After traveling the world for 11 months I got to be pretty good at killing time. I can't tell you how many hours I rode on buses, boats, cars. Or how much time I spent waiting in bus stops and in airports. I wish I would have kept count...With so much time on your hands you start to think of different ways to spend your time. I listened to my Ipod hours upon hours, and also read numerous books.
Before I left on my trip I had two goals. The first was to learn Spanish and the second was to learn to play the guitar. After traveling 7 months I still had not even attempted to play the guitar. I was 
starting to think to myself that I was wasting time by not getting a guitar. I had rented a bike in Hue, Vietnam and had been riding all over the city. As I was returning from the countryside I passed a guitar shop in the downtown area. I stopped my bike and asked how much the guitar was. The sales lady brought out her calculator to show me how much it was and it was, and it turned out to be 16,000 Dong ($10 Us Dollars). I couldn't believe it. I rode my bike back to the guest house and got my money and went back to the shop. I bought the guitar and a carrying case for it and I was on my way!
I strapped the guitar on my back and had no idea what I was going to do with it. I didn't even know how to play one chord! What I soon found out is that a ton of travelers do know how to play the guitar. So I was now carrying a backpack and a guitar which was not too bad to travel with. The guitar was a great conversation starter. I can't tell you how many times people came up to me to ask to play my guitar. I never said no, but all I asked them was to teach me some chord, notes, or practice scale. I had people playing my guitar on the beach, at bus stations, at hostels. I started picking up some chords, simple songs, and practice scales.
One time, I was hanging out and waiting for a bus in Malaga, Spain. I was sitting on a bench outside by myself and just playing what I had learned. A local from Malaga come over to me and said, "puedes tocar flamanco?" (can you play flamanco music) Of course I couldn't since I had only been playing for about 2 months. So he sat down and played a little bit and then showed me the chords. Then he was on his way. It was like people were magnetized to my guitar!
I am not going to lie, the first month was kind of rough. My fingers were pretty beat up, and it is frustrating, but I had nothing else to do! I had time to kill at different spots around the world so I kept playing and playing! I got home and showed the guitar to one of my friends who is really good. He was impressed that it was $10. He said it is a decent guitar and that you can't even get the same guitar for $100. So it turned out to be a deal! I am not going to say I am good at the guitar, but the guitar turned out to be my favorite way to kill time on my trip!
