BootsnAll Travel Community

Im sure some of you guys out there are bound to have encountered some really kind souls or obnoxious people while on your journey.

Any stories to share?

I've got too many stories, so here's the best and worst...

Kind souls - a Mexican sister and brother, a friend of a friend's boyfriend of a friend, showed me their city, and took me in for New Years celebrations (typically celebrated with family and friends).

Obnoxious people - a guy who I shared a dorm with that snored so loud..I've never heard anyone snore that loud, ever! And he farted all the time..like they sounded like juicy farts. I'm pretty tolerant, but I started to get really disgusted after a while.

Act of kindness: (there have been tons but, here's one) I was with my buddy in New Plymouth, New Zealand merely standing just inside the doors at a major super market complete with our giant packs and extra accessories taking shelter from the rain. An elderly couple passed us as they exited with a load of groceries, put them in their hatchback car, and returned to ask us if we needed a ride. They crammed us in with all their groceries and hauled us and all of our gear to the other side of the city where we were meeting friends, all the while telling us all that they loved about their city.

Worst: A guy we hitched a ride with outside of Christchurch who proceeded to tell us how he hasn't seen his kids in years because his ex-wife claimed that he'd sexually molested them. It wasn't until I got out of the car that my companion pointed out that he saw used condoms lying on the floorboards in the front.... eww!

Best: A local Lao family inviting me and two French guys to share Lao New Yr with them and party/dance in their house, even though we could barely communicate.

Worst: When I was in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia I had a random obviously wealthy local take a sip from his water bottle and spit it all on me for no apparent reason as I was walking by.

PC

Can't think of a worst, but in Bluff, New Zealand a girl and I were hot-footing it back to the bus stop when an elderly couple pulled over and gave us a lift back to Invercargill - about 20km!

I wonder if they're the same couple who helped Justine?

The kindest gesture was this..

A friend and I took the ferry from Liverpool to the Isle of Man and met a older couple who ran a B&B in Peel. We talked to them the whole way over, got their business card, and said goodbye. A few days later after traveling to other parts of the island, we arrived in Peel. It was the off-season and the entire island seemed to be asleep and we couldn't find ANYWHERE to stay at all. So we called the couple and they let us stay in a room without asking for any money! Moreover, their B&B wasn't even OPEN! (I remember literally hugging a space heater, it was so cold in there!) They opened a room and got fresh linens for us anyway. That was really nice. And they made us breakfast!

In France while aboard a bus going around the Arc de Triomphe a man kept pace in a small car next to us. He stared at the girls on the bus and managed to drive the car while, erm, wanking. Quite a feet, but pretty disgusting too.

I know I've encountered all sorts of kindness on the road, but the only one I can think of at the moment:

I got to Venice at 8 in the morning after a night train from Austria, hadn't slept...looked cracked out, I'm sure. While I slowly tried to figure out what ticket I needed for the water bus, working at less then half mental capacity, a man walked up to me and asked if I needed a ticket. I was a little wary but said yes. He promptly handed me his, a 72hr ticket of which he'd only used 24 hrs. 2 days of free rides!
Definitely made my day considering how expensive Venice is!

Bad- A guy in New Zealand picked me up for a 4 hour ride, but he started lecturing on the immorality of gays and lesbians destroying the family unit, the plaguing problem of blacks, etc. He'd say "Im not racist, though. You aren't, are ya?" and try to probe whether he could continue with more. I pretended to be tired and sleep.

-Als a guy masturbating in our dorm in Montreal. Next time I think this is going on I'll call the manager or kick his ass out of the room myself. DONT MASTURBATE IN DORM ROOMS

Best- A couple picking me up in New Zealand and buying me cake and coffee.
-3 english girls making me dinner in Fiji cause I had none and taking me with them to the jungle and hanging out cause they knew I was alone.

Worst -
Point Pelee in Canada we were plagued two teenage boys who were dead ringers for Beevis and Butthead. They annoyed everyone within a mile radius, but what can you do?

Best -
On RAGBRAI, the annual bike ride across Iowa, a clerk in the gorcery store offered to have us camp on her lawn and use their shower. This was a HUGE luxury. The alternative: camp at the local high school with 10,000 other people (I'm not kidding!) and a cold or non-existant shower - after waiting in line for three hours, no food, after riding bike 100+ miles in NOT flat Iowa in 100+ degree heat. The lawn was lumpy from a walnut tree, but did we care? No! Two words: HOT SHOWER!!!! (i wonder if this post will kill this tread . . . )

