Although I'd always loved the idea of travelling and had been on holiday before, I had never done the full-blown traveller thing. I went straight from school to college, then from university to full-time employment. But at the age of 28, after a breakup, the loss of a parent and working in a stressful news environment for seven years, I decided to quit my job, put my things into storage and embark on a two-month solo trip across America.
For the first half of my trip, I stayed in a mixture of Airbnb and hostels, trying to save money where I could. The hostels offered great opportunities to meet people, but they were mostly tourists like me. So when I reached the south, I decided to download Hinge. To my surprise, most of them were attractive, easy to talk to, and willing to meet up on short notice. He was quintessentially American: tall, tanned, with very white teeth. He told me to meet him at a bar on King Street around 7 pm.
It was a particularly balmy night, and despite having showered just an hour before, I was getting sweaty. I was feeling irritable because of the heat and the fact that he was late. When he arrived, my mood lifted, and we entered the joint.
It was full of frat boys and sorority girls, already inebriated, despite the fact they only served Bud Light. Everyone was clad in the orange and purple regalia of the Clemson Tigers, the local college football team. I found myself wondering if he still had flags up on his bedroom wall in the team colours, and if there was a letterman jacket hung in the wardrobe. After all, when you think of American youths, you no doubt picture this exact scene.
The saving grace for me, however, was discovering what he did for a living. After some time talking about the Tigers and all the sports he enjoyed, Brad finally let slip that he now has a grown-up office job, working in the sales team for a hospitality booking site. I had tried to get into a top-rated Italian restaurant before I arrived in Charleston but had no joy. Might it be possible that Brad could help me get a reservation? Having no car, I was somewhat restricted in terms of getting about and exploring places beyond the centre, so I decided to take him up on the offer.
