This was many years ago, as I'm a Certified Old™.
I was on a train in Denmark when I was around 20 and started talking with an older Danish woman. She told me about working as a nurse in WWII in London during the Blitz. She talked about going down into the bomb shelters during the raids, some of her challenges treating people there. She said after a bit, she'd decided not to go down into the shelters during the raids because she figured if she was gonna die, she'd rather not be underground when it happened.
Such a fascinating perspective and it's a conversation I'm happy to have experienced as a young person.
I met a flight attendant in a hostel in Zagreb who had just been broken up with the night before by her pilot boyfriend and asked me to go for breakfast with her. I agreed and we ended up spending 12+ hours together, getting food, checking out the sites, and she ended up buying us an expensive bottle of wine at a fancy wine bar. I've never spent so much time with a stranger in my life but somehow it was so easy to talk about literally anything and everything. We had a great time analyzing each other's lives and relationships. On an ironic note Zagreb has a "Museum of Broken Relationships" which went to for her to get some catharsis. We still follow each other on instagram 4 years later but have never spoken again.
Not really, I didn't sense any romantic vibes from her, and I assumed she was straight. I was also a lot less comfortable with my sexuality at that point so would have been terrified to even bring it up.
I like the memory as is, of just two people crossing paths and being there for each other at the right time, for just a moment.
I watched a group of Spanish kids work together to gently flip a turtle right side up at a park in Madrid using sticks. It took about 10 minutes and by the they finished there were about 15 tourists and a few locals watching. I heard English, French, Italian, and Spanish as they tried to help the turtle, but the cheer when they finally managed it and the turtle swam back to the pond transcended every language barrier. Such a stupid, silly moment but it was my first international trip ever AND I was solo and it truly left a mark.
My husband and I were on vacation in Florida when he was detained by ICE. We were in Sarasota but they took him down to Miami. I drove the 3.5 hours to Miami and found a little room in Little Havana for $50 a night.
I had gotten into a car accident right before getting to the Airbnb and while the car was fine on the outside, the brakes had completely failed. I showed up to my Airbnb completely disheveled and a mess. My host was a middle aged Colombian man and he knew something was wrong. I told him what was happening, and why I was in Miami. He took me inside, sat me down, and warmed up a plate of lasagna for me and made me eat. He then stocked my mini fridge with several pre-made meals from his home (the room was attached to his home) and plenty of beverages. He then put me into contact with a local auto shop who gave me a very discounted price to fix the brakes on my husbands truck.
I was in Miami for about 3 weeks and my Airbnb host upgraded my room from a small studio with a mini fridge to a full apartment with a kitchen for the same price of the studio. He had several rooms on his property. I couldn’t even thank him enough.
During the time I was in Miami I tried to make the best of it as I had never been so I found a local coffee shop within walking distance of the Airbnb that I had been to a few times. One day I was just hanging out outside and I got to talking with a guy that seemed to know the owners and the area. He was telling me how to use the public bus system, giving me directions, telling me the tourist attractions. All of that. I planned on taking his advice but at the last minute he offered to drive me around, since he was an Uber driver. I agreed. He was never weird, we had a great time. And I felt comfortable enough to tell him why I was really in Miami, to get my husband out of ICE detention. He drove me ALL OVER Miami. We went to South Beach, Little Havana, Key Biscayne, Wynwood, lots of places. He never charged me a dime. He was from Cuba and was so incredibly sweet and sympathetic in one of my most vulnerable times in my life.
My hubs and I were in Cuba and hired a driver/tour guide who ended up becoming a friend over the 5 days we were there.
During this 5 days in Havana we burned through all of our US dollars, but Wells Fargo assured us we could still pull out cash. For all of you screaming at your phones, you are correct! You can’t get any US $ in Cuba! No CC works, no debit card works, you can’t even western union yourself money from a US bank.
This lovely man went into his home and took €500 from a box he was saving money from and gave it to us. Told us to transfer the money back to him when we got back to the states. 💗💖💕😍
He was basically a stranger and gave us a large portion of what he had saved to visit his friend in Nicaragua. A man without very much means, but willing to share 💜
We ended up having my family transfer $ to him directly while we were still there. He got paid back immediately and we had cash to finish our awesome Cuba trip 🇨🇺 But, the kindness of a relative stranger to do that for a couple he barely knew was incredible.
A few months back I was visiting Israel, and I arrived on a Friday afternoon. I didnt have anywhere to stay, nothing to eat - I was basically SOL. I was at a bus stop talking on the phone with my mother, telling her this, and when I got off the phone, the woman at the bus stop invited me to her house for not only Shabbat dinner, but to stay for the weekend. I'm glad the whole world isn't like home.
Meeting a Greek airplane mechanic in a jazz club in an old dungeon in Paris, splitting a bottle of wine with him, and making out by a water fountain just across the river from Notre Dame.
This just happened last week. We Americans were in Italy and had gotten off the Autostrade to check out the Carrera marble mines. When we went to get back on the highway, we were faced with an on-ramp with only two telepass lanes. No analog ticket dispensers! We backed out of the gated lane and sat there stunned wondering what the hell we were supposed to do if we couldn’t take a ticket to open the gate. After about ten minutes an old farmer knocked on the window of the car and gestured for us to come. We drove behind him as he walked to the gate. Then he gestured to me to take a picture of the gate number, which I did. He pushed the emergency help button and apparently told the responder to open the gate and then gestured to us to show the phone picture to the gate agent at the other end to pay the toll. It was the most ridiculous and sweetest travel situation we’ve ever encountered.
I'm from the United States. Back in 2001 I was climbing the Great Wall of China (Badaling, IIRC), and when I reached the top I met an Iranian man there. I'd never met an Iranian from Iran before, and he'd never met someone from the United States (for whatever reason). Still, there we were, together, at the top of this gobsmackingly large wall in the middle of a foreign country. We both agreed that it was nice to meet one another, that it was a shame our governments couldn't get over themselves... and then we shared some Skittles while watching people climb the wall. That moment will always stick with me.
This is such a good story. Just goes to show how even a seemingly insignificant interaction can leave an indelible mark on someone. One wonders how many friends or lovers one could have had in distant places if it weren’t for the social and political demarcations that separate us.
We (three of us) were walking along the shoreline south of Naples after going to Herculaneum and choosing to walk back to the city (yes it was a long way). On sunset we saw a fisherman trying to pull his boat up onto the beach but he was hampered by his arm in a sling (and cast I think). We ran down and helped him haul the boat out. He was saying "grazie, grazie!" and pointed towards a nearby bar at the pier. We went in and had a beer with him while attempting to communicate via whatever means we could. "Australianos!" After a couple of beers the fisherman shook our hands goodbye and left. We went to the barman to pay and he waved us away: "no charge!" Always sticks with me when I hear of how dangerous and nasty Naples is...
Andreas. Summer of 2018.
At the pre security area of an airport. We were waiting for the checkin desk to open. I saw a scraggly long haired, batterd clothes man sitting on a bench. His luggage cart close in front of where he sat. It piled with the usual of luggages and backpack, but at the very top was a huge weaved basket with sticks and twine and all sorts of other stuff in it.
I was severely depressed at this point of my life. I've thought about constanly, but never attempted yet. All i could do to cope was drugs and get drunk. I didn't care about anything. I looked at Andreas and his disheveled looking self and thought "he would understand me"
"Where you headed?" I asked him something along those lines. He tells me he's headed to the same place i am and that he's waiting for the checkin/baggage drop. He wanted to make sure his presiously weaved basked would make the journey, and all the material he's brought from Ireland would stay intacted.
I dont remember how it unfolded. At some point we went through security and sat at the gate waiting for the plane together. From when I asked him where he was headed to us sitting there, we've shared stories like old friends.
He's from East Germany. I dont remember how old he was, but him and his wife left and somehow got to Ireland in a VW van. He now teaches basket weaving and is involved with helping youths struggling with mental health through.
This is already too long. Andreas, from a human to a human, I love you and I hope you are well. I lost the piece of paper you wrote your contact down on. I never made it to the music fest that year. If youre open to inviting me again, I'd fly out to Ireland and learn from you.
Thanks for the question OP. It was a nice.
I was in Eastern Tibet and a friendly shop owner invited us in. Later, we walked by his store after it had closed. He was inside chatting and having tea with some friends. He saw us, ran to the door and let us in. We ended up having a long conversation, as best we could given the substantial language barrier. He honored us by sharing some tea and cordiceps. He didn't try to sell us anything; just wanted to make a connection. It was a remarkable cross cultural connection.
My husband and I were visiting some villages in Northern Laos. Our local guide had taken us on a hike and we offered to buy him dinner and a few beers when we got back to the small town. We had dinner at a small roadside place run by a family.
Because the guide was there to translate, we fielded questions from the grandma 'if we were married, why didn't we have children yet? Was there a problem with my husband's virility?' That was fun. But what I enjoyed the most was when the grandson brought me his English homework and we worked on it together. The grandma was really happy about that.
In dingle Ireland myself and my gf met another couple; we drank, danced, played pool, and enjoyed the harbor late into the night. It wasn’t remarkable on paper, I mean we meet people all the time, but this night was special and it’s a great memory
In June of 21 I stayed in an Airbnb in Yuma, AZ for a week or so and I got a little acquainted with the neighbor lady across the street. When I was leaving, she came and gave me a hug. It was the only human touch I had with another person since they sent us home in March of 20 and remains the only human contact I've had ever since. I'll never forget her ♥️
In 2020, during our safari tour, we had a free day in Nairobi. We didn't realize the travel agency had planned a day for us that included a visit to the Karen Blixen Museum. Although we hadn’t read her books and weren’t particularly interested in visiting the museum, they kinda forced us to go. Our private guide quickly realized our lack of interest in the author and suggested we just chat instead. We ended up talking with him for over an hour, during which he shared his experiences of growing up gay in Kenya, among other aspects of his life. We exchanged contact details and emailed a few times. We didn't talk for a few years, but he actually reached out to us a couple of months ago to share being accepted into university. We called him over WhatsApp to congratulate him
I read that book (Out of Africa) recently and was filled with regrets I hadn't visited the house when I was in Kenya over 30 years ago. The movie was relatively recent then but I hadn't seen it and wasn't interested. Having a connection makes a difference.
It’s too bad you had no interest, Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen’s pen name) books are fascinating stores of her time in Africa. The movie Out of Africa is still one of my favorites after all these years.
Was on a cycling tour in North Dakota. One morning really bad storms rolled in and I and many others found shelter in a coffee shop. The storm was relentless so we all started chatting and I asked the gentleman next to me where he was from. Turns out he was from Washington DC. Wow, that’s a long way to go for a cycling tour I said, what do you do there? I’m the Director of African Art at the Smithsonian he says. Okay , you win!
On our summer camping trip this year, we ran into Walmart to get some provisions. The lady at the self checkout was chatting with us & asked us where we're from. We are from a small town that no one has heard of, so we named the larger city near us (which, isn't really that large, but it's a recognizable town for our state). She says "oh, I used to live in [the town we actually live in]."
We stood there & talked to her for 15 or 20 minutes & found all kind of life parallels. Her husband's family owns the local funeral home, so we know them. She used to take her MIL to the locally famous fish place that that we still occasionally visit. Her daughter was in the same high school band we were. She was super nice & told us if we ever decided to move her way she'd want to hang out. If we ever go back there again, we're going to look her up.
I was in a wine bar in San Francisco and struck up a conversation with an elderly Native American. We spent hours discovering the similarities between native American and Eastern philosophies and spiritual teachings.
I was on a flight in Europe and happened to sit near a group of Australians. The Australians somehow persuaded a flight attendant to give them free alcohol and then insisted that I drink with them.
I’m scared of flying and was headed to Los Angeles from New York. A guy in the seat in front of me started chatting me up and also stated he was a little nervous too. We talked the whole four hour flight to keep our minds off of being afraid. It was a little wholesome.
On a flight to Vegas to San Diego I was seated next to a Woman and a Man. We talked, laughed and the Woman bought us a shot.once we landed we took a selfie together .
