A Few of My Favorite Travel Stories About the Human Connection

In this time of the pandemic, we are reminded of the goodness of people and that all important human connection — especially when we have to maintain a “social distance”.

We hear a story on the news or read an article on the internet about someone going out of their way to do something nice for someone in need.

For me travel has shown me so much about the kindness of people and the goodness of the human spirit.

So in this dark time, that still sees those rays of light, I want to share some of my favorite travel stories about the goodness of humankind.

 

A fun day with travel friends in Spain

On my first trip to Europe in October 2005 I spent about 16 days in the Andalucía region of Spain, the southern piece of Spain.

I was winging it with no reservations and using public transportation.

I had chosen to spend a couple of nights in a town called Vejer de la Frontera which was about 10km from the coast — the Costa de la Luz.

Vejer de la Frontera is a lovely town and I fell in love with it.

But I also wanted to go to one of the coastal towns and perhaps even sit on the beach for a bit.

Public transportation options were scarce.

So Jorge, the owner of the place I was staying, told me that one of the couples staying here were going to take a drive along the coast the next day.

He introduced us and they invited me to join them.

Silvia was French and Manfredi was Italian.

They lived in Milan and they were probably in their late 50’s to early 60’s.

Their English was limited, but still good.

My French and Italian were non-existent at the time.

But we had a fabulous day, stopping at some seaside towns, walking on the beaches, climbing the sand dunes and eating a very Andalucían seaside meal.

Manfredi was into photography and I remember him telling me to let him know if I wanted to stop to take photos.

I will never forget their kindness to a complete stranger.

And I’ll never forget what a wonderful day this was — because of that human connection.

Even when you are not always fully understanding each other!

 

Help on the side of the road

This is a bit embarrassing but I don’t know how to change a flat tire.

Something I really should learn, right?

I know.

Well, thankfully some kind souls took pity on me.

It was September 2007 and I was in Ireland for the first time.

I was driving my friend’s car which she had graciously lent to me as she was okay without it for a few days.

As I drove along the coastal route in The Burren I suddenly realized things weren’t right.

My hands shook on the steering wheel as I pulled off on wee pullout.

Yup.

Flat tire.

I called my friend to let her know.

Yes, there was a spare in the boot (the trunk) of the car.

I probably was only on the side of this wee road for about 5 minutes before a couple pulled off.

He talked to me, but I couldn’t understand him.

Very thick Irish accent. 😉

His wife served as the translator.

They were as kind and warm as you hear the Irish to be.

I was so grateful they stopped and thanked them profusely.

Yes.

There are so many good people in this world.

 

Is this a car jacking?

I was traveling in Turkey with a friend in Spring 2011.

Our GPS had quit on us and we didn’t have a good detailed map.

Epic fail there!

Anyway…

We were making a fairly long drive from one town to the next.

When we arrived in the town, we only had the street address for the hotel.

But without a map, we couldn’t even find the street.

We drove around a bit with no luck.

It was getting late and we were tired and hungry.

I stopped the car at a corner where some locals were hanging out.

Deb, my friend, jumped out of the car to find out where our hotel was, figuring if we at least had a general direction, we would find it.

Well, since we only knew about 3 words in Turkish and most Turks don’t speak much English, we knew it was a long shot.

Deb approached the small group of people as I looked on.

The next thing I knew some man — maybe in his mid-50’s — was opening up the back door of the car, pushing our belongings on the seat over and sitting in the back seat.

Deb, in the meantime, had taken her position in the passenger seat and looked at me as I looked at her.

I knew we were both thinking, “Are we getting car-jacked?”

But the kind man in the back seat directed us — giving back seat driving a whole new meaning for me — using hand gestures and we arrived at our hotel — safely.

Deb and I offered to give him a ride back to the point where we had picked him up.

He refused.

We offered him money.

He said no.

He did this out of the kindness of his heart — helping complete strangers find their way to their hotel.

This is what I have seen time after time as I have traveled.

True human kindness.

True human goodness.

The human connection.

 

Paying it forward

In 2011 I made my first trip to the Veneto region of Italy.

This is the home of Venice.

But it’s also where you’ll find Padua, Vicenza, Verona and the Valpolicella wine region.

And that wine region was a destination that intrigued me.

So after 2 nights in Venice and 2 nights in Vicenza, I rented a car and drove into the vineyards for a few nights.

As I made my way to the little B&B I had booked on the outskirts of the village of Fumane, I passed a couple with huge backpacks walking along the road.

It was mid-June and quite warm.

My heart went out to them.

But at that point, I didn’t stop.

The next evening I was sitting outside in the courtyard of the B&B and see a young couple.

I say hello, probably in Italian.

But we soon realized that we all speak English.

This couple turned out to be from Australia.

We began chatting and sharing our stories, me needing that human connection after traveling for a time on my own.

The 2 of them happy to have someone to speak English with.

The chat takes us on a walk up the hill, through the vineyards as the sun sinks low.

The views from up here over the valley are gorgeous!

I find out that this is the couple I saw on my first day in Valpolicella.

No, they do not have a car.

I tell them I have made a couple of appointments at some vineyards the next day and ask them to join me.

They happily accept.

And we have a wonderful day of wine tasting, eating, getting to know each other and cap it off with dinner at the restaurant owned by the B&B folks.

It was such a fun day and evening — sharing stories with this young, adventurous couple.

That human connection.

I thought back to Manfredi and Silvia in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain.

How they opened up their hearts to me, allowing me to join them for a fun day along the Costa de la Luz.

