DaveBlaine

I never thought it would happen to me but one day...

Seachain

£100 red notes are not legal tender in Scotland either....Strictly speaking. But all are still accepted throughout the UK and NI. you'll encounter probs outwith those!!!

stut

No banknotes are legal tender in Scotland. But that's a whole other discussion...

undergrace

I'll go again. My husband is a teacher so we can't take many trips during the off-season. We booked a trip to Peru using miles over Spring Break so our flights were a little convoluted. Our flight back from Lima departed at about 4:00am so we did not want to get a hotel since we wouldn't really get to sleep in it, so we were just going to find something to do that would last into the night. We were going to fly from Cusco to Lima, then kill about 7 hours in the city, then head to the airport. While we were in Ollantaytambo we started talking to another couple of Americans, and it turned out they were going to be on our flight from Cusco to Lima. We asked them what they were doing upon their arrival in Lima, hoping maybe we could spend the evening with them. They had plans with friends there but invited us to join them for the night. We left our bags in the luggage hold at the Lima airport and went with them to their friends' house in Miraflores. We joined them for dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in South America (they upped their reservations from 4 to 6 for us) and visited the beaches and spent time in their place. Once 1:00am or so rolled around they summoned us an Uber and saw us off. It was awesome to spend the night in another part of Lima and experience Peruvian hospitality. What a great way to end our trip!

invisible

I do not know folks - it is kind a sad where this world ended up, if helping people who clearly are in distress (lost, sick, overwhelmed, etc) or returning things clearly belonged to them (walet, purse, money dropped out) is considered 'random act of kindness'... It is just being normal human, adhering to the Golden Rule, is not it?

My stories, just recently:

- My wife accidently left her credit card at restroom in Singapore's mall. Another woman found it, took at customer service desk where we got it back an hour later.

- I left my iphone at bus, in Singapore again. Got it back at bus depot two hours later.

- 10 days ago, was hiking on Angels Landing in Zion National park. On way back encounter a guy who points over 10ft away and says 'someone lost a credit card again, second times I am noticing this today'. As you guess, it was my credit card dropped from my pocket on my way up.

- during short visit in Saigon last year we met a local student girl who stuck with us for those two days we've been there, showed us around the city and refused to take any money from us, saying that "I'm just happy to have people from other countries coming to see my city".

- Driving to Northern CA on highway 1, stopped by at a gas station/repair shop at one of those small towns. One shop's employee notices quite large paint mark on the side fender on our rental car. Goes into shop, gets cleaner, removes the paint, puts shiner and refuses to take money.

... and list goes on.

burbuja0512

Hubby and I were in Japan a few years ago. We wanted to go to the Seibu department store. We could see it in the distance, but couldn't figure out how to get there.

In our broken tourist Japanese, we asked a man on the street to point us in the right direction. He didn't tell us how to get there, rather told us to follow him and took us there!

Needless to say I was embarrassed that we took his time, but really appreciated it.

747FC

Here is another one: A few years ago, we stayed at a B&B in rural NZ during the American Thanksgiving holiday. The B&B owner suggested/arranged for us to have dinner at a nearby inn, which made a facsimile traditional Thanksgiving dinner for us (Cornish game hen rather than turkey, etc.). The innkeeper went out of her way to create this menu for us, and even raised an American flag on her pole to welcome us. A very memorable day.

icestealth

"Appreciated her kindness" lol. You are rockstar. ..

Amelorn

I feel like this story could have saved PanAm, had it been known at the time.

Annalisa12

[QUOTE=invisible;25040976]- during short visit in Saigon last year we met a local student girl who stuck with us for those two days we've been there, showed us around the city and refused to take any money from us, saying that "I'm just happy to have people from other countries coming to see my city".

QUOTE]

I like that story. I had difficulty crossing a road in Ho Chi Minh City and waited for ages by the side of the road for a suitable gap. A group of young female high school students came over and one took my am and helped me across the road. She then gave me a little cloth Vietnamese flag key ring. She said she was helping tourists as part of a class at school. She too was delighted to hear that I loved my time in Vietnam.