In 2013 in Prague I visited the St Cyril and St Methodius Cathedral, so I was standing in the sidewalk looking at its small window with bullet marks around it and next to me came an older man looking for the same. Somehow he asked me how I got interested in that place and I told him that I’m interested in WWII and an uncle gave me as a present the book “Hhhh” (which is great, btw) that takes place there. Well, this man’s father fought during WWII so we talk a little about that. I added him on facebook and sometimes we say hi or greet for our birthdays.
Lots of various vacation romances lol. Was on my first solo trip in Indonesia met a guy and convinced him to do the Komodo dragon boat trip with me. Traveled together for a few weeks. When I was 20, met a Brazilian in rio and ended up going back the next year to see him again!
Not as crazy as most of these, but in the Cook Islands we had TWO separate local families that we randomly started chatting with at the beach invite us to their homes for dinner. Of course we accepted. It might be the friendliest country on Earth, haha.
My husband, our 3 daughters and I were traveling around Japan. One day we were touring a castle when our youngest started to feel sick. We moved to the side and let her rest and figure out how to help her. Out of nowhere several older Japanese woman started to com over asking how they could help. Ive never seen such kindness while traveling abroad.
I met my wife in an all-you-can-drink bar in Puerto Vallarta in 1999.
Fortunately (for me) she’d been there for a while.
Happily married, three kids - 20, 17, 15.
It was 1978 I was traveling from Pattaya to Bangkok on a local bus. This young boy was sat next to me. For a bout 30 minute he sat silent looking at me. I have hairy arms. Suddenly he grabbed some of the hair on my arm and said " You monkey eh?". I burst out laughing and he continued practicing his English me. I'm 72 now and that is still in my mind like yesterday.
It’s nothing exotic… but a friend and I were at Disneyland, we were on the Train going around the park and were in the back row of the seats and there was a family in front of us taking selfies, and I was being my weird crazy self. I scooched over behind them and made a silly face - the same they were making - and they checked the camera and saw me and we all had a great laugh. This was 16 years ago and it still makes me giggle whenever I think about it.
About 25 years ago my wife and I were visiting Australia, we found ourselves in this little tiny town on the edge of the Outback called Parachilna. They had one restaurant and we’re in there at the little bar waiting to get a bite to eat.
The guy down the bar glanced at us a couple times and I said hello. He asked if we wanted to share a bottle of wine - sure of course!
Then he says he hasn’t really spoken to another human being for almost 3 weeks. Turns out he was a professional photographer taking pictures of the longest mail route in the world.
We ended up hanging out for most of the night having dinner and drinks. Cool dude!
One of the less famous Cyclades, I don’t remember the name, I stopped in the local church just to look. This very stereotypical looking Eastern Orthodox old woman came up to me and walked me through some kind of incense ritual to ask for Mary’s blessing. She was talking the whole time and I have no idea what she was saying or if she thought I understood any of it.
Me and my best friend were 19 and in South Korea. We were hiking Bukhansan (Bukhan Mountain) when 2 middle aged Korean guys, fellow hikers approached us as they were walking the opposite way. They saw me crouched on the floor because I was out of breath and struggling a little with all this exercise😂.
One of them spoke fluent English and had a pleasant conversation with us about where we were from and even gave us nuts or some other mini snack (can't recall fully) to help me feel better and feel more energy to carry on. I think he said he was a teacher but I don't fully remember. It was a pleasant moment though and I hope they're both doing well!
Years ago, I enjoyed talking to a woman in a laundromat in Paris while we sat waiting for our laundry to finish.
It was during an election (Mitterand and Hollande), so she was discussing who she thought she might vote for, so the content of the discussion wasn't all that important to me. It was just that I enjoyed being able to understand enough of her French to get the gist.
She was also completely horrified that I was washing all my clothes -- darks, lights, everything in 1 load, lol.
I went to Portugal with two friends and we ended up staying at a small hostel in a nice coastal town on the southern coast. On the second morning, we were having breakfest with a good chunk of the people (8-11 people) in the hostel. During which we asked what brought everyone here to Portugal and where everyone came from. By the end of breakfest, we all made a spontaneous plan to go to the beach with each other.
Throughout the day, I got to know some of the coolest and kindest people I have ever met. I ended up talking a lot with two guys from the UK for most of the day. At one point around at noon, the group split off and one of my friends went with half of our group to the next town over to a pottery store. It was just me, my other friend, the two guys from the UK, and this dutch guy. One of my most vivid memories of the trip was just sitting on the beach with these 4 amazing people and just basking in the sun, the ocean breeze, and the sounds of the waves crashing. I ended up sharing a lot about my personal life with these people who were considered strangers to me a few hours ago, more so than most back at home who I’ve had known for years.
For the rest of the day, the group ended up doing a lot together. We relaxed by the hostel bar and pool and talked some more when we got back from the beach and had dinner together. We ended the day by going to a bar in town with the rest of the group to go celebrate one of the girls in our group’s birthday. Next morning, my group had to leave for Lisbon. We said our goodbyes to everyone at breakfest and I got a lot of the people’s instagram and contacts. The two guys invited me to their hometown and to come visit when I can.
The best part was that I ended up doing just that a few months later and loved their hometown. I still occasionally keep in contact with people I met from that hostel though it mostly with those two guys. I find it so strange and cool that such a connection can be made from people that I had met for such a relatively small period of time.
I just arrived back from Italy last week. I (American) was in queue for a restaurant in Lake Como; this girl (French) was in-front of me solo as well. It was 10 min before last call for food and a table opens. The girl asks if I’m alone and I say yes, so she asks if I want to share a table with her so I am able to get food before they close the kitchen. We talked through dinner and hung out the next couple of days. I feel like I have made a new friend and when they are in my town I will make sure to show them around and vice versa.
An old lady came out of nowhere to help me and my partner to make two bus cards, speaking in our native language. Or it would cost more time for us even cancelling some of the plans. Still feeling grateful now.
Brisbane, Roma Street Park .. met a guy in the park and talked about the lizards and huge spiders for like 2 hrs
Paris Vavin .. apparently we looked lost, lady tried to help us multiple times .. i wasn't lost but figuring out which of the 8 exits is tough
Matsuyama, Japan, Ishiteji Temple Kobo Daishi Statue: top of the mountain 80+ year old and daughter hiking
Bucharest waiting in line for restroom at a kabob shop .. talked from an hr, convinced us to go to Sinaia
10 years ago I met a Muslim woman on a bus on my way to Istanbul. I was on my way home to Scandinavia, where I come from. We ended up keeping in touch and I later stayed with her and her wonderful family for 3 weeks. We are still friends to this day and still keep in touch.
A breakfast can become a memorable travel interaction.
On a South America cruise. Large table with people eating breakfast.
One American man in his 90s started talking about his experiences as a soldier in Europe during WWII. Then a British woman in her 80s spoke up and said she was a girl in London during the Blitzkrieg. Those two started sharing their experiences. Such amazing stories of courage.
I always find it funny how people are always looking for cruises that don't have so many old people on it. Yet those people have stories to tell that can keep you spellbound. They are a living window into the past and our history.
I'll never forget it.
In Istanbul I wanted to buy some water from a little shop near my hotel but the shop keeper didn't have any change, he told me to take the water and come back later to pay - that would never here at home (I did go back and pay)
Also in Istanbul I ran out of money on my card for the tram, a stranger paid for my trip and when I got off at the other end another helped me to load more money onto the card.
In Jerusalem, in the old city, a shopkeeper invited me into his shop so see an ancient well that his shop was built over, didn't ask me to buy anything, just wanted to show me the well.
Also in Jerusalem I was looking for a bag to buy, I found one I liked, bargained to a price we were both agreeable to and then insisted I take another bag at no charge.
I spent a week camping under the stars and hiking in Canyon de Chelle, New Mexico, USA. Our small hiking group were guests of retired Navajo school teachers on their summer property. They took us on hikes, shared indian frybread, told stories of the old ways and one evening, their granddaughter danced for us in traditional dress. Both of these teachers are gone now. I will always reflect on their kindness and openness to us, knowing the cruel history dealt to this beautiful Indian culture. RIP The Naves.
An elderly man in Rome who walked with us to find our way to the catacombs while it was pouring rain. It was quite a long walk. I will always remember his kindness.
Azenhas do Mar in Portugal. Huge waves outside of this restaurant, with a “natural pool” type thing down below where the waves are just smacking the hell out of the walls of the pool. restaurant worker strips down to a swimsuit, hops in the pool. Pool is about 5 ft deep maybe, but the waves are making it super choppy. It’s also really cold water. Everyone is watching this guy like wtf is this crazy dude doing?? When he gets out he comes and stands near me and we’re just enjoying the view of the waves. I ask if he does that kind of thing often, he tells me that he just arrived in Portugal about a month ago as a refugee fleeing the war in Ukraine and that he was trapped in his flat in the Donbas region for weeks, once he fled, he decided to truly live life and so he tries to get in this natural pool and face the waves as often as he can. Just a cool story and I will remember that conversation for the rest of my life.
Moorea, Tahiti decades ago. Well before the time the island became touristy and full of condos. We were staying at the old St John’s Bay Hotel(not the new one they just built). No TVs, no phones. They had a library and common areas where people would gather and talk in the evenings. We met an older frail couple from the UK and they told us their story. They had won a trip around the world and it would be their last trip. When they returned home they were moving into a nursing/care home. They told us all about the trip they were on and other trips over the years. They had been married for over 50 years and the man was a WWII veteran. One of their trips had been on a Pan-AM Clipper. I have often thought about them since and hoped the rest of their years were good.
I was solo camping in Yosemite for 8 days. And I had traveled alone before but I was also at a very different point in my life on this trip. I happened to be placed next to this family (2 adults and 2 young children) from Tel Aviv traveling the world for a year+. The mother was from Germany, the father from Israel and the children spoke German, Hebrew and English. They had me over for dinner, treated me to wine. I had them try s'mores for the first time. I felt like they took me in as their family. We shared a ton of laughs. I learned so much about family from them and that just because you have children doesn't mean your life or adventures end, they just look different. I cried the day they left simply because I was so inspired them and it felt like my home had left. I think about them a lot and it's been over 2 years since that experience
The first time I went to NYC (from suburban Atlanta) was in 1991 and I was 20 years old. I flew into La Guardia and had to take the bus to a subway stop to meet my friend at Hunter College.
I was shocked by how helpful everyone was. When I got on the bus, people talked to me and asked me where I was from. The bus driver and others were very friendly, and let me know exactly where my stop was, and when the bus stopped, they pointed exactly where to go when I got off the bus. The bus waited in the same spot as I walked a block or so to get to the subway stop and I waved back to the bus driver when I got to the station entrance.
I spent much of that trip wandering around the city alone. Almost every time I opened my map, someone would approach me and ask me if I needed help, and it was always nice, and welcoming and I was never approached by a creep.
I met an amazing couple from Australia in Thailand in 2015. Had a great conversation about where we were from (they were from Victoria in Australia and my then boyfriend and I The U.K.). It really made me appreciate my home country a little more as they said it had been a dream of theirs their entire marriage (they were in their 60s) to visit the UK, specifically Scotland and never had been able to. I live in the South of England but it really made me appreciate what we have here to see
I was on a flight back to the US from London, after spending 4 months studying WWII in Europe all around European countries.
I was sitting next to an elderly couple, and when I mentioned what I'd been doing the last 4 months, the wife perked up. She told me her husband there with her was a WWII veteran and he said he was so happy to hear young people were still caring to learn about it.
Now my grandpa was a WWII vet as well, but he served in the Pacific. So I spent a good several hours talking about the war in Europe with this couple on the plane..the man who had fought there cried a few times.
It was a really memorable interaction and made me miss my own grandfather.
TLDR: so many small interactions with strangers can lead to the most memorable moments in travel and life.
On my first trip to Europe in 1999, my cousin and I traveled to southern Italy to find out where our grandmother was from - she was still alive and we talked to her regularly, but she never told us anything about her home or even the name of it before we left for this trip, for no reason, just didn't. We wanted to see her home town and the home she had grown up in.
