that you have met while traveling. This , to me, is a much more interesting and positive way to look at the people one meets during your travels..<BR>I will go first- While traveling to Japan,after a 14 hour flight to Tokyo,I had to take a 3 hour bus to the small town north west of the city..then I had to get from the bus station to my destination.When I arrived at the bus station,I asked a cab driver how much it would be to my final destination,and he said $25-usd...as we were driving, he got lost, the addresses in the town made no sense and he had to radio in for directions, all this with the meter running.Finally he found the correct route,and as we were driving, he noticed that the meter had hit $25-He said "Oh! I said $25.00" and turned off the meter..You can bet that would not have happened in my home town of NYC

Oops. I opened this because I thought you were talking about Fodors posters, and I thought it was the best four-word desciption that anyone had come up with. In fact, the best description period. Never mind.

Joe, you are right ~ the Fodors people are Strange,wonderful and Helpful!<BR>

On two different occasions in Paris, while staring at my map and wondering where I was and how to get to where I wanted to go, local Parisians walked up and offered their help. Who says the Parisians are rude people?

TTT

I had the same experience in Paris. Walked into a post office and asked the girl at the information kiosk if she'd be kind enough to take a quick look at my map and tell me which street to take to get somewhere. She left the post office, came outside, walked us down the street and pointed us in the right direction! A wonderful contrast to the surly older woman at Fouchard's who lost her patience with us when we took a bit too long deciding which pastry we wanted. <BR><BR>Bartender in Dublin: my sister & I ordered a glass of Guiness. I insisted she try it, she didn't want to. She took a sip and pronounced it "awful," pushing the glass aside to me. The bartender came over and told her she couldn't offer an opinion until she'd drunk at least half the glass. She did so, said it was still awful and pushed it back. He came over and said "Well then, your opinion doesn't count." We laughed so hard and stayed all afternoon!

In Nepal, I had just come back to my hotel from being on a trek.I woke in the night, very sick.By morning, I could only stagger down stairs and ask the desk to contact a doctor for me.They called the hospital,where (heaven sent) was a nurse from NJ! and she said that I should come there right away.The desk clerk stayed with me while the cab was called, helped me in and gave directions.At the hospital I was treated for that unpleasant illness one gets from drinking tainted water (Nepals "bottled" water) and I stayed overnight.The next day I went back to my hotel where I stayed in bed and slept.In the morning, the clerk came to the door,with tea and rice and hot towels, he would check on me throughout the day.This was not a room service hotel..these were just good and kind people.

I have had many kind encounters with strangers while travelling and it always enrichs the experience. During my last 2 visits in Paris, we could not open a map on the street without someone approaching to see if we needed directions. Whether we needed help or not, I found those gestures incredibly gracious. In Holland, several cities, I got incredibly confused with the street names and found myself lost on a daily basis. Whenever I approached someone for directions, they would apologize for their English (which was usually near perfect) and show me the right directions, even sometimes walking me down the block to assure that I had it right. My friend and I were very confused about using a pay phone in Italy one time. We asked someone on the street a question about the phone card and he not only helped us, he dialed the number and made sure that our connection was successful before moving on.

I had a very funny experience in a patisserie in Paris 3 years ago. My two girlfriends and I were leaving Paris for Amsterdam on the Thalys TGV early in the morning. Anyway, there was this very nice little patisserie across the street from our hotel in Paris, where I went to buy 3 cups of coffee and some pastries for our train ride. I had the equivalent of about $10 USD in francs, as the remaining francs ($20 USD) we had was to pay for the cab. Here in Boston, if I am lucky $10 will get me 3 cups of coffee and 3 muffins. But not in Paris. I picked out some croissants and got 3 cups of coffee and gave the owner my francs. He gave me back more francs. I was just trying to get rid of them. So, I picked out more pastries, gave him more francs, and still got change back. This went on for 2 more transactions, when I finally gave up and told him to keep the change. We both laughed. When I left, in perfect English, he said enjoy your pastries and coffee. <BR><BR>And then when we paid the cab driver, he also gave us back francs. We gave them all to him as a tip. He said it was too much -- about $5. Looking back we should have kept some of those francs for coffee on the train. I hadn't realized until we were in the cafe on train that it accepted both guilder and francs.

Same trip. While in Amsterdam I had an accident (slipped on one of those green plastic grass mats while getting off a tour bus) and dislocated my knee cap. A very painful experience and I ended up on crutches slowing down my traveling companions who decided to walk at my pace. Even made it through the Anne Frank House. Anyway, when we arrived in London 3 days later, we were staying at a delightful B&B in the Moravia District, but the B&B did not have an elevator, and our rooms were on the third floor. Unfortunately the rooms on the lower floors were occupied. Sign posted at the front said that they don't move luggage. Well, the housekeeper saw my predicament and lifted my heavy rollbag over her shoulder and brought it upstairs to my room. I was so happy that I gave her a 5 pound note. She argued with me and said it was too much, but finally accepted the tip. We stayed 5 days, my friends went off on their own, as I had been to London many times, and I went to the theatre. The morning we were leaving the housekeeper came to get my rollbag without me even asking. I again gave her a 5 pound note, but this time she absolutely refused to accept it.<BR><BR>I've since stayed at this B&B 3 more times.<BR><BR>By the way, we were flying British Airways and they shuttled us to the gate and then upgraded us to business class because of my accident. I think we spent $400 each for roundtrip airline tickets.

We were lost one evening on the Swiss/German border (German side) and stopped at a local inn for the night. No English was spoken at the front desk. We went into the restaurant for dinner and everyone was looking at us. Apparently it was the local gathering spot and we didn't fit in. A friendly German gentleman came over and asked us in English why we were not at Holiday Inn. We told him we were lost, but would definitely prefer this local inn. He begin translating for quite a while and the local villagers warmed up to us. Lots of smiles and laughter followed. The next morning the inn keeper put on his hat, motioned for us to follow and got in his car and drove to the main highway showing us the way! I will never forget that experience! I still love to visit Germany.

