Sunday, November 13, 2011

Day #5 - Kindness

Day 5 of 30 Days of Indie Travel
One of the greatest joys of travel can be the random acts of kindness you’ll receive from total strangers. Have you ever found kindness from strangers in unexpected places?


This post, for me, is very related to the recent one on mistakes.
I was at a pretty low point after being robbed. I had considered returning to Cairo early and calling my vacation a bust. I had been robbed at a club in Madrid and my prepaid days at the hostel were up because I was supposed to be leaving that day for Salamanca. The manager told me I could stay until I got everything sorted out. Thank you Mr. Manager.


I then set out, with 2 Euro given to me by the woman at the front desk, to the embassy. I explained everything to them and they were of not very much help. But as I was leaving the window to return to my hostel, a woman approaches me. She says she heard my story and she had the same thing happen to her a few weeks ago, except her passport was also stolen. She puts 10Euro in my hand and tells me to ave some lunch. Did I mention that I hadn't eaten all day? Thank you, random woman in embassy.


I returned to my hostel after having eaten a small lunch, hoping to save a few of my Euros for dinner, since I wasn't expecting my wire transfer until the next day. I headed to the computer room, which you have to go through the kitchen to get to, and there were people cooking dinner. I made a comment about it smelling delicious and another woman made some comment I don't remember (but that involved me spending money) and I told her I didn't have any because I'd been robbed. She then insisted on taking me to dinner. And wouldn't let me pay her back when I got my wire transfer the next day.  Thank you random woman in my hostel. I think her name was Tammy.


These bits of kindness made that terrible day a bit less terrible, and although being robbed did nearly ruin my first solo travel experience, these few people kept me sane that first day and that was a big help.

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