What was the kindest thing that anyone did for you during one of your trips?

[maxiyou]

My moment was in Switzerland.

It's mid January 2020 and all of my focus is laid on free solo attempting Mont Blanc in wintertime. But first I need to get there.
Bumming hitchhiker from town to town, all geared up in winter alpine gear.

Just around Lozanne, a black, square Jeep pulled up with an old (but full of life) gentleman.
The only weird thing was that he was driving the opposite direction.
Then he starts asking me questions in clay English where I am heading to, where I come from, what are my plans in general.

He keeps asking me if I am hungry - like he clearly wanted to force me to say "I am so down on glucose in my blood that I would go on rampage scratching paint from your truck and then I would digest it easily; only if you allow me to do so".
So I said yes I am hungry.

He asked me to jump in his car and we cruised a couple dozen meters, just to stop at interesting and fancy place - a building enriched by stone sculptures, overall giving vibe of mediterranean restaurant that pays tribute to ancient Greek and Roman culture (with modern twist).

Then he said (but less fancy, more primitive English):
"It's my restaurant and I am honored to host you there. I pay big respect to your kind of people. Please feel like it's your home for now"

As a warm up, I got to deal with starter homemade veggie soup, with warm and fresh rolls and creamy butter.
Then I was attacked with chicken legs in interesting sauce, with potatoes and veggies. I was doing my best to eat everything, but my limit was about to get reached.an


Then... A finisher of finishers. A full BOWL (probably 1l) of chocolate pudding 🍮. Oh my god. My honest impression. I managed to battle it with couple of bites but then I had to give up.

I thanked the gentleman so much, but he would listen too much. He gave me some sweets and he managed to organize a lift for me, to the next town, after talking with one of his clients (from one of the tables).

At the time, I was kinda selfish and I wasn't keen to help others... After that I slowly regenerated and started doing nice deeds to others. Just after one situation.

Conclusion:
We can show others our love and how we manifest it in the world around us. Do something unexpected, and you have a chance of changing someone's heart forever. We don't need to repay every favor to every person that helped us. It's good enough if we pass the goodness to the next life being on our way. Sometimes it's better. You never now.


I would love to hear some of your stories ^^

 

[Dogwater]

My moment was in Switzerland.

It's mid January 2020 and all of my focus is laid on free solo attempting Mont Blanc in wintertime. But first I need to get there.
Bumming hitchhiker from town to town, all geared up in winter alpine gear.

Just around Lozanne, a black, square Jeep pulled up with an old (but full of life) gentleman.
The only weird thing was that he was driving the opposite direction.
Then he starts asking me questions in clay English where I am heading to, where I come from, what are my plans in general.

He keeps asking me if I am hungry - like he clearly wanted to force me to say "I am so down on glucose in my blood that I would go on rampage scratching paint from your truck and then I would digest it easily; only if you allow me to do so".
So I said yes I am hungry.

He asked me to jump in his car and we cruised a couple dozen meters, just to stop at interesting and fancy place - a building enriched by stone sculptures, overall giving vibe of mediterranean restaurant that pays tribute to ancient Greek and Roman culture (with modern twist).

Then he said (but less fancy, more primitive English):
"It's my restaurant and I am honored to host you there. I pay big respect to your kind of people. Please feel like it's your home for now"

As a warm up, I got to deal with starter homemade veggie soup, with warm and fresh rolls and creamy butter.
Then I was attacked with chicken legs in interesting sauce, with potatoes and veggies. I was doing my best to eat everything, but my limit was about to get reached.an


Then... A finisher of finishers. A full BOWL (probably 1l) of chocolate pudding 🍮. Oh my god. My honest impression. I managed to battle it with couple of bites but then I had to give up.

I thanked the gentleman so much, but he would listen too much. He gave me some sweets and he managed to organize a lift for me, to the next town, after talking with one of his clients (from one of the tables).

At the time, I was kinda selfish and I wasn't keen to help others... After that I slowly regenerated and started doing nice deeds to others. Just after one situation.

Conclusion:
We can show others our love and how we manifest it in the world around us. Do something unexpected, and you have a chance of changing someone's heart forever. We don't need to repay every favor to every person that helped us. It's good enough if we pass the goodness to the next life being on our way. Sometimes it's better. You never now.


I would love to hear some of your stories ^^

An older beautiful women south of Blacksburg VA. I was flying a sign "ChooChoo traveler looking for work" dropped me a 50, talked with me about her life as an Opiate addict. She left after a well needed compassionate talk. Returned 30min later with a brand new 60liter rucksack and a hot meal.

2nd was in Illinois. I missed my hop out of Elkhart by about an hour, was pretty bummed out charging my batts up at a country cabin restaurant around 1am. Car pulls up after circling the restaurant twice. Was fully expecting to get bounced. Instead the beautiful soul of a woman offered to make me a sandwich. She and her husband went into the restaurant and made me 2 sandwiches wrapped for the train ride a box of homemade kettle chips.Then the husband comes out with a Togo box of hot homemade chicken and dumplings. They told me they see us riders quite often and gave me a prayer. Not that I'm religious at all but I really did appreciate the hospitality and care they gave to a dirty train Hopping stranger. Positive energy is positive energy ✌️💚

 

[Groundscore]

Once, I was traveling cross-country in very old Class-B motorhome, and the short story, it died. I didn’t have a lot of cash then, as I hadn’t yet learned the importance of an emergency fund, but a guy came along and offered to give me a tow to his nearby farm, as he said he used to be an auto mechanic before retiring years earlier.


I was honest, I let the guy know I didn’t have any real amount of cash, he said that wasn’t a problem, he said he could help me work on it, if I helped him repair a bunch of wooden fences, cut down a couple of dead trees, and fix up the place a bit. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.


We spent the next week and a half doing just that, cutting down trees, repairing fences, painting a shed, and a bunch of little stuff. He allowed me to stay in a spare bedroom that he and his wife had while we worked on things. His wife also served some home-cooked meals you wouldn't believe...


When it came to the motorhome, it turned out that the engine was toast, and it had so many things wrong with it, it wasn’t worth rebuilding. The guy asked me what I was going to do next, and I told him I wasn’t sure, as I had camping gear, but no vehicle.


He told me that he had been working on something, and if I wanted it, it was mine for the taking. He took me over to a barn where there was a car covered up in it. It was a late-70’s Monte Carlo. I told him that I couldn’t accept a car, he told me he wasn’t using it, didn’t need it, and obviously, I did, so he offered me the keys and title, and at that point I took him up on it.


For the next couple of years that car was my transportation all over. Sure, it had a V-8 engine, so the gas mileage wasn’t great, but for the longest time I couldn’t part with it.


Then came a winter of work opportunities, where I was able to do drywall on a track of new homes, in exchange for cash and getting to stay in one. I saved up most of what I made, except what I needed for food, and finally had enough money to buy a lightly used Toyota mini-motorhome that I had been wanting for quite some time.


When not doing drywall work, to create an emergency fund this time, I worked on fixing up the Toyota MH. One guy I worked with thought it and the Monte Carlo were the coolest vehicles he had ever seen, so I asked him to help me do some work on both of them, which he did, and when I had both running like new, or as close as I could to it, it was time for me to move on.


I asked the guy who loved the Monte Carlo if he wanted it, he said he did, but didn’t have enough money to buy it, as he was still saving for his first car. I asked if he had his driver’s license, he did, so I offered him the keys and the title, and he took me up on it.


Even though that was many years ago, I would like to believe that car is still out there, moving on down the road and from person-to-person, for those who need it.