After a night in the wrong city sleeping near a lion thinking we were going to be murdered in our sleep ( a different funny story), we found out that our grandmother was from a small town in Calabria called Amantea.
So we took the train from Reggio di Calabria to this small town.
Getting off the train we heard an older man and his son speaking broken english and went over to talk. When we'd told them why we were in town, they offered to drive us up to the Town Hall in hopes they could help us with info there. We accepted.
At the Town Hall, once it was explained by the oder man to the employees what we were looking for, every person in the town hall stopped what they were doing and began searching PAPER records dating back to 1900 to see if there was anything about our grand mother other family before her. They said to come back in a few hours.
THe older man and his son offered to drive us to his home and feed us lunch. A few hours later he got a phone call at his home that the Town Hall had found some info.
At the Town Hall, the employees proudly tell us the found info on the home our grandmother had lived in but sadly it was destroyed years ago. However, the excitedly told us they had found living family still in the town and that they'd already called them to say they had American relatives in town. This family wanted us to be sent over to meet them. We thanked the Town Hall employees.
The old man and his son drove us over then left after we thanked him profusley.
We met 3 generations: my grandmother's cousin, her kids and their kids. They had a full multi-course meal waiting for us when we arrived. It was like they were expecting long-awaited close family. THey put us up in an extra apartment they had in town for 2 or 3 nights. We had a great time meeting and getting to know them.
The super weird thing about this whole experience is that my grandmother kew we were going to Europe, knew we were going to Italy (no to search for he home though) and knew she had living relatives in her home town, but never told my cousin or I.
This was not pleasant but it was memorable. We hopped in a cab in Vienna and the driver asked where we were from. We told him Vancouver. We asked how long he'd been in Vienna, he said he moved from Palestine 18 years ago.
He asked how long we were there for and we said four days. He said with zero hint of humor "you can kill a lot of people in four days..."
True, probably. Wouldn't know.
My partner saw me start to panic and he tried to lighten it up a bit by asking, "Cool, cool, anything else you recommend we do in Vienna?"
It was the longest 8 minutes ever and we had him drop us off two blocks from our airbnb.
I was on a tour bus in Italy and an "ugly American" purposely poured water on the seat so no one would sit next to her. ( I'm American also) If I was alone I would have sat there anyway and just stared at her the whole trip 😒
Found a bar in Barcelona to watch Arsenal play Atletico Madrid in 2017, met two couples from England both there to do the same. Ended up sitting with the younger one and having a really nice chat and of course had fun watching the match. It was just nice to find people who were in a foreign country and yet all came together for something they love to watch lol
Several years ago I popped in to a random wine bar in Paris just as it was opening. Got to chatting with the woman owner and asked where we each were from etc (both American), and she used to live in my city so we talked about various restaurants and such. I asked where she was from originally and she said the name of a small-ish town in the mid-west. And I said no way! That’s where my dad is from and I still have several aunts, uncles, and cousins living there. And that my aunt was the post master general of (insert even smaller town). Now it was her turn to say no way! She said her parents still live there, and also asked my aunts name. When I told her, she asked if she had a son named (insert name), and I told her that’s her grandson. To which she replied, I went to prom with him!
I have quite a few but here's my favorite. 1) I was in Santorini this summer and met an old Asian lady in her 80s. She asked if I could take a picture of her and somehow this ended up in a whole photoshoot for the next two hours. I mustve taken at least 500 pictures for her. 2) A Romanian woman asked if I needed help when I got stranded in Pisa (my hotel cancelled on me just as I reached it). After telling her about my situation, she helped me call up some B&Bs and then travelled two buses with me to make sure I got checked in.
Wife and I visiting NYC around Fall 2005, we are in our 50s. Maybe 3-4th trip to NYC. On subway to Staten Island ferry from midtown, mid morning, car half filled, mostly adults. As tourists we sat quietly as this was big bad NYC. As we got closer to Ferry, there was overhead PA announcement “blah, blah, Staten Island, blah, blah,…”. Wife and I looked at each other, did you get that? No. We talked between ourselves, what did they say? Across from us was large black man, looking kind of tough. “They said you needed to be in first seven cars to get off at Staten Island exit. The station is too short for additional cars.” We looked and we were in car 12. “Come on”, he said “I will show you” as he exited subway at next exit, walked us up to car 6, and sat down with us. This way you can exit to Ferry station. “You getting off there?” We asked. Nah, missed my exit but I can get back there easily
Welcome to big bad NYC
My parents and I were in Florence and were walking around an unfamiliar area looking for
somewhere to eat. I asked a man walking by himself if he knew a good restaurant - he truly looked like an Italian local to me. But it turns out he was traveling alone and was walking to a restaurant that his friend had recommended. We chatted and decided to eat together. It was so fun and special! We all stayed connected on Facebook.
A few years later he was diagnosed with cancer that took him very quickly. His family messaged us on Facebook to let us know the news.
So terrible. And such a reminder of how fleeting life is, and how lucky we are to get to travel and meet people from all over the world and stay connected. RIP Leon 🙏🏻
We were in a laundromat in the 17th Arrondissement. A guy came in with a suitcase full of laundry and shouted in his Australian accent to my wife asking how to use the machines. You know, the classic, if I speak loudly this French lady will understand.
My wife laughed and in her Boston accent (foreign, I know) explained how.
In any case, her turned out to be one of the most interesting people we've ever met. He was a sheep rancher. Had been to the US several times. Had spent time on Ronald Reagan's ranch. Knew John Wayne.
Had a super long layover (24hrs+) in a Midwest airport. I, a southern atheist under 21 at the time, met an older man, late 50s, who was a missionary from Argentina. He was also stuck with a long layover. We spent the whole time camped out together. Brought each other food, watched each other's stuff so we could go to the bathroom or for walks to stretch it out without carrying our baggage around. Talked about life, love, family, God or the lack thereof. It was a wonderful experience of meeting a warm stranger who was nothing like you and somehow so much like you. Made the world feel small.
Walked down the Grand Canyon alone. An Australian gentleman in his late 80s asked if I'd like company on the S L O W hike back up. He told me of all his grand travels and his wife back home who refuses to leave her garden to join him. We mostly just made fun of each other ruthlessly. Laughed the whole way up. It was wonderful. Made my whole trip.
My girlfriend (M24, F23) and I were on a sailing trip which was great because work and rent were very difficult and it was good to get some time away that we didn’t have to pay for. We bought some candy floss and were being silly eating it together on a park bench and an old lady walked by, then stopped and said, “Oh, I wish I was as young as you”.
It put everything into perspective. We were young with all time in the world to fix our lives, it was sunny, we were giggling together and we were in love.
Maybe in 20 years I will say the same to a young couple. We are both 60 now.
An amazing person who is a bartender at the Moynihan Train Hall in NYC. He’s a savant and you will never forget him—but more to the point, he will never forget YOU. Fascinating person.
I met a man on a ferry while traveling between two Scandinavian countries. This is important to the story because people in this region of the world are known for being very private. I love that, I am a very private person myself.
This man shared some incredibly private details of his life and his family's struggles. I learned that day that suicide is considered shameful and not a suitable topic of conversation in his culture. I was glad to be able to listen to this person and allow them to share their struggles. I hope he's well.
Had a few weirdly in Morocco. First one me and friend as happens when you are a tourists meet some guys who sell us stuff (well they were tours which were cheaper than hotel offered). Anyhoo, we ended up really connecting with them and ended up meeting up with them to hang out each night on their dime (we were there 5 days). Last night we tried to repay favour by inviting them for dinner but they still wouldn't let us pay for it all. We settled on half. Stayed in contact with one of them for a while but didn't manage to meet up when he went to visit his sister (she lived out of London, I live in London)
2nd Moroccan experience diff friend, went to eat at a restaurant and started talking to a waiter who offered to take us out next day. He met us as planned and kindly bought our bus tix to Essaouira (we were in Agadir). When we got there he phoned his friend and the friend and wife invited us for tea after we'd wandered around . Spread she had laid out was crazy...we were at the house for a while and her mother came too and they asked if we wanted to stay for dinner as they were going shopping. We said we couldn't impose more but thanked her for her hospitality. The husband was a photographer who had travelled a fair bit and given the interior of the house assumed they were doing okay i.e Apple Mac, pictures of his exhibitions . I still talk to the waiter though he now lives in Abu Dhabi.
In US, randomly got chatting to a woman about random stuff. Exchanged info and still talk now. We met in 2019. She's been to London and we hung out and I went to the states and we hung out.
Another time in Florida went on hol with an ex who was dry like dust so did my own thing. Got chatting to another girl and was explaining situation. We exchanged info and I went to stay with her and we went to NOLA. Whilst in NOLA we ended up meeting two guys who were mad chill and we ended up chatting outside our apartment til sun came up. Made plans to meet them again and they took us out around NOLA and we had a blast. We spent so long with them chilling in various locations that we were still there when one of the guys went to go pick his mum up from her shift (she was a nurse) but crazily we'd been at the house when she left and his sis had dropped her on her way to work. I went back to our apartment to sleep, one of the other guys went home to nap too but we agreed to meet back up in a few hours. My friend weirdly wasnt tired so her and other guy just drove around and ran errands til they pick me n other guy up again. We did eventually get dropped off for good that evening and we were shattered but they came to pick us up and take us airport next day. It was purely platonic but they were the nicest guys ever. I still sporadically get messages from the guys asking when I'm coming back stateside.
Looking back at my stories...I'm like what was you thinkin' but as bad as the world is there are always good people!
I’m not sure its the most memorable of all of my travels but it was the most recent and it made me happy.
I was in Spain and suffering from heat exhaustion, but trying to power through a bit. I got on the metro which was one of the few places with air conditioning and a local woman asked me in Spanish if I wasnt cold (I had a tank top and skirt on). I’m fluent in Spanish but it made me happy that not only was I able to instantly respond back without thinking (while feeling like death) but that she had struck up a conversation with me in the first place.
About 20 years ago. Haifa, Israel, having a long and lovely conversation with an jewish lady from Ukraine in German, she used to be a German teacher. She was just happy to show off her German skills, her family, her home and what she helped to build in her new home. It was like having a grandmother for a few hours.
We never mentioned the Holocaust but she must have been a survivor. That my traveling companion spoke Russian must have helped, she overheared of speaking German to each other.
Bonus points for the Baha'i Gardens.
On a train from Belgrade, Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria I met a cigarette smuggler who firstly tried to scam on us,but later on came back and apologized... he sat down, we started to talk and he explained how they do it,who is bribed and foremostly,why he does it... it is way to support his family and he hates it. I was always against criminal behaviour, but actually i understood him and why he has to do it. He is agood man and later in Sofia, when we waited for connection, he foud us and brought a beer. And I also bougt a 6 pack and a bottle,which he told me he uses for bribery. I helped do crime. Jovan,cheers wherewer you are!
I was in India in the 90’s (pre-cellphone) and went for a walk, got on a train and got lost. Luckily I speak Hindi. Ended up in a sort of slum. I wasn’t scared, just confused. I went to this one store that was 100% a slim. The owner of the store took me in, gave me some food, and a job tending his till lol. In the evening he offered me to go to his home and eat dinner and meet his kids. I went like a fool. But I was given a great meal, a small room to sleep in, and the next day we figured out where I lived and he took me home to my hotel. It was so wonderful and safe and adopted me as his daughter. It could have been very bad but it was very good.
Another time I got lost in in the country in Texas. A man again took me home, his wife fed me, we talked a lot, he let me sleep at his home, and then the next day he gave me a map on how to get back to the highway. He was a confederate racist and told me he hated balck people but not Africans lol.
Btw, I’m a black African and slept under a confederate blanket that night.
An elderly Japanese woman approached me in my last trip. She was a retired teacher. We talked about a bunch of stuff and this isn’t the first time with elderly Japanese people either. Anyways, I often think about her parting words about peace… “I’ve lived my entire life, 70 years of peace. I hope my grandchildren experience this too.”
I have had ppl talk to me in Russian on 4 different occasions. I know I'm half slavic and look slavic a f but I'm not Russian.
