I looked out of the car window and saw the Argentinian flag billowing in the wind ahead. In the two seats in front of me were a Brazilian woman and her Japanese mother I’d met the night before. As the line of traffic trundled forward towards the Argentinian border I looked around I thought of my original plan for this trip: solo travelling to a few Brazilian cities for 2 weeks. Well things hadn’t quite gone to plan.

From several years of solo travelling I’ve learnt that the usual laws of reality don’t apply when you’re exploring new countries. Instead there is one constant: Unexpected Things Will Happen.

Now these can range from the weird and inconsequential (On a boat ride on the canals of Dotonburi in Osaka I witnessed a man on the side of the canal, dressed as a wolf, banging cooking tongs together whilst howling as loud as he could) to something far more meaningful that requires a “yes” on your behalf. As I’ve learnt, in these latter situations it is often best to go with the flow.

 I’m not sure what it is about being in a completely different environment from home but these cases of serendipity and opportunities to say “yes” to unusual opportunities are much more frequent than in everyday life.

One example of this was when I was visiting the small Brazilian city of Foz Do Iquacu which borders Argentina and Paraguay. I was in town to visit Iguazu National Park, which was home to the stunning Iguazu Falls; the largest waterfall system in the world. The falls can be visited from both the Brazil and Argentina sides but I’d read that getting over to Argentina by public transport was tricky as foreigners had to stamp their passports at an office that the busses often continued driving past. Not wanting to risk getting into trouble and being fined and deported, I put any hopes of seeing the falls from the Argentina side out of my mind.

On my first evening in Foz I decided to visit the Three Borders monument: a marker of the three bordering countries and a viewpoint from where you can see over the river to Argentina and Paraguay. Lots of people were getting there photo taken next to a sign of the three countries in front of the river and a system had somehow manifested itself where people in the queue behind would take whoever was at the front’s photo. I got talking to the people behind me who were due to take my photo: A Brazilian woman and her Japanese mother. After I’d had my photo taken and thanked the two, I wandered off to explore the area. A few hours later, whilst stood watching some dancers performing traditional Brazilian, Argentine and Paraguayan dances, I noticed I was being waved at from nearby: My new friends with a spare seat.

Despite a slight difficulty in communication (the Mother didn’t speak English so we were constantly translating through her daughter), we had a big chat and they revealed they were off to the Argentinian side of the falls the next morning and asked if I wanted to join them. Whilst joining two strangers in a foreign country, crossing a border into an unknown land is somewhat daunting, I only hesitated for a moment before saying yes. And it paid off! We had a great day out seeing the incredible Iguazu Falls, I got to (briefly) see part of a new country and it meant I could see the falls from both Brazil and Argentina which I wouldn’t have experienced on my own. Sure, there was a scary moment on the way back to the border when we were pulled over by Argentinian police who made us pay a “tax” (which seemed very dodgy), but it just injected a bit more adrenaline into the excursion.

Whilst I’m not advocating getting yourself into sticky situations (and I have stupidly found myself in some of these), saying yes (with at least some caution and vigilance) unlocks opportunities whilst travelling which can be far more interesting than sticking to a pre-determined plan. Whilst in Vietnam, I had a habit of meeting strangers who invited me out on their mopeds to visit nearby sights which I would’ve found difficult to see without hiring my own transport (and I was a bit terrified of riding a motorbike myself). Through some very kind and generous locals I experienced the Marble Mountains in Da Nang, the lantern festival in Hoi An, and some very good vegetarian Pho in Hanoi.

Whilst I have focussed a lot on experiences, the other important consequence of this sort of philosophy is meeting new people. Towards the end of my first trip to South-East Asia, I was enjoying myself too much so decided to change my flights and get an extra week in the region, giving me some time to dip into Cambodia for a couple of days, which wasn’t a part of the original itinerary. Whilst on a 4am sunrise tour of the Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, I met three Filipina sisters living in Singapore. Sleep-deprived, clammy from the heat, and constantly tripping over loose stone slabs, I wasn’t exactly a welcoming presence. Somehow, I manged to string enough coherent sentences together throughout the tour and we arranged to go for a pint in the local Pub Street later that evening. Three years later, that decision to change my travels and a chance meeting have turned into a friendship, resulting in me visiting my pals in Singapore, and travelling round Japan together.

It seems it is a combination of both serendipity and free will that leads to these sorts of situations whilst travelling: A happy accident + a decision to go with the flow.  Of course, having a plan and an itinerary is helpful and alleviates a lot of stress, but having a willingness to break from this structure, knowing when to say “yes”, and taking a chance, can lead to something much more satisfying.