HotWheels

I've seen the thread for the rudest travel treatment, but would prefer to hear the good today. I still remember when we traveled to Kauai several years ago, met a local lady on the plane, and told her where we were staying, but didn't have directions to drive there. She offered to have us follow her in our rental car, since she would pass it going to her home. When we safely arrived, she jumped out of her jeep with a small snack bag of Maui potato chips,nuts,drinks - said "Have a good time!", jumped back in her jeep & whisked away! Aloha spirit in action!

Neopolitan

We entered the subway system in Tokyo for the first time and had just started studying the boards and the machines. An elderly Japanese gentleman came up to us and asked if he could help us (in perfect English). He helped us buy our tickets, and accompanied us on the train as he was going the same way. He was getting off at a stop just before ours and made clear that we should get off at the next stop and carefully explained exact directions to where we were going.
In chatting with him, we thanked him for his kindness and he said he had travelled to the US several times and strangers there were always kind to him so this was like paying them back. When I asked where he had been in the US he kept saying Brookgreen. I told him I had never heard of it and he was utterly amazed since it is a such a huge city. He did say it was near New York. It wasn't until after he got off, a light bulb went off in my head and his accent suddenly cleared -- Brooklyn!

He also was headed to another town of historical significance nearby in a few days and offered to show us that town if we wanted to go along -- he'd be going by train. He works as a volunteer guide in an ancient temple there. Unfortunately we would be leaving Tokyo that day so couldn't take him up on his kind offer.

nytraveler

When trying to leave the underground garage of our hotel in Munich we discovered that we couldn;t get the machine to give us the token we needed to leave.

Since neither of us had any German we couldn;t read the instructions - but engish is very much like German - so we figured - how hard could it be? It turned out to be impossible. We spent ten minutes playing with the machine, reading and rereading the insructions, doing what seemed obvious and then doing anything we could think of.

A local businessman who had just parked his car saw our dilemna and came over to help us. Well - after about 10 minutes he said he knew how to figure it out and walked away. About 15 minutes later (we were ready to give up and go get someone from the hotel) he came back with - sure enough - a bellman. (Should say the garage was under the hotel - but not a part of it - and was all automatic - no valets.)

The two of them proceeded to have a lengthy converstaion about the machine, the bellman began pushing it - and finally hitting it and the front opened. Voila - someone had put a slug in - it was never going to work for anyone.

So - he really went out of his way to do us a good deed - not knowing he would have had to deal with the same problem himself.

sparkerlaw

I wasn't traveling, but years ago, when I first moved to Tel Aviv, I worked for Manpower International,and was sent to many different jobs at many different locations all over the country. Most of the time I had no idea how to get where I was going, but all I had to do was stand on a corner, with a map, and look perplexed and inevitably I would be surrounded by a slew of Israelis helpfully trying to show me the way sometimes arguing with each other as to the really "right" way. One time, an elderly lady who was sitting on a bench eating her lunch, put it away, took me by the hand and delivered me to my destination with a lovely smile.

tcapp

I would have to say it was our visit to the Kapalua Bay Resort in Maui last May. The minute we arrived, we recieved a lei greeting(We hadn't even gotten out of our car yet). The staff was so friendly, and we walked into our lovely room to hear music playing!
On our nightstand was a cd player with speakers, and an assortment of Hawaiian CD's. Every day a fresh fruit salad and a couple of fruit sodas were waiting for us when we returned to our room. My daughter and I (along with other guests)were treated to a Hula Lesson by the sweetest lady I've ever met. Each night, on our pillows, appeared a fish pin--a different fish each night--with a story of the fish.
This sweet, beautiful resort is being torn down because Renaissance was paid handsomely for the property by a time share developer. I will never forget this place.

nevermind

We've been treated well so often. I may need to post more than once as memories come back!!

We were in the very northern "wilds" of Ireland and were something of a novelty as American tourists. We met a wonderful Irish family who invited us to see their farmhouse home, then took us to their friends' house for an evening of making music and hearing wonderful Irish stories. Many of the stories were somewhat supernatural and always began with "I don't believe in the fairies, mind you, but..." It was an enchanted evening!

Underhill

Flying business class on Austrian Airlines!

wtm003

We were standing on a crowded bus in Rome when an older Italian woman stood up and insisted that my then 6 year old and I take her seat. I politely declined but she was persistent and we ended up in her seat. It was such a simple and sweet gesture on her part, but I remember it fondly.

likeswords

So many years ago, age 20 or so, I took the train from the north to Sydney, Australia, and arrived close to midnight with no prearranged hotel. The dear conductor directed me to Traveler's Aid, but in case Traveler's Aid couldn't help, he called his wife to see if I could stay with them for the night, and she said yes. Happily, I did not have to inconvenience them, because there was a room available at the Kuranda Guest House (no longer there, I believe), where they made me more than welcome even at that late hour. I will not forget the great kindness everyone showed this very tired, bedraggled visitor who really didn't have a clue.