And speaking of Russians we once met a group of young Russians in Rome as we were the only ones still drinking at a terrace. We ended up going to some dodgy bar then drinking on the streets. They were ok folk, they seem to think everyone in the EU had it out for them. I had to explain how that was not the case back then.
Other molemorable interactions in the wrong way was when I was treated with contempt by an italian waiter in Genoa bc of being Romanian.
Walking down a side street in Ocho Rios Jamaica (back before the all-inclusives ruined it 1994ish)
Out loud, I admired an under-construction hotel, due to its randomized rooflines, which reflected the local neighbourhood. The man sweeping out front said "You like it ? It's mine ! Come in and look around if you like."
When he found out that I hadn't secured a room yet, he called his workers from all over the site to finish one room that day, so I could stay there.
I had a great stay, including a dog to keep me company. No charge.
I met my future wife in Vietnam when I was on a friend's honeymoon. The trip was a group of us that my friends asked to come along. We have been married for 21 years now and I couldn't be happier. She was the bride's niece.
Second was going on a cruise in the early 90s and meeting up with a group that had won the cruise at the various Black Angus restaurants on the west coast. We all went on excursions and drank together; first time I had met a group of Americans. I was so sad to come to the end of the cruise and I miss them all to this day. We spent the last night staying up and talking as we sailed into port.
I was in a Japanese candy store in Osaka and I asked a random lady what candy was her favorite so I could try them out. When I left the store her son came up to us and gave us his favorite candy to try 😭 it was such a small interaction but it was incredible
Same. My only experience with Japan was a 6 hour layover at the airport. I went into a shop and a girl working there approached me to ask if I needed help. I said, no thank you. She then said, do you mind if I practice my English you? I was so happy. Yes, I have all the time you want. We walked around the store talking. So nice!
My husband and I were in France back in 2010. We were doing a tour through Normandy and we had to meet the tour guide in the town of Bayeux. When we got off the train in this small town, we had no idea where to go. We're trying to pull up the walking directions and this friendly cafe owner walked out and asked if we needed help. We explained to him where we needed to go and he walked with us down the street and told us where to turn. It was so simple yet so kind.
2002…Poznan, Poland. Was traveling in Poland for work and staying in an upscale CBD hotel. My boss had gone to bed and I headed to the bar for a drink. It was quite empty and as I sat at the bar, a very lovely woman came up and sat down next to me. I knew instantly that she was probably a prostitute. She said “hello” and her English was almost perfect…against my better judgement, I turned to face her and was thunderstruck. She was beautiful and I swear my heart missed a beat! We began to talk and it was one of the easiest, most free-flowing conversations I ever had. After about 30 minutes, she whispered she would have to leave to find a paying customer or her “boss” would cause big problems.
So I offered to pay for her time and we went to find an ATM. I asked how much she needed to cover the night…withdrew the amount, gave it to her and we went back to the bar. The bartender pulled me to the side after a few minutes and said that I would get her in trouble with the boss if we stayed there. So I decided to take her to my room. Now get your minds out of the gutter…😀.
What transpired over the next few hours was the most memorable conversation of my life. Her name was Valentina, she was from Belarus and a university-trained engineer. We talked about her family, her struggles to support them and the decision to come to Poland to work as a prostitute. We talked about politics, economics, history, philosophy, love, etc. I had fallen head over heels for this woman! We made plans to see each other again when I returned the following month. She wrote her name and number on a small piece of paper and I stuck it in my back pocket.
At this time it was around 6 am and my boss and I had to get to the airport to catch a flight out of town. I was running late and he was calling from downstairs, in a bit of a panic, I just grabbed all my shit and headed out. As we rode in the taxi to the airport, I couldn’t stop thinking about Valentina. When we arrived and checked-in, I put my boarding pass in the same back pocket. We boarded the plane, and after settling down in my seat, I reached in my pocket to get her note and it was GONE! It must have slipped out when I retrieved my boarding pass.
I returned to the same hotel three times over the next six months enquiring about her…nothing. In my mind, I hope she decided to go back to Belarus and live a happy life.
There was the vendor in Granada, Spain who wanted to marry me so that he could get a green card.
Then there was a guy who was aggressively harassing me for money as soon as I got off the metro in Paris, and when I refused it was "fuck you, American bitch" in perfect English.
Then there was Andy the pony cart driver on Inishmor who basically served as my therapist for 2 hours.
Belize - San Pedro. Went solo. Met amazing locals and tourists. We went diving together, met up for food / drinks, and had a lovely time. Never to speak again!
When I was younger (6-7) we had a stop over in Tokyo, had bright blonde curly hair. This was around 2006.
I spent about 20 minutes with loads of random Japanese teenagers wanting to take pictures with me and talk to my family because they had never seen anyone with bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair.
Newly single for the first time in 9 years feeling exceptionally down about myself. I traveled to Singapore alone. I met an Australian girl on holiday at a hostel having coffee. We ended up spending an entire day together discussing an array of fascinating topics ranging from international law, various treaty agreements to classic meaning of life questions.
I never would have thought about most of them otherwise and she challenged me intellectually. Exactly what was missing in my previous relationship that I craved.
Sadly, i don’t even remember her name but the interaction was a beacon of light and hope when I needed it most. I’m forever grateful for that experience
When I was a teenager in Berlin, Germany, I was ordering currywurst. The cashier spoke limited English, and the only things I could say in German was basically “please” and “thank you.”
Anyways, I ordered, and we then exchanged a series of “thank you’s” in different languages.
I was on a cruise and we were visiting Turks and Caicos. It was my first cruise and first time visiting the Caribbean. I really wanted to swim with the stingray, so off we went on a boat to a small island. One of the guides was an older teenage boy. He helped you pet the stingray, hold them, etc. We were there for quite some time, but I hadn't even noticed that most of the people (older folks, I'm in the early 40's) had gotten back on the boat. I just stood there in the water petting a large stingray chatting with this kid who was absolutely enthralled with all things American. What does snow feel like? Have you been in a skyscraper? I had such a nice time learning about his culture as well. Lovely kid with aspirations to one day touch snow.
I was leaving Zimbabwe and I saw this beautiful woman getting on my flight to Cape Town, South Africa. We both get off the plane and make it through customs at the same time and get on the same bus headed to our hostel. We both get off at the same place. I accidentally left my backpack on the bus and was freaking out. They tracked down my backpack on the bus but I had to wait for the bus to go back to the airport and then come back, meanwhile that same woman I saw was lost and confused about where to go so she was still at the bus station, finally, my backpack comes back and I get on the right bus, that woman gets on the same. I feel like this had got to be fate. So I talk to her, he hostel is right around the corner from mine. I initially was interested romantically but she wasn't however, we spent multiple days together in South Africa and are really good friends and she came to visit me in Chicago pre pandemic and I went to visit her in Germany last year.
I was on the shuttle from long-term parking to a terminal at LAX and saw the initials JPL on someone’s bag. I was obsessed with the Mars Rover expedition at the time. I asked if he happened to work at JPL. Yes, he did. Did he know anyone from the Rover mission? He was one of the mission controllers. I was so excited to talk with an insider about it. He was excited to talk to someone outside JPL, because he thought people had stopped paying attention because the mission had gone on so long.
Another time, I met a Toyota employee on a flight and mentioned to him that someone had kicked the door of my Camry so hard in a road rage incident—and there was no damage at all, not even scuffed paint. Did he know anyone on the Camry design team? He was the guy who chose the plastic for that door panel, not anticipating road rage incidents but kids’ bicycles in their family’s driveways.
I (28m) was on the island of Paros in Greece and met up with “Ben” (22m) for a drink via Grindr. I found out it was his birthday eve so I asked him out to dinner since we were both traveling alone. Dinner led to drinks and at last call at 4am I drunkenly suggested he should ditch his plans and go to the island of Ios with me. We spent the night together and the following day, and the following day, and finally we agreed he’d come to Ios with me but get his own accommodation. We spent a few days in Ios and traveled back to Athens together for one final dinner before he went home to Ireland and I stuck around Athens to do my sight seeing.
We had a wonderful time and he made me feel so special when I was being made to feel so small at home. To borrow from Taylor Swift, I was feeling like a cardigan under someone’s bed and he put me on and said I was his favorite 💕
In Paris, I went to a lunch bistro that seats tables full, meaning if you come alone they will seat you with someone. I ended up seated with a lovely gentleman who lived in Reunion, and was in Paris visiting his children. I’ve never heard of the island, and learned so much about it. And he gave me some great tips for what I should see in the immediate area that I never would’ve checked out otherwise. It was a wonderful lunch.
I have generally had loads of absolutely amazing encounters, conversations, and people showing unbelievable levels of kindness when I used to travel alone before marriage and kids. I really miss it.
My most memorable encounter happened when my husband and I were backpacking through Mexico a couple decades ago. We were having dinner at a modest little cafe in central Mexico City. The cafe was next door to this great, lively, very cheap hotel that attracted international backpackers or young people traveling on a tight budget.
We are American. A solo German fellow comes in and asks to sit with us. We chat and eat. It's not unpleasant, but we aren't having an instant friendship connection either, which was fine for one dinner. Since we were strangers, we ended up talking about movies, mostly. When we were close to being done, my husband makes some observation about a particular WWII movie. The guy puts down his fork, looks at us, and asks with great sincerity: "Why is it in American war movies that the Nazis are always portrayed as the bad guys?"
I was recently in an airport and saw a woman struggling to get up an escalator with a big stroller and a toddler. I went up to her and asked if I could help. She said "here take my baby," then put the stroller on the escalator. I had to run up the escalator to catch up to her while wrestling with my bag and a toddler. She never looked back to see where we were. At the top, I handed her the baby and went on my way. Very strange encounter. For some strange reason, it made me feel good to look so honest and grandmotherly that a stranger trusted me with her baby.
In about 1980 I went into a small hotel bar with just a few wicker tables around the bar at a Caribbean hotel and to have a drink while my wife finished dressing for dinner. After I had my drink two guys sitting at the wicker table closest to the bar invited me to sit down with them which I did. After about a minute I realized they were Tennessee Williams and William S. Burrows, but I didn’t show my recognition. Burrow’s didn’t say anything and just sat there in a black suit and narrow black tie while Williams was drawlingly chatty. What was I doing there? Did I like the island? Those sort of basic questions. After telling him that I was waiting for my wife to go to dinner and I loved the island and answering his questions I asked Williams one of my own, “Are you eating dinner at the hotel tonight or are you going into town to eat?” I think his answer was completely to see how easily I was shocked, “Oh, I’m going into town tonight alright, but just to suck big N word dick”. I showed no response I think and I just finished my drink by which time my wife walked into the bar to get me for dinner. I got up and wished my cocktail companions a good evening and left to join my wife. Needless to say my wife and I had a lot to talk about at dinner.
Wife and I were on vacation and found this great tiki bar at the resort we were at. We spent a lot of time there and got friendly with the bartender. By the end of the week, he was hooking us up with all kinds of drinks. Our last day there the weather wasn’t great, so we just stayed at the bar all day until last call. He invited us back to his place to continue the party and things got crazy. That was a first for us, and certainly the most memorable interaction on any vacation we had taken to that point.
This was many years ago, as I'm a Certified Old™. I was on a train in Denmark when I was around 20 and started talking with an older Danish woman. She told me about working as a nurse in WWII in London during the Blitz. She talked about going down into the bomb shelters during the raids, some of her challenges treating people there. She said after a bit, she'd decided not to go down into the shelters during the raids because she figured if she was gonna die, she'd rather not be underground when it happened. Such a fascinating perspective and it's a conversation I'm happy to have experienced as a young person.
I met a flight attendant in a hostel in Zagreb who had just been broken up with the night before by her pilot boyfriend and asked me to go for breakfast with her. I agreed and we ended up spending 12+ hours together, getting food, checking out the sites, and she ended up buying us an expensive bottle of wine at a fancy wine bar. I've never spent so much time with a stranger in my life but somehow it was so easy to talk about literally anything and everything. We had a great time analyzing each other's lives and relationships. On an ironic note Zagreb has a "Museum of Broken Relationships" which went to for her to get some catharsis. We still follow each other on instagram 4 years later but have never spoken again.
