Should I visit or not?

[fcgamer]

I received a message from one of my European buddies that his airplane was going to be making a stop in Taiwan on my friend's way back to Europe.  He had been doing some work / study program in China and had told me previously that he might be in Taiwan for a few hours, and the chance finally materialized, well will materialize tomorrow.

Now, unfortunately the airport is about 2 1/2 - 3 hours away from my residence, one direction, and since I get paid next week, I sort of hate to spend (waste) extra money to stay overnight by the airport, a costly experience.  My friend's plane arrives in Taiwan around 17:30, leaves again around 23:50, and trains back to my area of residence the last one I can feasibly take is at 21:10 or so.  And since my brother is here with me, he would be coming to visit my friend as well, since he knows the guy in person as well.

The thing that has me torn though, is that it honestly feels like a very long trip (6 hours round trip) to take and an expensive one too (I would probably spend $150-$200 by the time things were said and done), for a brief visit to my friend.  I also worry that something would go wrong,and we would end up missing each other, yet being at the same place, which would make the trip totally useless.  On the other hand, I haven't seen this friend since about 2008, though our friendship does not go back overly far (I had met him while studying abroad in his country for 4 months).

So anyway, should I visit him or not?  It doesn't seem pragmatic to go, but maybe I am just being a lazy ass and cheapening friendships, idk.

[famifan]

coin flipping. Let the unpredictable chaos decide 

[L___E___T]

Do something new, go.  I recently had a similar dilemma and was pushed to go - very glad I did.  It sounds a little like you don't want to step outside the usual comfort circle and are looking for excuses not to go?  Think of the new things you'll learn by seeing your friend and if not, take some work or hobbies to do on the train.  If nothing else treat it like a road trip with your bro maybe.  Your friend and bro will also be disappointed if you don't go, I never like to be that guy.

[P]

I agree. I understand that you don't want to spend that money, but how often can you see this friend of yours? I met friends that I haven't seen for a long time on the other side of the world sometimes even if I could see them only for under 5 minutes. If you don't have serious financial trouble, I say it's worth it just because friends is very important.

In my experience good things (unexpected or not) may happen when you do something, while if you don't do something usually nothing happens.

[senseiman]

I`ll play the Devil`s advocate and say no.

That is an awful lot of time and money to spend just to basically say hi to somebody who you are only somewhat close with.  If it was a casual trip across town for just a few dollars in transport I would do it, or maybe if it was going to be a couple of days and you could do some sightseeing together or something, but it sounds like you`d probably have to hang out near (or in) the airport.

It is probable that your friend doesn`t know how much of an inconvenience he is putting you to by asking this, in his mind he might think this is just a casual thing which won`t inconvenience you.

[fcgamer]

Just as an update, my brother and I decided not to go.  In some ways I feel slightly bad about it, but at the same time, it just didn't feel like the right time to be going.  There were just too many uncertainties, and after looking at things closely, it just seemed that there was a big chance that things would not turn out so well.