Worldwide Traveller Friends

Today I'm going to get real with you, about the generosity of strangers.

One thing I hear a lot is 'that doesn't sound safe', when I talk about hitch hiking or Couchsurfing or wild camping. I also get a lot of disbelief while I explain how positive my experience traveling this way has been.

For example, in Northern Kazakhstan, we were Couchsurfing with a couple from Russia and Ukraine. They were working their day jobs, but found so much time to spend with us, sharing stories and information. We met them in the evening, where they drove us around the city by night and showed us all the sights. We then met them again in a National Park, where we explored with them and their friends. Finally, we stayed another night on their kitchen floor, because they had other Couchsurfers in their spare bed... This couple went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time in their city and province!

Ok, so that example is from using a website that is made specifically for strangers to get in contact because they need/have a spare bed for use... Other examples?

1. A driver in Southern Kazakhstan we hitch hiked with, who wouldn't let us camp by the side of the road. He drove us to his sisters, where we had a homemade dinner and desert, followed by driving us to his, where we had a double bed to ourselves for the night. The next day he drove us to a market and bought us some snack foods while we found our essentials, and then took us to a perfect spot to carry on hitch hiking.

2. A Mongolian lady in the town closest to the Western border between Mongolia and China, who took us to her yurt and welcomed us into the family. We met her through the local bank, which was closing as we arrived. She saw us struggling with what we should do, as we had absolutely no Mongolian money with us and the bank was closed, so she took us to an ATM. This didn't work, so she just took us home with her, where we met her mother and son and had a wonderful dinner of rice and vegetables. We camped on her land and showered in the river that flowed close by. The next day we headed out to carry on our journey, with full stomachs and a good nights rest.

3. A family-run road-side restaurant, during the Mid-Autumn Festival in China (as important to the Chinese and Christmas is to us), where we had stopped for some dinner before we got on our way hitch hiking another 1000km-plus . There were the usual miscommunications about what we were after, as well as being very tired/hungry already. As we sit down to wait for our order, a toddler appears and heads straight for us... He spends the next hour playing with us, sitting on our laps, sharing his toys. The women who ran the restaurant were so appreciative of our patience and time spent with the toddler, she said we didn't have to pay for our food. We argued this point with her, as the price of the food was around $1 each, and ended up paying her at least a little bit!

... I could keep going for a long time, about all the fantastic and generous people we've met during our travels; Uncle Alec and his family, two motorbikers just before Charyn Canyon, the family at the Kolsai Lakes, our Couchsurfing couple in Almaty, the couple we met on a train in Mongolia, the mayor of a town we hitch hiked in Kyrgyzstan, Sonjia and her campervan in the Netherlands, the family at the road-side food place in Vietnam whose father spoke amazing English....... we are so thankful and grateful for each person we meet. These strangers have brought a light into our lives, and have made some of the best memories we could ask for!

The kindness and generosity of strangers is astonishing, if you just give them a chance.