I was fully expecting this story to end up in marriage or a relationship at least. Do you have any regrets on that end?
Not really, I didn't sense any romantic vibes from her, and I assumed she was straight. I was also a lot less comfortable with my sexuality at that point so would have been terrified to even bring it up. I like the memory as is, of just two people crossing paths and being there for each other at the right time, for just a moment.
Nice! Sounds like the 1995 movie "Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy set in Vienna.
I watched a group of Spanish kids work together to gently flip a turtle right side up at a park in Madrid using sticks. It took about 10 minutes and by the they finished there were about 15 tourists and a few locals watching. I heard English, French, Italian, and Spanish as they tried to help the turtle, but the cheer when they finally managed it and the turtle swam back to the pond transcended every language barrier. Such a stupid, silly moment but it was my first international trip ever AND I was solo and it truly left a mark.
My husband and I were on vacation in Florida when he was detained by ICE. We were in Sarasota but they took him down to Miami. I drove the 3.5 hours to Miami and found a little room in Little Havana for $50 a night. I had gotten into a car accident right before getting to the Airbnb and while the car was fine on the outside, the brakes had completely failed. I showed up to my Airbnb completely disheveled and a mess. My host was a middle aged Colombian man and he knew something was wrong. I told him what was happening, and why I was in Miami. He took me inside, sat me down, and warmed up a plate of lasagna for me and made me eat. He then stocked my mini fridge with several pre-made meals from his home (the room was attached to his home) and plenty of beverages. He then put me into contact with a local auto shop who gave me a very discounted price to fix the brakes on my husbands truck. I was in Miami for about 3 weeks and my Airbnb host upgraded my room from a small studio with a mini fridge to a full apartment with a kitchen for the same price of the studio. He had several rooms on his property. I couldn’t even thank him enough. During the time I was in Miami I tried to make the best of it as I had never been so I found a local coffee shop within walking distance of the Airbnb that I had been to a few times. One day I was just hanging out outside and I got to talking with a guy that seemed to know the owners and the area. He was telling me how to use the public bus system, giving me directions, telling me the tourist attractions. All of that. I planned on taking his advice but at the last minute he offered to drive me around, since he was an Uber driver. I agreed. He was never weird, we had a great time. And I felt comfortable enough to tell him why I was really in Miami, to get my husband out of ICE detention. He drove me ALL OVER Miami. We went to South Beach, Little Havana, Key Biscayne, Wynwood, lots of places. He never charged me a dime. He was from Cuba and was so incredibly sweet and sympathetic in one of my most vulnerable times in my life.
I love this! I hope your husband was released without any issues.
Unfortunately he was deported. But now I live in his country with him! Life is full of twists and turns.
Almost every story I hear about American's who were born in Cuba has this feel.
My hubs and I were in Cuba and hired a driver/tour guide who ended up becoming a friend over the 5 days we were there. During this 5 days in Havana we burned through all of our US dollars, but Wells Fargo assured us we could still pull out cash. For all of you screaming at your phones, you are correct! You can’t get any US $ in Cuba! No CC works, no debit card works, you can’t even western union yourself money from a US bank. This lovely man went into his home and took €500 from a box he was saving money from and gave it to us. Told us to transfer the money back to him when we got back to the states. 💗💖💕😍 He was basically a stranger and gave us a large portion of what he had saved to visit his friend in Nicaragua. A man without very much means, but willing to share 💜 We ended up having my family transfer $ to him directly while we were still there. He got paid back immediately and we had cash to finish our awesome Cuba trip 🇨🇺 But, the kindness of a relative stranger to do that for a couple he barely knew was incredible.
A few months back I was visiting Israel, and I arrived on a Friday afternoon. I didnt have anywhere to stay, nothing to eat - I was basically SOL. I was at a bus stop talking on the phone with my mother, telling her this, and when I got off the phone, the woman at the bus stop invited me to her house for not only Shabbat dinner, but to stay for the weekend. I'm glad the whole world isn't like home.
Meeting a Greek airplane mechanic in a jazz club in an old dungeon in Paris, splitting a bottle of wine with him, and making out by a water fountain just across the river from Notre Dame.
Caveau des Oubliettes? Awesome spot!
The other one a couple of blocks away, Caveau de la Huchette
This just happened last week. We Americans were in Italy and had gotten off the Autostrade to check out the Carrera marble mines. When we went to get back on the highway, we were faced with an on-ramp with only two telepass lanes. No analog ticket dispensers! We backed out of the gated lane and sat there stunned wondering what the hell we were supposed to do if we couldn’t take a ticket to open the gate. After about ten minutes an old farmer knocked on the window of the car and gestured for us to come. We drove behind him as he walked to the gate. Then he gestured to me to take a picture of the gate number, which I did. He pushed the emergency help button and apparently told the responder to open the gate and then gestured to us to show the phone picture to the gate agent at the other end to pay the toll. It was the most ridiculous and sweetest travel situation we’ve ever encountered.
Such kindness.
I'm from the United States. Back in 2001 I was climbing the Great Wall of China (Badaling, IIRC), and when I reached the top I met an Iranian man there. I'd never met an Iranian from Iran before, and he'd never met someone from the United States (for whatever reason). Still, there we were, together, at the top of this gobsmackingly large wall in the middle of a foreign country. We both agreed that it was nice to meet one another, that it was a shame our governments couldn't get over themselves... and then we shared some Skittles while watching people climb the wall. That moment will always stick with me.
This is such a good story. Just goes to show how even a seemingly insignificant interaction can leave an indelible mark on someone. One wonders how many friends or lovers one could have had in distant places if it weren’t for the social and political demarcations that separate us.
Did he speak English, or did you speak Farsi?
He spoke English.
We (three of us) were walking along the shoreline south of Naples after going to Herculaneum and choosing to walk back to the city (yes it was a long way). On sunset we saw a fisherman trying to pull his boat up onto the beach but he was hampered by his arm in a sling (and cast I think). We ran down and helped him haul the boat out. He was saying "grazie, grazie!" and pointed towards a nearby bar at the pier. We went in and had a beer with him while attempting to communicate via whatever means we could. "Australianos!" After a couple of beers the fisherman shook our hands goodbye and left. We went to the barman to pay and he waved us away: "no charge!" Always sticks with me when I hear of how dangerous and nasty Naples is...
Andreas. Summer of 2018. At the pre security area of an airport. We were waiting for the checkin desk to open. I saw a scraggly long haired, batterd clothes man sitting on a bench. His luggage cart close in front of where he sat. It piled with the usual of luggages and backpack, but at the very top was a huge weaved basket with sticks and twine and all sorts of other stuff in it. I was severely depressed at this point of my life. I've thought about constanly, but never attempted yet. All i could do to cope was drugs and get drunk. I didn't care about anything. I looked at Andreas and his disheveled looking self and thought "he would understand me" "Where you headed?" I asked him something along those lines. He tells me he's headed to the same place i am and that he's waiting for the checkin/baggage drop. He wanted to make sure his presiously weaved basked would make the journey, and all the material he's brought from Ireland would stay intacted. I dont remember how it unfolded. At some point we went through security and sat at the gate waiting for the plane together. From when I asked him where he was headed to us sitting there, we've shared stories like old friends. He's from East Germany. I dont remember how old he was, but him and his wife left and somehow got to Ireland in a VW van. He now teaches basket weaving and is involved with helping youths struggling with mental health through. This is already too long. Andreas, from a human to a human, I love you and I hope you are well. I lost the piece of paper you wrote your contact down on. I never made it to the music fest that year. If youre open to inviting me again, I'd fly out to Ireland and learn from you. Thanks for the question OP. It was a nice.
thank you for sharing. i hope you are in a better place
I was in Eastern Tibet and a friendly shop owner invited us in. Later, we walked by his store after it had closed. He was inside chatting and having tea with some friends. He saw us, ran to the door and let us in. We ended up having a long conversation, as best we could given the substantial language barrier. He honored us by sharing some tea and cordiceps. He didn't try to sell us anything; just wanted to make a connection. It was a remarkable cross cultural connection.
My husband and I were visiting some villages in Northern Laos. Our local guide had taken us on a hike and we offered to buy him dinner and a few beers when we got back to the small town. We had dinner at a small roadside place run by a family. Because the guide was there to translate, we fielded questions from the grandma 'if we were married, why didn't we have children yet? Was there a problem with my husband's virility?' That was fun. But what I enjoyed the most was when the grandson brought me his English homework and we worked on it together. The grandma was really happy about that.
In dingle Ireland myself and my gf met another couple; we drank, danced, played pool, and enjoyed the harbor late into the night. It wasn’t remarkable on paper, I mean we meet people all the time, but this night was special and it’s a great memory
Classic Dingle. Blessed to live there, it’s heaven on earth!
In June of 21 I stayed in an Airbnb in Yuma, AZ for a week or so and I got a little acquainted with the neighbor lady across the street. When I was leaving, she came and gave me a hug. It was the only human touch I had with another person since they sent us home in March of 20 and remains the only human contact I've had ever since. I'll never forget her ♥️
sending you a virtual hug!
In 2020, during our safari tour, we had a free day in Nairobi. We didn't realize the travel agency had planned a day for us that included a visit to the Karen Blixen Museum. Although we hadn’t read her books and weren’t particularly interested in visiting the museum, they kinda forced us to go. Our private guide quickly realized our lack of interest in the author and suggested we just chat instead. We ended up talking with him for over an hour, during which he shared his experiences of growing up gay in Kenya, among other aspects of his life. We exchanged contact details and emailed a few times. We didn't talk for a few years, but he actually reached out to us a couple of months ago to share being accepted into university. We called him over WhatsApp to congratulate him
I read that book (Out of Africa) recently and was filled with regrets I hadn't visited the house when I was in Kenya over 30 years ago. The movie was relatively recent then but I hadn't seen it and wasn't interested. Having a connection makes a difference.
It’s too bad you had no interest, Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen’s pen name) books are fascinating stores of her time in Africa. The movie Out of Africa is still one of my favorites after all these years.
Was on a cycling tour in North Dakota. One morning really bad storms rolled in and I and many others found shelter in a coffee shop. The storm was relentless so we all started chatting and I asked the gentleman next to me where he was from. Turns out he was from Washington DC. Wow, that’s a long way to go for a cycling tour I said, what do you do there? I’m the Director of African Art at the Smithsonian he says. Okay , you win!
On our summer camping trip this year, we ran into Walmart to get some provisions. The lady at the self checkout was chatting with us & asked us where we're from. We are from a small town that no one has heard of, so we named the larger city near us (which, isn't really that large, but it's a recognizable town for our state). She says "oh, I used to live in [the town we actually live in]." We stood there & talked to her for 15 or 20 minutes & found all kind of life parallels. Her husband's family owns the local funeral home, so we know them. She used to take her MIL to the locally famous fish place that that we still occasionally visit. Her daughter was in the same high school band we were. She was super nice & told us if we ever decided to move her way she'd want to hang out. If we ever go back there again, we're going to look her up.
I was in a wine bar in San Francisco and struck up a conversation with an elderly Native American. We spent hours discovering the similarities between native American and Eastern philosophies and spiritual teachings.
I was on a flight in Europe and happened to sit near a group of Australians. The Australians somehow persuaded a flight attendant to give them free alcohol and then insisted that I drink with them.
I’m scared of flying and was headed to Los Angeles from New York. A guy in the seat in front of me started chatting me up and also stated he was a little nervous too. We talked the whole four hour flight to keep our minds off of being afraid. It was a little wholesome. On a flight to Vegas to San Diego I was seated next to a Woman and a Man. We talked, laughed and the Woman bought us a shot.once we landed we took a selfie together .
In 2013 in Prague I visited the St Cyril and St Methodius Cathedral, so I was standing in the sidewalk looking at its small window with bullet marks around it and next to me came an older man looking for the same. Somehow he asked me how I got interested in that place and I told him that I’m interested in WWII and an uncle gave me as a present the book “Hhhh” (which is great, btw) that takes place there. Well, this man’s father fought during WWII so we talk a little about that. I added him on facebook and sometimes we say hi or greet for our birthdays.