And here I was in the position to do the same for this young couple.

Karma.

Paying it forward.

 

Talking about La Natura

As a travel planner I do have clients and potential clients concerned about the language barrier.

Folks think they can’t travel to Italy or Germany or Croatia because they don’t know the language.

While I do believe you should learn a few words of the local language, you’ll be surprised how you can get by with facial expressions, hand gestures and lots of smiles and laughter.

On my first visit to the Italian region of Umbria in 2012, I stayed at an agriturismo near the town of Todi.

The family was wonderful.

I was very drawn to the father, Corrado, the farmer who had a big smile.

Corrado was probably in his early 60’s but just had this aura of light to him.

He seemed to be a happy person, full of life and energy.

And he loved being outdoors.

I had been taking online Italian lessons through my favorite program so my Italian was actually pretty good at this point.

But let’s face it, my vocabulary wasn’t large.

Somehow Corrado and I managed to talk about how beautiful and wonderful nature is.

“La natura,” he would say.

I knew what he was talking about.

He would make some comments about nature and even though I didn’t fully understand him, somehow I did.

And I talked to him, in both English and Italian, and I think he understood me.

We both love nature and through a mix of English, Italian, smiles, gestures, facial expressions and laughter, we became kindred spirits.

The beauty of the human connection is that you don’t even have to speak the same language to connect with someone.

 

The people you meet along the trail

In May 2017 I walked the 96 mile West Highland Way in Scotland.

It was an amazing 7 day experience.

And as much as I enjoyed and was awed by the stunning Scottish landscape, I also loved meeting my fellow walkers.

On Day 3 I met a Scottish man named Andy.

Well, I didn’t know that was his name at the time.

Anyway…

We chatted briefly as he saw the camera in my hands and I noticed the one he had hanging around his neck, acknowledging a fellow photographer.

He went on ahead.

I ended up running into him and an Englishman named Phil later that same day towards the end of my day.

I walked with them for a bit and found Andy and Phil to be warm and funny.

Andy is from Glasgow and Phil is from Lancashire in England.

Now, Andy’s accent was a bit hard to understand at times and we kind of “argued” over the pronunciation of buoy.

He pronounced it more like boy and I said boo-ee.

So we hit it off immediately as we were both teasing each other, smiling about this whole exchange.

I was grateful for having this human connection as it had been a long day 3 on the trail — mostly alone.

I ran into Andy again in Tyndrum at the end of Day 4 as we were both in the same restaurant.

We chatted a bit more, me telling him about Wander Your Way.

I told him I was leaving at 8am for the 19 mile trek that was Day 5 and he was welcome to join me.

But we never crossed paths.

And I didn’t think I’d see him or Phil again.

But as I was getting ready for bed at the end of Day 6, I got a Facebook message from him saying that he and Phil, along with another Scotsman, Jim, were walking together.

He told me where he was staying and I told him where I was.

And it just so happened that Phil was staying in one of the cabins at the MacDonald Hotel where I was that night.

At breakfast on the morning of Day 7, that last day, I saw Phil.

We chatted a bit and he then invited me to walk with the 3 of them.

Now one of the rules of a long distance walk is that no one is offended if you say you don’t want to walk with them because many of us want to walk alone.

I had been walking pretty much alone for 6 days.

And part of me wanted to walk alone on this final day.

But I also thought it might be nice to have the company — to have some human connection.

And I liked both Phil and Andy.

Good people.

Phil told me they were meeting at the start of the trail at 8:30 which was when I was thinking of leaving.

I mulled this over for a bit, unsure what I wanted to do.

However, I knew that I could start walking with them but tell them to go on ahead at some point if I just wasn’t into it.

What the hell.

I decided to join them.

Andy and Jim show up a few minutes late so Phil and I give them a hard time.

But it’s great to see Andy.

He’s just a very likable guy even though I don’t always understand him. 🙄🤣

Damn Scottish accent!

Jim is a bit older, but fairly fit.

He’s also from Glasglow but lives elsewhere in Scotland.

I instantly like him.

We walk on and talk about different things in life.

Sometimes we’re 2 and 2.

Sometimes we’re 1 and 3.

Sometimes we’re 1, 2 and 1.

We stop for short breaks, to take pictures and just drink in the scenery and our final day on the West Highland Way.

I have to admit, the company was nice.

And as that final day came to a close I was so grateful for the human connections I had made along this trail.

It was a bit of an unexpected gift to walking the West Highland Way.

All of us walkers bonded over our aches and pains, and sore, blistered feet.

We shared our thoughts about different parts of the trail, talking about the beauty of the scenery or a part of the trail that we didn’t like.

And we bonded.

As walkers.

As lovers of the outdoors.

And as people.

The human connection is powerful and memorable.

 

Do you have stories of travel and the human connection?

I have more!

But these are some of my favorites for sure.

While I love being a solo traveler, I do love meeting locals and other travelers as I wander this Earth.

I need that human connection — at least every now and then.

And typically my brightest and fondest memories involve people.

Feel free to share your stories below.

I’d love to hear them!

 

Please note that Wander Your Way does not recommend travel at this time due to the current global health situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, many destinations and attractions found on this website will not be operating. Please stay up to date using official sources like the WHO. I plan to continue to write about incredible destinations and I will continue to offer tips on travel to Europe in hopes that you will find some solace in these posts — so you keep dreaming about travel and learning about travel. This way when we can all travel again, you’ll be ready to go! For now, stay home and stay safe!

 

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