as scammers and even worse individuals out there preying on travelers. Shivers shows in some situations this is the best model to gain a story.