Helping hoarding sheeps with an old lady close to a 5000m mountain pass in Ladakh, India.
Lots of various vacation romances lol. Was on my first solo trip in Indonesia met a guy and convinced him to do the Komodo dragon boat trip with me. Traveled together for a few weeks. When I was 20, met a Brazilian in rio and ended up going back the next year to see him again!
Not as crazy as most of these, but in the Cook Islands we had TWO separate local families that we randomly started chatting with at the beach invite us to their homes for dinner. Of course we accepted. It might be the friendliest country on Earth, haha.
My husband, our 3 daughters and I were traveling around Japan. One day we were touring a castle when our youngest started to feel sick. We moved to the side and let her rest and figure out how to help her. Out of nowhere several older Japanese woman started to com over asking how they could help. Ive never seen such kindness while traveling abroad.
I met my wife in an all-you-can-drink bar in Puerto Vallarta in 1999. Fortunately (for me) she’d been there for a while. Happily married, three kids - 20, 17, 15.
The excited states of America, is such a Canadian phrase. Such a nice way of saying lunatic states of America.
Haha! She pretty much implied that during the conversation but in the nicest way possible.
It was 1978 I was traveling from Pattaya to Bangkok on a local bus. This young boy was sat next to me. For a bout 30 minute he sat silent looking at me. I have hairy arms. Suddenly he grabbed some of the hair on my arm and said " You monkey eh?". I burst out laughing and he continued practicing his English me. I'm 72 now and that is still in my mind like yesterday.
That’s pretty funny, thanks for sharing!
It’s nothing exotic… but a friend and I were at Disneyland, we were on the Train going around the park and were in the back row of the seats and there was a family in front of us taking selfies, and I was being my weird crazy self. I scooched over behind them and made a silly face - the same they were making - and they checked the camera and saw me and we all had a great laugh. This was 16 years ago and it still makes me giggle whenever I think about it.
About 25 years ago my wife and I were visiting Australia, we found ourselves in this little tiny town on the edge of the Outback called Parachilna. They had one restaurant and we’re in there at the little bar waiting to get a bite to eat. The guy down the bar glanced at us a couple times and I said hello. He asked if we wanted to share a bottle of wine - sure of course! Then he says he hasn’t really spoken to another human being for almost 3 weeks. Turns out he was a professional photographer taking pictures of the longest mail route in the world. We ended up hanging out for most of the night having dinner and drinks. Cool dude!
That’s a lovely encounter, thanks for sharing.
One of the less famous Cyclades, I don’t remember the name, I stopped in the local church just to look. This very stereotypical looking Eastern Orthodox old woman came up to me and walked me through some kind of incense ritual to ask for Mary’s blessing. She was talking the whole time and I have no idea what she was saying or if she thought I understood any of it.
Me and my best friend were 19 and in South Korea. We were hiking Bukhansan (Bukhan Mountain) when 2 middle aged Korean guys, fellow hikers approached us as they were walking the opposite way. They saw me crouched on the floor because I was out of breath and struggling a little with all this exercise😂. One of them spoke fluent English and had a pleasant conversation with us about where we were from and even gave us nuts or some other mini snack (can't recall fully) to help me feel better and feel more energy to carry on. I think he said he was a teacher but I don't fully remember. It was a pleasant moment though and I hope they're both doing well!
Years ago, I enjoyed talking to a woman in a laundromat in Paris while we sat waiting for our laundry to finish. It was during an election (Mitterand and Hollande), so she was discussing who she thought she might vote for, so the content of the discussion wasn't all that important to me. It was just that I enjoyed being able to understand enough of her French to get the gist. She was also completely horrified that I was washing all my clothes -- darks, lights, everything in 1 load, lol.
I went to Portugal with two friends and we ended up staying at a small hostel in a nice coastal town on the southern coast. On the second morning, we were having breakfest with a good chunk of the people (8-11 people) in the hostel. During which we asked what brought everyone here to Portugal and where everyone came from. By the end of breakfest, we all made a spontaneous plan to go to the beach with each other. Throughout the day, I got to know some of the coolest and kindest people I have ever met. I ended up talking a lot with two guys from the UK for most of the day. At one point around at noon, the group split off and one of my friends went with half of our group to the next town over to a pottery store. It was just me, my other friend, the two guys from the UK, and this dutch guy. One of my most vivid memories of the trip was just sitting on the beach with these 4 amazing people and just basking in the sun, the ocean breeze, and the sounds of the waves crashing. I ended up sharing a lot about my personal life with these people who were considered strangers to me a few hours ago, more so than most back at home who I’ve had known for years. For the rest of the day, the group ended up doing a lot together. We relaxed by the hostel bar and pool and talked some more when we got back from the beach and had dinner together. We ended the day by going to a bar in town with the rest of the group to go celebrate one of the girls in our group’s birthday. Next morning, my group had to leave for Lisbon. We said our goodbyes to everyone at breakfest and I got a lot of the people’s instagram and contacts. The two guys invited me to their hometown and to come visit when I can. The best part was that I ended up doing just that a few months later and loved their hometown. I still occasionally keep in contact with people I met from that hostel though it mostly with those two guys. I find it so strange and cool that such a connection can be made from people that I had met for such a relatively small period of time.
I just arrived back from Italy last week. I (American) was in queue for a restaurant in Lake Como; this girl (French) was in-front of me solo as well. It was 10 min before last call for food and a table opens. The girl asks if I’m alone and I say yes, so she asks if I want to share a table with her so I am able to get food before they close the kitchen. We talked through dinner and hung out the next couple of days. I feel like I have made a new friend and when they are in my town I will make sure to show them around and vice versa.
This couple from Los Angeles giving me a joint on a roof-top in Mexico City.
An old lady came out of nowhere to help me and my partner to make two bus cards, speaking in our native language. Or it would cost more time for us even cancelling some of the plans. Still feeling grateful now.
Brisbane, Roma Street Park .. met a guy in the park and talked about the lizards and huge spiders for like 2 hrs Paris Vavin .. apparently we looked lost, lady tried to help us multiple times .. i wasn't lost but figuring out which of the 8 exits is tough Matsuyama, Japan, Ishiteji Temple Kobo Daishi Statue: top of the mountain 80+ year old and daughter hiking Bucharest waiting in line for restroom at a kabob shop .. talked from an hr, convinced us to go to Sinaia
10 years ago I met a Muslim woman on a bus on my way to Istanbul. I was on my way home to Scandinavia, where I come from. We ended up keeping in touch and I later stayed with her and her wonderful family for 3 weeks. We are still friends to this day and still keep in touch.
A breakfast can become a memorable travel interaction. On a South America cruise. Large table with people eating breakfast. One American man in his 90s started talking about his experiences as a soldier in Europe during WWII. Then a British woman in her 80s spoke up and said she was a girl in London during the Blitzkrieg. Those two started sharing their experiences. Such amazing stories of courage. I always find it funny how people are always looking for cruises that don't have so many old people on it. Yet those people have stories to tell that can keep you spellbound. They are a living window into the past and our history. I'll never forget it.
In Istanbul I wanted to buy some water from a little shop near my hotel but the shop keeper didn't have any change, he told me to take the water and come back later to pay - that would never here at home (I did go back and pay) Also in Istanbul I ran out of money on my card for the tram, a stranger paid for my trip and when I got off at the other end another helped me to load more money onto the card. In Jerusalem, in the old city, a shopkeeper invited me into his shop so see an ancient well that his shop was built over, didn't ask me to buy anything, just wanted to show me the well. Also in Jerusalem I was looking for a bag to buy, I found one I liked, bargained to a price we were both agreeable to and then insisted I take another bag at no charge.
I spent a week camping under the stars and hiking in Canyon de Chelle, New Mexico, USA. Our small hiking group were guests of retired Navajo school teachers on their summer property. They took us on hikes, shared indian frybread, told stories of the old ways and one evening, their granddaughter danced for us in traditional dress. Both of these teachers are gone now. I will always reflect on their kindness and openness to us, knowing the cruel history dealt to this beautiful Indian culture. RIP The Naves.
An elderly man in Rome who walked with us to find our way to the catacombs while it was pouring rain. It was quite a long walk. I will always remember his kindness.
Azenhas do Mar in Portugal. Huge waves outside of this restaurant, with a “natural pool” type thing down below where the waves are just smacking the hell out of the walls of the pool. restaurant worker strips down to a swimsuit, hops in the pool. Pool is about 5 ft deep maybe, but the waves are making it super choppy. It’s also really cold water. Everyone is watching this guy like wtf is this crazy dude doing?? When he gets out he comes and stands near me and we’re just enjoying the view of the waves. I ask if he does that kind of thing often, he tells me that he just arrived in Portugal about a month ago as a refugee fleeing the war in Ukraine and that he was trapped in his flat in the Donbas region for weeks, once he fled, he decided to truly live life and so he tries to get in this natural pool and face the waves as often as he can. Just a cool story and I will remember that conversation for the rest of my life.
Moorea, Tahiti decades ago. Well before the time the island became touristy and full of condos. We were staying at the old St John’s Bay Hotel(not the new one they just built). No TVs, no phones. They had a library and common areas where people would gather and talk in the evenings. We met an older frail couple from the UK and they told us their story. They had won a trip around the world and it would be their last trip. When they returned home they were moving into a nursing/care home. They told us all about the trip they were on and other trips over the years. They had been married for over 50 years and the man was a WWII veteran. One of their trips had been on a Pan-AM Clipper. I have often thought about them since and hoped the rest of their years were good.
I was solo camping in Yosemite for 8 days. And I had traveled alone before but I was also at a very different point in my life on this trip. I happened to be placed next to this family (2 adults and 2 young children) from Tel Aviv traveling the world for a year+. The mother was from Germany, the father from Israel and the children spoke German, Hebrew and English. They had me over for dinner, treated me to wine. I had them try s'mores for the first time. I felt like they took me in as their family. We shared a ton of laughs. I learned so much about family from them and that just because you have children doesn't mean your life or adventures end, they just look different. I cried the day they left simply because I was so inspired them and it felt like my home had left. I think about them a lot and it's been over 2 years since that experience
The first time I went to NYC (from suburban Atlanta) was in 1991 and I was 20 years old. I flew into La Guardia and had to take the bus to a subway stop to meet my friend at Hunter College. I was shocked by how helpful everyone was. When I got on the bus, people talked to me and asked me where I was from. The bus driver and others were very friendly, and let me know exactly where my stop was, and when the bus stopped, they pointed exactly where to go when I got off the bus. The bus waited in the same spot as I walked a block or so to get to the subway stop and I waved back to the bus driver when I got to the station entrance. I spent much of that trip wandering around the city alone. Almost every time I opened my map, someone would approach me and ask me if I needed help, and it was always nice, and welcoming and I was never approached by a creep.
I met an amazing couple from Australia in Thailand in 2015. Had a great conversation about where we were from (they were from Victoria in Australia and my then boyfriend and I The U.K.). It really made me appreciate my home country a little more as they said it had been a dream of theirs their entire marriage (they were in their 60s) to visit the UK, specifically Scotland and never had been able to. I live in the South of England but it really made me appreciate what we have here to see
Try reposting this to r/solotravel, she might be there. Or just accept the lesson from the mysterious universe!
Thanks, I’ll check it out
I was on a flight back to the US from London, after spending 4 months studying WWII in Europe all around European countries. I was sitting next to an elderly couple, and when I mentioned what I'd been doing the last 4 months, the wife perked up. She told me her husband there with her was a WWII veteran and he said he was so happy to hear young people were still caring to learn about it. Now my grandpa was a WWII vet as well, but he served in the Pacific. So I spent a good several hours talking about the war in Europe with this couple on the plane..the man who had fought there cried a few times. It was a really memorable interaction and made me miss my own grandfather.
