RDC

In 1976, as a 20-something, I had traveled alone (my first solo foreign trip) to Sweden to meet distant relatives. I knew only a few rudimentary Swedish words, certainly not enough to get around the country with any confidence, but I relied on the fact that many Swedes have at least a minimal knowledge of English. I was to meet a cousin at her home in a rural area far from any large city. I took a train from Stockholm to the nearest sizeable town, then planned to take a bus to her little village. To that point I had simply written down the name of the town to get on the right train, then the name of her village to get on the right bus. Turns out her village was the last stop on the bus route and I was the only passenger left on the bus by the time the bus arrived there. It was at that moment I realized that while I had her address, I had no idea of how to find her home. It was now approaching nightfall and there appeared to be nobody around who I might approach for assistance. The middle-aged bus driver, who I had already discovered knew not a word of English, realized my predicament and took the slip of paper on which I had written my cousin’s address. He motioned for me to get off the bus with my luggage and led me to his own car, parked nearby. Either it was the end of the day for him or there were no passengers waiting for the return trip so he had time to help me. He drove me directly to my cousin's home and waited until my cousin answered the door. He and I had not exchanged a meaningful word during our brief encounter except that I at least knew how to thank him in Swedish, which I did repeatedly and gratefully.

MissRoseDarrensAngel

I've had my fair share of kindness extended to me while traveling and paid it forward as well when i was able to do so.

*A pay it forward moment: I was going back to London Gatwick to get my flight back to Belfast City, and got on the train which was crowded. I only had a small carry on bag and a purse, and near me was 2 or 3 young ladies with large suitcases and each had a carry on & purse. When the train stopped, I helped one of the young ladies with their suitcases which they appreciated then they were able to go from there. They were the same ones who directed me initially to the correct train to the airport too so it was only right when the chance presented itself that I return the favor.

Another good moment of kindness was my flight from DTW to JFK was held up and got late in JFK, and I had a connecting flight on Aer Lingus to Dublin. Good thing the new gate was 50 feet from where I got off the plane. The Aer Lingus gate person checked me in and knew I was coming from DTW. He assured me I had time yet to board as they were waiting for a few people from other connecting flights. The flight went smoothly then I went to claim my suitcase as we arrived into Dublin around 6:30am local time then I was to take the coach into Northern Ireland, and the bag was not there. I went right to the desk, explained what happened, and the lady said your bag will come in on the 9am flight, would you like to wait or we can have your bag delivered. I let her know I will be in Belfast. She said no issue, we have delivered all over Ireland, and then I gave her my hotel details. My bag came in the early evening hours, not ideal but at least I was able to start my vacation.

matrixwalker2012

I've always felt that for someone like me who is well experienced with travel, it is my duty to help those who are less experienced yet deserving of some help when I am able to.

Example, navigating the tunnels at LAX. Walking from T4 to T7 to catch my flight, I walk by a family, lots of kids, parents don't speak much English, trying to ask how to get to Terminal 8 from the cart driver, them being very unfamiliar, I simply ask if they're going to T8, they said yes, and I told them to walk with me, I'm headed over there. Walked them through T6, across the bridge to T7, and then at the T7 intersection, pointed them to go straight ahead and T8 was right there on their next right. No real additional effort on my part.

Had a pile of drink coupons about to expire, handed them to the cabin crew and told them to comp the first 10 drinks.

Seat mate had a rough day and had a layover around the same length as mine, invited him into the admirals club to relax and enjoy some free snacks.

Now if someone is behaving like a moron, they can forget about my help.

Taking pictures with my big fancy camera, I often get asked to take photos for others, I don't always want to do it, but I figure they took the effort to ask nicely, they deserve my best efforts to give them a great photo.

Once was on a tour with an elderly couple and their camera broke but they were very sweet, so I offered to snap photos of them with my DSLR and I got their contact info and posted all their pics to an online drive for them to download.

ellyse

1) In Mexico City, I had 2 nights and so stayed at a guesthouse. Spent the first afternoon walking around Guadalupe, woke up the 2nd day feeling pretty queasy, not sure what it was, on hindsight it may have been to do with the altitude and/or too much walking after long plane rides (I flew from Asia). Even worse, I found out I only had enough money in Mexican pesos + 15 USD (was hard enough to find a cambio open on Sunday) for me to pay for the guesthouse and taxi to the airport the next morning, but not for any food or anything else for the whole day. I was leaving on a very early flight and wasn't comfortable taking the metro or the bus at such an early hour. In the evening, when I was finally well enough to crawl out of bed, an American guy whom I met in the guesthouse's common room offered to share his meagre supply of food (some rice, 2 tins of tuna, mayonnaise and a mango) with me for dinner. Upon learning my flight out of LAX the next day wouldn't be till the afternoon (back then, I didn't have lounge access yet, and no food served on the MEX-LAX flight), went together with me to Carrefour, told me to pick out anything I wanted for breakfast and he would pay for it, whatever was left he would have it for the next few days as he was staying there long-term.

