Growing up, you often hear of kids having make-believe friends.  This was not something I ever did.  Being one of five kids (a family of 7, plus a cat, dog and a few fish,) there were enough things in the house to entertain me.  I didn’t need to create any more. Another person packed in the van ride down to the shore for vacation?  No thanks, I’ll pass.

On this trip, however, I notice myself often  referencing our “friends back in the hotel.”  I didn’t even realize I was doing it until one day Julia stated “Man, these friends at the hotel sure are a lazy bunch of losers. Do they ever leave the room?”   I asked her what she was talking about, utterly confused.  “These ‘friends’ you always need to ‘check in with’ before committing to any situation.” She was totally correct and I hadn’t even noticed I was doing it.  Whenever we would get pressed in a situation to buy a tour or do something we didn’t want to, without a second thought I’d say “Oh shoot.  Our friends are at the hotel right now, so we need to check with them first.  We’ll be sure to get back to you though.” Curtsey and exit stage left.

This lie must have been born when I was traveling alone at the start of my trip.  If I felt like someone was asking a bit too many questions or details, I’d casually remark about the friends I was visiting in the city.  I never wanted to appear vulnerable and always wanted to give a sense of confidence.  There is safety in numbers.  Even if those numbers are totally false and completely fabricated.

Our imaginary friends were incredibly useful one day in China.  We were walking around Tiananmen Square when two women approached us.  They talked to us a bit, then proceeded to tell they were teachers who were learning English.  After a brief interaction, they asked Julia and I if we would like to  go to get coffee with them so they could practice their English.  We were so tired and exhausted from the day.  Neither of us wanted to do it and we just looked at one another.  “Ohh. We would love to,” I started as Julia watched me knowingly, “but our friends are waiting for us to go to dinner.”  “What restaurant?” they asked us.  Hmm kinda weird, I thought.  “We are meeting them back at the hotel so I don’t even know!” I said light-heartedly.  “What time?” they asked.  Well, now this is weird.  I had no idea what time it was.  Do I say 7:00? 6:30?  Aim low, I told myself. “Um, at 6:00 I think.”  The woman looked at her watch; 5:45. Nailed it. Despite having zero desire to get coffee with these girls, I still felt a bit guilty blowing off these aspiring English teachers.  I offered a small compromise and said,  “If you want to practice your English, you could walk with us for a bit while we walk to our hotel.”  “No thanks, bye,” they remarked while walking off.  It was a strange interaction, but international travel exchanges can be a bit strange at times, especially when dealing with a language barrier.

We got back to the hostel and mentioned the whole exchange to our friends at the front desk.  “Oh no,” they started,  “This scam is quite common and a major problem here!” They went on to explain:  People will approach to strike up a conversation, and say they would like to practice English.  They invite you to coffee or tea at a restaurant who is in on the scam.  Next, they order items without presenting a menu and thirty minutes later you are presented a bill of hundreds of dollars for the “special” tea or coffee you have just enjoyed.  I had never heard of it before, but apparently it’s a classic.  We felt like we had dodged a huge bullet.  On that day our imaginary friends came up big for the win.  Even if they are lazy group who never leaves the hotel.