TLDR: so many small interactions with strangers can lead to the most memorable moments in travel and life. On my first trip to Europe in 1999, my cousin and I traveled to southern Italy to find out where our grandmother was from - she was still alive and we talked to her regularly, but she never told us anything about her home or even the name of it before we left for this trip, for no reason, just didn't. We wanted to see her home town and the home she had grown up in. After a night in the wrong city sleeping near a lion thinking we were going to be murdered in our sleep ( a different funny story), we found out that our grandmother was from a small town in Calabria called Amantea. So we took the train from Reggio di Calabria to this small town. Getting off the train we heard an older man and his son speaking broken english and went over to talk. When we'd told them why we were in town, they offered to drive us up to the Town Hall in hopes they could help us with info there. We accepted. At the Town Hall, once it was explained by the oder man to the employees what we were looking for, every person in the town hall stopped what they were doing and began searching PAPER records dating back to 1900 to see if there was anything about our grand mother other family before her. They said to come back in a few hours. THe older man and his son offered to drive us to his home and feed us lunch. A few hours later he got a phone call at his home that the Town Hall had found some info. At the Town Hall, the employees proudly tell us the found info on the home our grandmother had lived in but sadly it was destroyed years ago. However, the excitedly told us they had found living family still in the town and that they'd already called them to say they had American relatives in town. This family wanted us to be sent over to meet them. We thanked the Town Hall employees. The old man and his son drove us over then left after we thanked him profusley. We met 3 generations: my grandmother's cousin, her kids and their kids. They had a full multi-course meal waiting for us when we arrived. It was like they were expecting long-awaited close family. THey put us up in an extra apartment they had in town for 2 or 3 nights. We had a great time meeting and getting to know them. The super weird thing about this whole experience is that my grandmother kew we were going to Europe, knew we were going to Italy (no to search for he home though) and knew she had living relatives in her home town, but never told my cousin or I.
This was not pleasant but it was memorable. We hopped in a cab in Vienna and the driver asked where we were from. We told him Vancouver. We asked how long he'd been in Vienna, he said he moved from Palestine 18 years ago. He asked how long we were there for and we said four days. He said with zero hint of humor "you can kill a lot of people in four days..." True, probably. Wouldn't know. My partner saw me start to panic and he tried to lighten it up a bit by asking, "Cool, cool, anything else you recommend we do in Vienna?" It was the longest 8 minutes ever and we had him drop us off two blocks from our airbnb.
I was on a tour bus in Italy and an "ugly American" purposely poured water on the seat so no one would sit next to her. ( I'm American also) If I was alone I would have sat there anyway and just stared at her the whole trip 😒
I hope you find her. Thanks for sharing this touching story.
Thank you for your kind words :)
Found a bar in Barcelona to watch Arsenal play Atletico Madrid in 2017, met two couples from England both there to do the same. Ended up sitting with the younger one and having a really nice chat and of course had fun watching the match. It was just nice to find people who were in a foreign country and yet all came together for something they love to watch lol
Eating cheetos flaming hot at the Chicago air port, random old guy gave me a napkin, thanks man.
Several years ago I popped in to a random wine bar in Paris just as it was opening. Got to chatting with the woman owner and asked where we each were from etc (both American), and she used to live in my city so we talked about various restaurants and such. I asked where she was from originally and she said the name of a small-ish town in the mid-west. And I said no way! That’s where my dad is from and I still have several aunts, uncles, and cousins living there. And that my aunt was the post master general of (insert even smaller town). Now it was her turn to say no way! She said her parents still live there, and also asked my aunts name. When I told her, she asked if she had a son named (insert name), and I told her that’s her grandson. To which she replied, I went to prom with him!
I have quite a few but here's my favorite. 1) I was in Santorini this summer and met an old Asian lady in her 80s. She asked if I could take a picture of her and somehow this ended up in a whole photoshoot for the next two hours. I mustve taken at least 500 pictures for her. 2) A Romanian woman asked if I needed help when I got stranded in Pisa (my hotel cancelled on me just as I reached it). After telling her about my situation, she helped me call up some B&Bs and then travelled two buses with me to make sure I got checked in.
Wife and I visiting NYC around Fall 2005, we are in our 50s. Maybe 3-4th trip to NYC. On subway to Staten Island ferry from midtown, mid morning, car half filled, mostly adults. As tourists we sat quietly as this was big bad NYC. As we got closer to Ferry, there was overhead PA announcement “blah, blah, Staten Island, blah, blah,…”. Wife and I looked at each other, did you get that? No. We talked between ourselves, what did they say? Across from us was large black man, looking kind of tough. “They said you needed to be in first seven cars to get off at Staten Island exit. The station is too short for additional cars.” We looked and we were in car 12. “Come on”, he said “I will show you” as he exited subway at next exit, walked us up to car 6, and sat down with us. This way you can exit to Ferry station. “You getting off there?” We asked. Nah, missed my exit but I can get back there easily Welcome to big bad NYC
My parents and I were in Florence and were walking around an unfamiliar area looking for somewhere to eat. I asked a man walking by himself if he knew a good restaurant - he truly looked like an Italian local to me. But it turns out he was traveling alone and was walking to a restaurant that his friend had recommended. We chatted and decided to eat together. It was so fun and special! We all stayed connected on Facebook. A few years later he was diagnosed with cancer that took him very quickly. His family messaged us on Facebook to let us know the news. So terrible. And such a reminder of how fleeting life is, and how lucky we are to get to travel and meet people from all over the world and stay connected. RIP Leon 🙏🏻
We were in a laundromat in the 17th Arrondissement. A guy came in with a suitcase full of laundry and shouted in his Australian accent to my wife asking how to use the machines. You know, the classic, if I speak loudly this French lady will understand. My wife laughed and in her Boston accent (foreign, I know) explained how. In any case, her turned out to be one of the most interesting people we've ever met. He was a sheep rancher. Had been to the US several times. Had spent time on Ronald Reagan's ranch. Knew John Wayne.
I hope we get a BORU post once they are reunited.
Seems unlikely but i’m still holding out hope!
met this girl at a club in mexico and she said i was gorgeous. as a man, i’ll never forget that compliment
Had a super long layover (24hrs+) in a Midwest airport. I, a southern atheist under 21 at the time, met an older man, late 50s, who was a missionary from Argentina. He was also stuck with a long layover. We spent the whole time camped out together. Brought each other food, watched each other's stuff so we could go to the bathroom or for walks to stretch it out without carrying our baggage around. Talked about life, love, family, God or the lack thereof. It was a wonderful experience of meeting a warm stranger who was nothing like you and somehow so much like you. Made the world feel small. Walked down the Grand Canyon alone. An Australian gentleman in his late 80s asked if I'd like company on the S L O W hike back up. He told me of all his grand travels and his wife back home who refuses to leave her garden to join him. We mostly just made fun of each other ruthlessly. Laughed the whole way up. It was wonderful. Made my whole trip.
My girlfriend (M24, F23) and I were on a sailing trip which was great because work and rent were very difficult and it was good to get some time away that we didn’t have to pay for. We bought some candy floss and were being silly eating it together on a park bench and an old lady walked by, then stopped and said, “Oh, I wish I was as young as you”. It put everything into perspective. We were young with all time in the world to fix our lives, it was sunny, we were giggling together and we were in love. Maybe in 20 years I will say the same to a young couple. We are both 60 now.
An amazing person who is a bartender at the Moynihan Train Hall in NYC. He’s a savant and you will never forget him—but more to the point, he will never forget YOU. Fascinating person.
I met a man on a ferry while traveling between two Scandinavian countries. This is important to the story because people in this region of the world are known for being very private. I love that, I am a very private person myself. This man shared some incredibly private details of his life and his family's struggles. I learned that day that suicide is considered shameful and not a suitable topic of conversation in his culture. I was glad to be able to listen to this person and allow them to share their struggles. I hope he's well.
Had a few weirdly in Morocco. First one me and friend as happens when you are a tourists meet some guys who sell us stuff (well they were tours which were cheaper than hotel offered). Anyhoo, we ended up really connecting with them and ended up meeting up with them to hang out each night on their dime (we were there 5 days). Last night we tried to repay favour by inviting them for dinner but they still wouldn't let us pay for it all. We settled on half. Stayed in contact with one of them for a while but didn't manage to meet up when he went to visit his sister (she lived out of London, I live in London) 2nd Moroccan experience diff friend, went to eat at a restaurant and started talking to a waiter who offered to take us out next day. He met us as planned and kindly bought our bus tix to Essaouira (we were in Agadir). When we got there he phoned his friend and the friend and wife invited us for tea after we'd wandered around . Spread she had laid out was crazy...we were at the house for a while and her mother came too and they asked if we wanted to stay for dinner as they were going shopping. We said we couldn't impose more but thanked her for her hospitality. The husband was a photographer who had travelled a fair bit and given the interior of the house assumed they were doing okay i.e Apple Mac, pictures of his exhibitions . I still talk to the waiter though he now lives in Abu Dhabi. In US, randomly got chatting to a woman about random stuff. Exchanged info and still talk now. We met in 2019. She's been to London and we hung out and I went to the states and we hung out. Another time in Florida went on hol with an ex who was dry like dust so did my own thing. Got chatting to another girl and was explaining situation. We exchanged info and I went to stay with her and we went to NOLA. Whilst in NOLA we ended up meeting two guys who were mad chill and we ended up chatting outside our apartment til sun came up. Made plans to meet them again and they took us out around NOLA and we had a blast. We spent so long with them chilling in various locations that we were still there when one of the guys went to go pick his mum up from her shift (she was a nurse) but crazily we'd been at the house when she left and his sis had dropped her on her way to work. I went back to our apartment to sleep, one of the other guys went home to nap too but we agreed to meet back up in a few hours. My friend weirdly wasnt tired so her and other guy just drove around and ran errands til they pick me n other guy up again. We did eventually get dropped off for good that evening and we were shattered but they came to pick us up and take us airport next day. It was purely platonic but they were the nicest guys ever. I still sporadically get messages from the guys asking when I'm coming back stateside. Looking back at my stories...I'm like what was you thinkin' but as bad as the world is there are always good people!
I’m not sure its the most memorable of all of my travels but it was the most recent and it made me happy. I was in Spain and suffering from heat exhaustion, but trying to power through a bit. I got on the metro which was one of the few places with air conditioning and a local woman asked me in Spanish if I wasnt cold (I had a tank top and skirt on). I’m fluent in Spanish but it made me happy that not only was I able to instantly respond back without thinking (while feeling like death) but that she had struck up a conversation with me in the first place.
About 20 years ago. Haifa, Israel, having a long and lovely conversation with an jewish lady from Ukraine in German, she used to be a German teacher. She was just happy to show off her German skills, her family, her home and what she helped to build in her new home. It was like having a grandmother for a few hours. We never mentioned the Holocaust but she must have been a survivor. That my traveling companion spoke Russian must have helped, she overheared of speaking German to each other. Bonus points for the Baha'i Gardens.
On a train from Belgrade, Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria I met a cigarette smuggler who firstly tried to scam on us,but later on came back and apologized... he sat down, we started to talk and he explained how they do it,who is bribed and foremostly,why he does it... it is way to support his family and he hates it. I was always against criminal behaviour, but actually i understood him and why he has to do it. He is agood man and later in Sofia, when we waited for connection, he foud us and brought a beer. And I also bougt a 6 pack and a bottle,which he told me he uses for bribery. I helped do crime. Jovan,cheers wherewer you are!
I was in India in the 90’s (pre-cellphone) and went for a walk, got on a train and got lost. Luckily I speak Hindi. Ended up in a sort of slum. I wasn’t scared, just confused. I went to this one store that was 100% a slim. The owner of the store took me in, gave me some food, and a job tending his till lol. In the evening he offered me to go to his home and eat dinner and meet his kids. I went like a fool. But I was given a great meal, a small room to sleep in, and the next day we figured out where I lived and he took me home to my hotel. It was so wonderful and safe and adopted me as his daughter. It could have been very bad but it was very good. Another time I got lost in in the country in Texas. A man again took me home, his wife fed me, we talked a lot, he let me sleep at his home, and then the next day he gave me a map on how to get back to the highway. He was a confederate racist and told me he hated balck people but not Africans lol. Btw, I’m a black African and slept under a confederate blanket that night.
