Travelers are like Animals

After 21 years of traveling with mainly my family, I have become quite accustomed to their way of traveling.  And as annoying as they may be at times ;) I know how they opperate.  Traveling with new people, some of whom I've only known for 10 days, is quite different, but I have come to the conclusion that regardless of who you travel with, there are four main types of travelers.

We've got the Mama Duck.  Boy or girl, this type of travel companion always needs to keep her ducks in a row.  She's got the plan and everyone else is supposed to follow.  She's made the reservations, read the maps, checked the train schedules and knows where we're going so y'all better keep up.

And if there's a Mama Duck, then there have got to be Baby Ducks.  These chickies follow blindly wherever Mama may go.  They didn't make reservation, check schedules, or even look at a map before heading out the door.  They're just along for the ride.

Then there's the Lone Wolf.  Similar to the Mama Duck in that he/she knows what's up and where to go, but isn't necessarily interested in making sure that others are following and is more inclided to shoot off ahead and let the rest be damned.  This can lead to high stress levels when the Lone Wolf discovers that she is lost in a foreign city and completely alone and also makes the Mama Duck stressed because one of her chicks has flown the coop. 

Then there is the Sloth.  This traveler lags behind, wlkas slowly, takes entirely too many picture of the same rock and is more inclined to complain than any other of the travel animals.  They are the bane of Mama Duck's existance since she is obligated to wait for the Sloth and make sure that he is still within in sight and alive.  But, Sloths are also often the best conversationalists, when they have the energy to talk that is, and are less stressed than both the Mama Duck and the Lone Wolf. 

More insights on travel companion dynamics to come I'm sure, but I thought this analogy was particularly clever so I thought I'd share.  A complete recap of my weekend to come, so stay tuned!