DrMaturin

Not to me but to my son last weekend. He was in Madrid and went out the night before he was to return to the States. For some reason he took his passport with him. The next morning (Sunday) he was getting ready to go to the airport when he realized he couldn't find his passport. He figured his pocket was picked and since the Embassy is closed for passport replacement on Sundays he was hosed. Fortunately he remembered the names of the places he went out to the night before and it turned out that at one of them his passport had fallen out of his pocket and the bar owner turned it over to the police. So he got it back and all was well. So instead of being victimized by a pickpocket he benefited from the kindness of a bar owner.

HomerJay

Cody, Wyoming. It's 9am on a Saturday morning in 2002. We pull out of our motel, and make a quick stop for gas. As we head down the road, the "check engine" light goes on. We call HondaCare and they tell us the nearest approved dealer is in Bozeman, MT.

I ask if there's anything in Wyoming, as we are headed east. She says there's a Honda place in Sheridan, which turns out to be on our scheduled route. We call the place, and the owner answers.

We tell him the "check engine" light is on, and ask him what to do. He runs us through some questions about how the car is running and what the engine sounds like. He then asks us to drive at 35mph and 55mph and tell him how it performs and what it sounds like. I tell him it sounds normal.

He says what I decide to do is up to me, but if he was in my situation, he would keep the engine on and drive directly to Sheridan, about a three hour drive. He said he'd wait up for us. He also said we could take the scenic route, through the area where the T-Rex and other dinosaur fossils were discovered. Just don't turn the car off and take it easy.

When we got there, he said, "oh, you're the guys from Cody. Let me take a look." He drove the car around the block, then plugged it into the diagnostic machine and said, "no codes."

He asked me if I filled the tank that morning, and I said yes. He said I probably didn't close the gas cap properly and there was air leaking in.

I asked him how much I owed him and he said, "Nothing. No codes. There's nothing wrong with your car. You don't owe me anything."

But you stuck around, I told him. I wanted to give him some business. I have a 45,000 mile servicing that's nearly due. Perhaps he could do that.

"You see that guy over there," he said. "That's my best mechanic. He's taking care of that car for a couple that's stuck here waiting to go back to New York. He needs to get that done this afternoon. And the other one, the kid, I just hired him this week. I wouldn't trust him yet with your car. There's a Honda store in Rapid City. They can take care of you. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I mentioned we were looking for a nice place to have lunch - some place where our dog would be welcome. He pointed to the Hotel Sheridan across the street, with its big wooden porch. Built by William F. Cody and the first place in the state to have electricity. Food's good and Ruffy would be welcome, so long as he minded his doggie manners.

We had a wonderful, relaxing lunch on the porch of the historic old hotel, drove through downtown Sheridan, and continued on our way.

The owner, who went home right after we left, wouldn't take our money and declined our business, but stuck around on a weekend day to make sure we were okay.

"No codes."

Here in the big city, it would cost you at least $75 for someone to plug your car into the diagnostic machine to tell you that.

Redhead

In 2007 I fell down a Neolithic burial mound on Anglesey and ended up on crutches for 8 weeks. I was commuting every 2 weeks between Cardiff and LAX at the time. Every time that I caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington and had to switch to the Great a Western train to Cardiff, someone would see me trying to pull my suitcase while hobbling on crutches and pull it along with theirs all the way thru the station. I was always grateful and now do the same for anyone that I see struggling anywhere.

invisible

Not a problem for me - in my home city traffic is even crazier. Plus one needs to know the rule to cross a street around Asia - start crossing it and keep the pace, they will avoid you.

Back to the story - we invited the girl and her BF to Singapore, she will be coming and staying with us in couple of month.

Annalisa12

I have crossed plenty of streets in Asia and Vietnam. I know the rules! This street was particularly brutal hence needing local help!!