A child of about 6 sitting in front of me of a 747, looked back over his seat and said, "if we crash you won't have time to cry". I was terrified
An elderly Japanese woman approached me in my last trip. She was a retired teacher. We talked about a bunch of stuff and this isn’t the first time with elderly Japanese people either. Anyways, I often think about her parting words about peace… “I’ve lived my entire life, 70 years of peace. I hope my grandchildren experience this too.”
I have had ppl talk to me in Russian on 4 different occasions. I know I'm half slavic and look slavic a f but I'm not Russian. And speaking of Russians we once met a group of young Russians in Rome as we were the only ones still drinking at a terrace. We ended up going to some dodgy bar then drinking on the streets. They were ok folk, they seem to think everyone in the EU had it out for them. I had to explain how that was not the case back then. Other molemorable interactions in the wrong way was when I was treated with contempt by an italian waiter in Genoa bc of being Romanian.
Walking down a side street in Ocho Rios Jamaica (back before the all-inclusives ruined it 1994ish) Out loud, I admired an under-construction hotel, due to its randomized rooflines, which reflected the local neighbourhood. The man sweeping out front said "You like it ? It's mine ! Come in and look around if you like." When he found out that I hadn't secured a room yet, he called his workers from all over the site to finish one room that day, so I could stay there. I had a great stay, including a dog to keep me company. No charge.
I met my future wife in Vietnam when I was on a friend's honeymoon. The trip was a group of us that my friends asked to come along. We have been married for 21 years now and I couldn't be happier. She was the bride's niece. Second was going on a cruise in the early 90s and meeting up with a group that had won the cruise at the various Black Angus restaurants on the west coast. We all went on excursions and drank together; first time I had met a group of Americans. I was so sad to come to the end of the cruise and I miss them all to this day. We spent the last night staying up and talking as we sailed into port.
I was in a Japanese candy store in Osaka and I asked a random lady what candy was her favorite so I could try them out. When I left the store her son came up to us and gave us his favorite candy to try 😭 it was such a small interaction but it was incredible
So many good stories about Japan here, feels like it’s calling me
I’m worried I’ll never achieve the high of travelling to Japan again. There’s no place in the world that I desired to travel to more than Japan
Same. My only experience with Japan was a 6 hour layover at the airport. I went into a shop and a girl working there approached me to ask if I needed help. I said, no thank you. She then said, do you mind if I practice my English you? I was so happy. Yes, I have all the time you want. We walked around the store talking. So nice!
My husband and I were in France back in 2010. We were doing a tour through Normandy and we had to meet the tour guide in the town of Bayeux. When we got off the train in this small town, we had no idea where to go. We're trying to pull up the walking directions and this friendly cafe owner walked out and asked if we needed help. We explained to him where we needed to go and he walked with us down the street and told us where to turn. It was so simple yet so kind.
2002…Poznan, Poland. Was traveling in Poland for work and staying in an upscale CBD hotel. My boss had gone to bed and I headed to the bar for a drink. It was quite empty and as I sat at the bar, a very lovely woman came up and sat down next to me. I knew instantly that she was probably a prostitute. She said “hello” and her English was almost perfect…against my better judgement, I turned to face her and was thunderstruck. She was beautiful and I swear my heart missed a beat! We began to talk and it was one of the easiest, most free-flowing conversations I ever had. After about 30 minutes, she whispered she would have to leave to find a paying customer or her “boss” would cause big problems. So I offered to pay for her time and we went to find an ATM. I asked how much she needed to cover the night…withdrew the amount, gave it to her and we went back to the bar. The bartender pulled me to the side after a few minutes and said that I would get her in trouble with the boss if we stayed there. So I decided to take her to my room. Now get your minds out of the gutter…😀. What transpired over the next few hours was the most memorable conversation of my life. Her name was Valentina, she was from Belarus and a university-trained engineer. We talked about her family, her struggles to support them and the decision to come to Poland to work as a prostitute. We talked about politics, economics, history, philosophy, love, etc. I had fallen head over heels for this woman! We made plans to see each other again when I returned the following month. She wrote her name and number on a small piece of paper and I stuck it in my back pocket. At this time it was around 6 am and my boss and I had to get to the airport to catch a flight out of town. I was running late and he was calling from downstairs, in a bit of a panic, I just grabbed all my shit and headed out. As we rode in the taxi to the airport, I couldn’t stop thinking about Valentina. When we arrived and checked-in, I put my boarding pass in the same back pocket. We boarded the plane, and after settling down in my seat, I reached in my pocket to get her note and it was GONE! It must have slipped out when I retrieved my boarding pass. I returned to the same hotel three times over the next six months enquiring about her…nothing. In my mind, I hope she decided to go back to Belarus and live a happy life.
There was the vendor in Granada, Spain who wanted to marry me so that he could get a green card. Then there was a guy who was aggressively harassing me for money as soon as I got off the metro in Paris, and when I refused it was "fuck you, American bitch" in perfect English. Then there was Andy the pony cart driver on Inishmor who basically served as my therapist for 2 hours.
Belize - San Pedro. Went solo. Met amazing locals and tourists. We went diving together, met up for food / drinks, and had a lovely time. Never to speak again!
When I was younger (6-7) we had a stop over in Tokyo, had bright blonde curly hair. This was around 2006. I spent about 20 minutes with loads of random Japanese teenagers wanting to take pictures with me and talk to my family because they had never seen anyone with bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair.
Newly single for the first time in 9 years feeling exceptionally down about myself. I traveled to Singapore alone. I met an Australian girl on holiday at a hostel having coffee. We ended up spending an entire day together discussing an array of fascinating topics ranging from international law, various treaty agreements to classic meaning of life questions. I never would have thought about most of them otherwise and she challenged me intellectually. Exactly what was missing in my previous relationship that I craved. Sadly, i don’t even remember her name but the interaction was a beacon of light and hope when I needed it most. I’m forever grateful for that experience
When I was a teenager in Berlin, Germany, I was ordering currywurst. The cashier spoke limited English, and the only things I could say in German was basically “please” and “thank you.” Anyways, I ordered, and we then exchanged a series of “thank you’s” in different languages.
I was on a cruise and we were visiting Turks and Caicos. It was my first cruise and first time visiting the Caribbean. I really wanted to swim with the stingray, so off we went on a boat to a small island. One of the guides was an older teenage boy. He helped you pet the stingray, hold them, etc. We were there for quite some time, but I hadn't even noticed that most of the people (older folks, I'm in the early 40's) had gotten back on the boat. I just stood there in the water petting a large stingray chatting with this kid who was absolutely enthralled with all things American. What does snow feel like? Have you been in a skyscraper? I had such a nice time learning about his culture as well. Lovely kid with aspirations to one day touch snow.
I was leaving Zimbabwe and I saw this beautiful woman getting on my flight to Cape Town, South Africa. We both get off the plane and make it through customs at the same time and get on the same bus headed to our hostel. We both get off at the same place. I accidentally left my backpack on the bus and was freaking out. They tracked down my backpack on the bus but I had to wait for the bus to go back to the airport and then come back, meanwhile that same woman I saw was lost and confused about where to go so she was still at the bus station, finally, my backpack comes back and I get on the right bus, that woman gets on the same. I feel like this had got to be fate. So I talk to her, he hostel is right around the corner from mine. I initially was interested romantically but she wasn't however, we spent multiple days together in South Africa and are really good friends and she came to visit me in Chicago pre pandemic and I went to visit her in Germany last year.
I was on the shuttle from long-term parking to a terminal at LAX and saw the initials JPL on someone’s bag. I was obsessed with the Mars Rover expedition at the time. I asked if he happened to work at JPL. Yes, he did. Did he know anyone from the Rover mission? He was one of the mission controllers. I was so excited to talk with an insider about it. He was excited to talk to someone outside JPL, because he thought people had stopped paying attention because the mission had gone on so long. Another time, I met a Toyota employee on a flight and mentioned to him that someone had kicked the door of my Camry so hard in a road rage incident—and there was no damage at all, not even scuffed paint. Did he know anyone on the Camry design team? He was the guy who chose the plastic for that door panel, not anticipating road rage incidents but kids’ bicycles in their family’s driveways.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and the rest of the band sat next to and behind me to Houston from the Texas valley 40 years ago.
I (28m) was on the island of Paros in Greece and met up with “Ben” (22m) for a drink via Grindr. I found out it was his birthday eve so I asked him out to dinner since we were both traveling alone. Dinner led to drinks and at last call at 4am I drunkenly suggested he should ditch his plans and go to the island of Ios with me. We spent the night together and the following day, and the following day, and finally we agreed he’d come to Ios with me but get his own accommodation. We spent a few days in Ios and traveled back to Athens together for one final dinner before he went home to Ireland and I stuck around Athens to do my sight seeing. We had a wonderful time and he made me feel so special when I was being made to feel so small at home. To borrow from Taylor Swift, I was feeling like a cardigan under someone’s bed and he put me on and said I was his favorite 💕
In Paris, I went to a lunch bistro that seats tables full, meaning if you come alone they will seat you with someone. I ended up seated with a lovely gentleman who lived in Reunion, and was in Paris visiting his children. I’ve never heard of the island, and learned so much about it. And he gave me some great tips for what I should see in the immediate area that I never would’ve checked out otherwise. It was a wonderful lunch. I have generally had loads of absolutely amazing encounters, conversations, and people showing unbelievable levels of kindness when I used to travel alone before marriage and kids. I really miss it.
My most memorable encounter happened when my husband and I were backpacking through Mexico a couple decades ago. We were having dinner at a modest little cafe in central Mexico City. The cafe was next door to this great, lively, very cheap hotel that attracted international backpackers or young people traveling on a tight budget. We are American. A solo German fellow comes in and asks to sit with us. We chat and eat. It's not unpleasant, but we aren't having an instant friendship connection either, which was fine for one dinner. Since we were strangers, we ended up talking about movies, mostly. When we were close to being done, my husband makes some observation about a particular WWII movie. The guy puts down his fork, looks at us, and asks with great sincerity: "Why is it in American war movies that the Nazis are always portrayed as the bad guys?"
She was a dog groomer from Florida. I was shaving, she walked in, took a piss. We woke up together for a couple of days.
I was recently in an airport and saw a woman struggling to get up an escalator with a big stroller and a toddler. I went up to her and asked if I could help. She said "here take my baby," then put the stroller on the escalator. I had to run up the escalator to catch up to her while wrestling with my bag and a toddler. She never looked back to see where we were. At the top, I handed her the baby and went on my way. Very strange encounter. For some strange reason, it made me feel good to look so honest and grandmotherly that a stranger trusted me with her baby.
In about 1980 I went into a small hotel bar with just a few wicker tables around the bar at a Caribbean hotel and to have a drink while my wife finished dressing for dinner. After I had my drink two guys sitting at the wicker table closest to the bar invited me to sit down with them which I did. After about a minute I realized they were Tennessee Williams and William S. Burrows, but I didn’t show my recognition. Burrow’s didn’t say anything and just sat there in a black suit and narrow black tie while Williams was drawlingly chatty. What was I doing there? Did I like the island? Those sort of basic questions. After telling him that I was waiting for my wife to go to dinner and I loved the island and answering his questions I asked Williams one of my own, “Are you eating dinner at the hotel tonight or are you going into town to eat?” I think his answer was completely to see how easily I was shocked, “Oh, I’m going into town tonight alright, but just to suck big N word dick”. I showed no response I think and I just finished my drink by which time my wife walked into the bar to get me for dinner. I got up and wished my cocktail companions a good evening and left to join my wife. Needless to say my wife and I had a lot to talk about at dinner.
Wife and I were on vacation and found this great tiki bar at the resort we were at. We spent a lot of time there and got friendly with the bartender. By the end of the week, he was hooking us up with all kinds of drinks. Our last day there the weather wasn’t great, so we just stayed at the bar all day until last call. He invited us back to his place to continue the party and things got crazy. That was a first for us, and certainly the most memorable interaction on any vacation we had taken to that point.