Random Acts Of Travel Kindness
Gap Adventure reveals it is not just the memories of breathtaking scenery, wonderful wildlife and a great group that stay with travellers on their return home, but the people met along the way and their simple acts of kindness.
Heading away with Gap Adventures is pretty much worry-free as travellers are under the protective wing of a CEO (Chief Experience Officer). However our survey has revealed tales of travellers getting lost in foreign cities while not on small-group travel, losing precious items and falling ill after a Gap Adventure had ended, all of which have been solved by a stranger’s simple kindness.
Grateful travellers have gleefully divulged stories of being treated to home cooked meals in far-flung destinations while at Gap Adventures homestays and evidently one of the most appreciated acts of kindness is simply being treated like one of the family. Judging by the results of the survey, locals love showing travellers around their hometown and anyone who offers to take a group photo has also received huge thanks from Gap Adventurers.
The top three stories Gap Adventurers shared are:
1 “I’m lost and alone in a foreign land…”
It seems that while journeying independently travellers have managed to get lost all over the world and strangers have luckily been on hand to help. One explorer told Gap Adventures how having missed the last bus back from a remote area in Mexico, the bus driver made a special journey just to pick her up and ensure she got safely back to her hotel.
2 “I’ve left my wallet, camera, sunglasses…”
Even with twelve pairs of eyes in a Gap Adventures group looking out for each other’s belongings, cameras and wallets are still the most common items lost by travellers. Heart-warming tales of strangers returning the lost items to the owner are happily just as abundant. From kindly taxi drivers who keep hold of a wallet to return it to the owner, to bus drivers making special journeys to return cameras – the survey has shown it’s a common misadventure often with an unexpectedly cheerful ending.
3 “I’m not feeling very well…”
A few travellers have told the Great Adventure People tales of falling ill while travelling independently after their Gap Adventures trip and receiving help from a stranger, but the one that really stands out is the tale of a solo British traveller in India. Falling ill on a train, a stranger suspected he might have contracted malaria and swiftly took him under his wing, got him into a taxi, took him to a hospital and paid for all the necessary drugs and injections. The traveller recovered fully and the stranger would accept nothing but thanks for his assistance.
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