This is great-please Keep them coming~It is snowing and miserable here and these warm and friendly stories are brightening the day~

I was traveling in Italy four years ago when I decided to split up with my traveling companions and take a day trip to visit Pompeii after seeing Naples. I arrived on a nearly deserted day, early afternoon, sunny and perfect weather... perfect for gathering some great pictures. I had a nearly-full roll of film from Naples, and hopped on the train headed south, getting off at the Pompeii station. As I was headed out of the station to the ruins, I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my gut-- I had lost my camera! [not a cheap one either, a somewhat high-quality, big-lenses, computerized-zoom type camera that would be a Wonderful find for anyone who happened to see it] I raced back to the train station and hopped the next train back, headed to the Naples station to find if someone had found it at the main terminal. ...twenty minutes later, while piecing my day together in my head, I remembered having it on the train southbound, so of course i panicked again and got off at the next stop, a tiny stop in the middle of nowhere. I went to the ticket office where absolultely No english was spoken, and tried to explain what had happened, when a stocky, 50-something man overheard what i was saying and leaned into the conversation. He didn't speak much English, but enough to translate for me to the station clerk. I told him exactly where I was sitting, we narrowed down which car it was in and which train it would've been, and finally after some work the clerk called ahead to Sorrento for the conductor to look for it.<BR><BR>Long story short-- they DID find my camera, right where I had left it on the southbound train [no small miracle], and at the next station turned it over to a northbound train conductor, who promptly brought it to the station where I was waiting. The English-speaking man who helped me waited around the entire time until my problem was solved, and when I got my camera I offered him the small amount of cash i had at the time [7 or 8000 lira], which he refused to take. He disappeared once he knew I was OK, and I got on the next southbound train after losing only a few hours of my day, instead of priceless photographs and my only camera.

My husband & I bought some pottery at a store in Rapallo, Italy and the shop keeper could not have been nicer. Despite the fact that he spoke no English and we spoke almost no Italian, we had a great "conversation". We managed to figure out that he had taken a trip to the US and loved it. I'll always remember him pantomiming an airplane with his arms held straight out. AFter we made our purchase, he asked my husband if he could give me a gift. It was a beautiful, mirrored box which I treasure. When we walked by his shop later that day, he gave us a big wave & smile. What a beautiful man!

I have many but will tell my favorite.<BR>My Mother, step-father (with a cane) and I travelled from Andulusia to Germany via train. My s.f. who was 69 years old had been looking up his family origin and found his family came from a small town in Germany (by Hamburg). We had to disembark the train in a quaint small town (the name has slipped my mind). So here we were but we needed to go about 15 miles west and there was no train. The girl at the train station called the pastor in town we were heading to and told him we had arrived (he was expecting us). Anyway, she gave us money for coffee and then when she got off work (3 hours later) she piled us and our lugguge into her car and drove us to the ancestorial home. My step-father died 4 months later but he was so proud of <BR>"his kind folks back home".

I have told this story before and it takes place in America, but it fit so well under wonderful helpful people:<BR>My daughter was 16 and in a terrible accident in the mountains of Tennessee.(she had been visiting in NC,we live in NY) By the time I had arrived by plane and car,she had undergone surgery and we were waiting for her to be taken from critical care into recovery.Her accident involved a large tractor trailer truck.<BR>While sitting in the hospital waiting for the surgeons, a lady came to me and said that her husband was a truck driver and drove all over the US..and that if anything ever happened to him,she would hope that a kind person would be there to help him in any way they could...for the next 3 days, this lady took me to the police,to the store to pick up things for my daughter,she was there for anything I needed.While sitting in the motel one night, it all caught up with me as room service was being delivered and I broke down crying-the little room service girl, put her arms around me and comforted me.When the local church made an announcement that a young lady from NY was in the hospital, they visited her in such numbers that the hospital had to put a sign on the door so she could rest! Although it was a terrible experience,and happily my daughter recovered perfectly, the wonderful people in that town gave me much hope and faith in the fact that there are such good people around us.

Luneburg, Germany!!! That's it (from 2 messages up)

Not only are people kind to me abroad, sometimes I get invited to a villa for dinner: In 1998 my boyfriend and I were in Athens. We were staying at a luxury hotel and were sitting around the pool when we met this odd woman. (She had more jewelry on her than Van Cleef and Arpels has in its entire store on 5th Ave..) We started talking and she told us she wasn't staying at the hotel, but comes to use the pool. She owned a huge villa in Athens, but she was lonely and liked to come to the hotel pool to talk to people. She liked us so much she asked us to come to dinner at her villa. So, she sends this beautiful<BR> limo to come to come pick us up and we go to the villa, which was something that Ari and Jackie would live in. (She also had met Ari Onassis a few times.) She explained to us, over a dinner served by a maid and butler, that her husband was very rich, but also very mean to her. Now that he was dead, she was going to spend all his money and have a good time. She served Krug Champagne at her table and all the food was French, for she had a French cook. (She said she hated Greek food.) She played the piano for us after dinner and showed us her jewelry, fur coats, and art collection (2 Roualts). We had such a good time that she made us stay the night and she had new pajamas for us to wear!! To this day, she sends me a Christmas card and tells me to come visit her if I come back to Athens.<BR>Now, how do you like that for Greek hospitality???????

Annie; I love that story. Wow. <BR><BR>I, too, have had nothing but helpful strangers in Paris trying to point me in the right direction without my even having to ask for help!

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