2) In Hiroshima airport, I arrived on one of the last flights of the night and knew I wouldn't make it in time to town to stay at a hostel, plus I was flying out on a 0900 flight, so I just planned to stay overnight at the airport. Bad idea, HIX closes overnight, all the buses to town had gone, I was dressed for summer (end Aug) and it was chilly outside! I was on the phone with a Japanese friend in another city when a taxi drove up out of the darkness. Never mind that taxis in Japan are prohibitively expensive, I got in and asked my Japanese friend on the phone to explain to the driver what happened. To my amazement, he drove me to the nearby airport hotel (which is close, but not visible from the airport) for FREE and even hung around long enough to make sure I was able to get a room.

3) All the CouchSurfing hosts who have hosted me last-minute on my travels. One of the latest ones being brizone (also a fellow FTer, I think?) who rescued me on my unexpected overnight stopover in SEA as I missed my MEX-LAX, got rebooked on the next MEX-LAX but then missed LAX-PVG and rerouted instead on LAX-SEA-PVg.

matrixwalker2012

Sometimes when people are really in need, I find it can be a lot of fun to help make their day a little bit better.

It doesn't need to be anything major. Once a kid in front of me at Taco Bell was short by a few dimes for his meal and I told him to not worry, and I would spot him the difference, I was really surprised how profusely he thanked me. I eventually told him he'd thanked me enough and he should go enjoy his meal while it was still warm.

I heard a story about how a passenger left his passport behind in the gate area and some airline employees essentially made it their mission to get his passport back to him, and they enlisted the help of a few pilots and crew members going in that direction. I think the employees had quite a lot of fun in seeing their mission carried out.

Life can be full of opportunities to have a great deal of fun while helping others. Sometimes, the best is when you are able to anonymously make someone's day and being able to see the joy on their faces from a distance.

Mike2K

Two come to mind:

Just started my new (current) job about maybe two weeks prior and was scheduled to fly to the office for a bunch of in person meetings. Cue me oversleeping my alarm and waking up 50 minutes before departure. Grabbed my stuff and floored it to FLL. Line at parking garage, couldn't find a spot, and PreCheck line was closed. I felt doomed. Started asking pax in TSA line with me if I could jump ahead as the door was basically closed at this point. EVERY passenger let me ahead in line and we're actually cheering me on. Bolted down the concourse and gate agents actually held the flight and seat for me. Door closed as I boarded and I still have my awesome job. So thankful to my fellow line mates and those gate agents for what must have seemed like a small act that meant the world to me.

Less dramatic - just arrived off Heathrow Express at Paddington and a Londoner gave me a full day, all zone Underground ticket they had accidentally purchased.

ellyse

Oh a 4th one that I just remembered. I was on a TPE-IST flight when IST got closed by the military coup last year. The flight, along with 10 others, was diverted to AYT. After a full day of waiting, the passengers were put up at a range of very nice 5-star resort hotels, mine was the WOW Kremlin Palace.
The next morning, I went down to the reception to get a taxi to go back to the airport - other pax had already gone back on the chartered buses, but since I was actually going to TLV it made more sense to buy a new ticket AYT-TLV instead of getting stuck in the mess at IST. Within a couple of minutes another older (not elderly) Japanese couple came down and also asked for a taxi to go back to the airport. They saw me standing there and asked if I was also going to the airport, I said yes, and they happily said I could share their taxi. My taxi came first, but they thought it was their taxi, so we all hopped in anyway.
I had no local currency, but was going to ask the taxi driver to stop at the ATM that was at the gate of the hotel grounds to get cash. Oops! The ATM was out of service. I only had RMB, NTD, Israeli shekel and a very minuscule amount of JPY coins on me. I was really embarrassed and told the Japanese couple (who weren't very good in English) to please let me get cash from the ATMs at the airport, and I'd pay them back. They said no, it's ok. Still, it doesn't feel right for me to freeload on strangers, so I told them about the limited cash options I had, and they happily said they'd be glad to take my JPY coins. Honestly it all came up to less than even 1000 JPY, I don't remember how much but it could've been only a couple of hundred JPY. They laughingly took that, said the rest were useless to them, and told me not to worry.

undergrace

This is a small example, but I was taking the train from Rehovot to the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. I had to change trains in central TA and wasn't sure exactly which one to get on. I asked an older lady sitting across from me on the train from Rehovot if she could tell me the one I needed to transfer to once we arrived in TA. We exited the train together, she walked me to the correct platform, sat with me while we waited (and asked around to make sure she was right), and then boarded the train with me. It turns out she was also going to the airport but she never said that! I think it's great that she was willing to befriend me for that hour rather than just give me an answer and do her own thing. I love the kindness of strangers.

OccasionalFlyerPerson

Being given a lift on the rear of a postman's motorscooter while he finished his round and returned to the centre of the village. This was in a village near Johore Baru, in Malaysia.

travelmad478

While I was sitting in the line of cars at the entry gate to Olympic National Park a few weeks ago, a car exiting the park stopped on the side of the road and the driver got out. He came up to my window and asked me if I had a park pass already (they cost $25 and are good for a week). When I said no, he handed me the one he had bought and wouldn't need anymore--it still had 5 days left on it, which was sufficient for my whole trip. Very nice of him to do that.