In the world, where you can be anything, be kind.

This is by far the best advice I got and the best I can give. It can take you so much further on your travels. Doesn’t matter, travelling alone or with children. When we trave,l it’s not always easy. There are situations that bring you to the edge of your patience and no matter what, it’s always best to remind yourself to just be kind. Usually things resolve after. I am a person that is usually kind, but when I started travelling for longer periods I met myself as a totally different person. So many times I needed to remind myself to just be kind as the outcome will be the best this way. And I must say, until now, I had very little bad experiences.

Who gave me this advice?

A very dear friend from Turkey. He was a local tourist guide and I was guiding my group of Slovenian people. We had so much fun together and our tours were awesome, but we did also fight. And once I was so angry of him, because he was late for departure (Slovenians always want to be on time). I told him and he apologized, but I was still angry as he’s been late before. And then he said to me just be kind. I suddenly realized he was so right. He had a good reason for being late and nobody got hurt because of it. This happened almost 10 years ago. And since then I try to remind myself to be even more kind. Even when situations are difficult, being kind is the best.

With Mustafa (my dear friend from Turkey who gave me this advice), the bus driver and the youngest passenger then at Istanbul airport (Turkey).

World changes when you’re being kind.

Definitely. Taxi driver will help you with luggage and hotel receptionist will give you a better room. Flight attendant will bring you that extra water you so much need just before landing. Tuk tuk driver will teach you a local song and waiter in a local restaurant will give you a very special dish to taste. And so much more. It’s so rewarding being kind and things just seem to work out better. I always keep this in mind so even when I’m exhausted, disappointed, unhappy, I want to be kind to whomever I have contact with. I’ll also teach my kids to just always be kind. However you put it, it’s still the best way.

Being kind should be a part of us, but things change when we travel.

It really helped me to remind myself to just be kind. Once you’ve travelled all night on a shabby local bus and your neighbour had some live chickens in a box just under your feet you’re not up for negotiating a price for a taxi ride to your hotel. You can get angry (and so did I). So I thought about my friend from Turkey, smiled to the taxi driver, asked him for a better price and told him about my bus ride. We had a laugh and he gave me an almost normal price for that ride! No matter the situation it always pays off to be kind.

There are so many other advices I got during the years and I’ll get to those too in future posts.

Until next time,

Ajda