BEST: After meeting 2 guys in the immigration/customs line to enter New Zealand, we set up a later meeting time to determine if we were all compatable enough to rent a car together to travel around the north island. Later that night after about a crate of beer, we were getting along swimmingly. We ended up spending the night, as guests, in their friends house, Mike the dentist. The next morning was waitangi day(spelling?), a National holiday. We had plans to go On mike the dentists boat later that day, and I got up early for a run. I was lips sticking to the teeth, dehydrated hung over, by end of my first 15 minutes of running. But the scenery was spectacular, and still had the "I'm in a new country" shiney appeal. I got carried away, met a Maori lady who offered me some freshly harvested sea urchin. If you've never tried this think of salt/glue. Wanting to take it all in, I tried it. Now, with lips firmly cemented to teeth,it was time to head back to Mike the dentists. Trouble was,I had no idea were I was , were I was going , and who the hell Mike the dentist was. Also, had no money, and was so thirsty I really(really) thought i would collapse. I kept walking back in forth in front of this shop,looking in the window, thinking I should call somebody, but realising i could not ask to call Mike the dentist in Auckland . This was not Mayberry RFD.
Finally a very kind lady came out and drove me around for 2 hours while I tried to identify the house. She was so unbelievably kind, as I tried to tell her , with lips sticking to teeth and sounding a bit developmentally delayed, that i was unsure of were i needed to go. We had arrived at Mike's house in the middle of the night, after downing more beers than I cared to admit.

We finally found the house and our friends and she never batted an eye lash.


The rest of the people throughout New Zealand,were equally kind. My friend(female) and I (female) hitchhiked for about 8 weeks amd have never experienced such genuine hospitality.

Kindest - a Belgian Catholic priest in the Philippines who let us stay in the church dorm for free for a week. He was a dear man. He's now retired, and has moved back to Belgium.

Most obnoxious - after having been invited by a friend to stay at her house for a couple nights, we arrived at her place only to have her @$$h0|e husband ask, "So what hotel are you staying at tonight?" We cut our visit short.

Best - First trip to Europe. Age 20- 1990 - my friend and I jumped on a train to Manchester on a Friday night. After a delightful evening in the train station, we stumbled to the university to look for a dorm or something. I swear there was no hostel in that city back then! Anyway, some girls came up and, after chatting with us for a little while, invited us to stay with them at their flat for the rest of the weekend. They told us where to go, what to do, gave us a key. They were wonderful

Worst-- A tie--The entire population of Lyons, France at Christmastime 2002 --the first city I ever decided I would never return to because of the population-- tied with the middle aged patriarch of an overweight American family in Paris in summer 2001 who berated an unbelieveably patient and polite waiter for bringing him diet coke instead of regular (oops, after this LOUD complaint, grandpa realized that HE was drinking regular instead of the diet that he ordered) and then insisted loudly that the croque monsieur "tastes just like Subway".

Just curious - any acts of kindness in your trips inside the US? or does anyone find these happen more in more relaxed countries?

Many kind souls, especially those who picked me up while I was hitching, people who lent me money when I needed it, gave me food when they had too much of it and those who made me laugh.

Not many bad experiences really, gee what a great time I have had travelling, I never had anything stolen either.

quote:

Originally posted by Rogerio:
Just curious - any acts of kindness in your trips inside the US? or does anyone find these happen more in more relaxed countries?

I was on the train from New Orleans to Washington DC just after Jazz Fest, and met this guy called Frank who was really cool. I'd like to say my dazzling personality attracted him, but in reality it was my rather snooty English accent (deliberately enhanced in the US, I might add! ) that ended up in a free dinner and post-dinner drinks

my most obnoxious award goes to two females i met in kulua lumpur. my friends and i were sleeping, and they came back to the hostel at 2 in the morning totally drunk. they made so much noise, some racist remarks, and dropped a glass bottle. the next morning, we woke up to find vomit in the wastepaper basket just outside our door.

the kindest people i met are friends i made in philippines when i went there alone for a school project. i was doing a documentary about this particular dumpsite, where thousands scavenge the dumps for sellable items everyday.

3 of them were strangers i met on forums. they gave me directions, found my accomodations and helped me a lot during the 3 weeks. and there is this school principal who offered me lodgings in her school (beside the dumping area)and gave me meals everyday. she also 'exercised her power' and got me permits for my shoot and treated me as part of her family. she's definitly the kindest person i've ever known, giving free education to the children from the dumpsite area.

2 tie for the kindest
1. Joseph from Belize. He met me and my friend on a bus, told us all sorts of interesting things about the region, culture ect. Then when we reached Dangriga he showed us where to eat (a little hole in the wall I wouldn't of thought of but was damn good), brought us oranges for dessert, showed us around the city. We met the best drum makers, the mayor, the best hotel managers...he was just awesome.
2. A woman I met on the streets of Saigon who, when I was lost and tiered, let me sit in her shop as long as I told her a bit about America. Later she took me out to a nice (very nice!) dinner and gifted me with a laquered box from her shop. Such a sweet woman! I referred every traveller I met to her shop, I still have her card, and if I ever make it back to Saigon am stopping by again.

Bad - not too much bad. Some man in Hanoi called me a bitch and followed me around repeating the word. But he seemed cracked out and other people's hospitatlity negated his craziness. A teenage boy in Hanoi also grabbed one of my boobs, but his mom promptly smaked him upside the head so it was okay.

In San Pedro a woman looked at me and my friend and said just loud enough to hear "gringas" and then laughed with her friends. That's about the worst of it, so as you can see...not that many bad gestures...