Pay it Forward – The Path to Shared Prosperity

I recently came across hundreds of stories of people helping people, specifically while traveling. I began reading and just couldn’t get enough. It was so uplifting and inspiring to see so many examples of the human race just taking care of one another. While reading the stories, I cried, I got chills, I laughed, and I fell in love with the idea that there is so much good out there in the people of the world. That by helping each other, we are increasing the shared prosperity of the world. Prosperity literally means “to go forward hopefully“. Read on to experience these stories and find hope and prosperity in your life.

I am part of a female travel group on Facebook called Girls LOVE Travel.
Girls LOVE Travel is a global community of active and aspiring female travelers providing resources and empowerment to one another through safety, socializing and support. This group has about 70,000 members. One of the members, Rachel, posed the simple question:

Although the question asks about “solo” travel, the stories poured in involving family travel, couple travel, and solo travel. Some are fun and frivolous and others are life-saving and truly miraculous.

This question received an overwhelming response. Within 1-2 days this question had over 800 comments. I was amazed that so many people had so many stories to tell. I started reading through the stories and found myself so inspired and getting chills over the true amount of caring by people in the world. I found that the passion to care for one another surpasses any language barriers.

I read through all the stories and I want to share some of those here for you to experience this same inspiration and awe. All of the story-tellers gave me permission to include their stories here.

Emily from Ogden, UT

One time when I was traveling my plans got completely screwed up and I had to get on a flight back home right away. A young couple saw me crying in the airport and brought me a hot chocolate and she ended up calling my mom for me since I couldn’t get a word out. She stayed with me till I could book a new flight and then happened to be on the same flight to Phoenix. She bought me dinner and made sure I got onto my next flight back to SLC. 

She didn’t have to do that but her kindness has always been in my heart. 

I was able to pay it forward once. I was on a flight and next to me was an unaccompanied minor who was on their first flight. She appeared extremely nervous. I happened to have extra snacks and she colored with me. When we landed I helped her find her mom and she gave me a big hug.

Raylene from Madrid, Spain

I solo traveled to Portugal over the Christmas holiday because I was living abroad and away from family/friends. My AirBnB host invited me to spend the holiday with his whole family so I wouldn’t be alone on Christmas 😭❤️ his family was so welcoming to me and the food/desserts were amazing. Turned out to be one of the best Christmases.

Cassady from Tampa, FL

Crying on the side of the road with all of my luggage in Tokyo because I couldn’t figure out the subway and I was afraid to get scammed in a taxi. A Japanese woman comes up, gets in a taxi with me, communicates with the driver for me to my hotel and then refuses to let me pay for it. Tells me “welcome to Japan” we exchanged contacts and I still see her on Facebook and email.

Julie from Denver, Co

A wonderful man, who I had never met but was a friend of a friend – met me in Chicago, gave me his condo key to a gorgeous condo in the middle of the center city with a view of all of Chicago from the 41st floor. He stayed at a friend’s house…. so he gave me his apartment!

Loren from Jamaica

An ATM ate my debit card in the Cancun airport the day I arrived for a month in Mexico and the security guard didn’t speak any English. A family came and translated for me about getting my card back, but the driver that had come to get me to take me to the hotel said he was going to leave me if I didn’t come right then. So I had no money. No card. Nothing. And it was my first time leaving the US. Then the father translating ran after me, grabbed my arm, and handed me $400 USD. I never got to thank them or get their names. But wow…such incredible people.

Hayley from Vancouver, Canada

I got lost an hour away from where I was staying at 3 am while it was pouring rain and my phone died. I couldn’t find my way home and a random woman found me crying on the side of the road and took me to her house to charge my phone, warm me up and feed me, then drove me back to mine… will never forget her amazing act of kindness.  💖

Danielle from British Columbia, Canada

Tons of amazing people helped us out hitchhiking Argentina 2 years ago, but two fathers really stand out. Both touched a nerve. One truck driver, after driving us 10 hours through no man’s land, unsolicited went 45 km out of his way to find a safe space for us to pitch our tent for the night. He bought us a bag of groceries. He said he wanted to take care of us as best he could, in the hope that someone would do the same for his daughter if she traveled like us. 7 days and a few hundred kilometers later, a gas station owner in a tiny middle of nowhere town let us camp on his lawn, and when we came in and ate breakfast the next day, he refused to let us pay for our $10 of food. He wanted a letter from us to his daughter and our contact information. He still stays in contact now, and he hopes his daughter can look up to women like us, the population of this group, and one day see the world. 😭

Dimitra from Greece

An Italian woman helped me and my boyfriend so much when our train had a delay and we missed the next trains. She searched for hours to find a way for us to get to our destination and when we arrived in Milan she looked for the train’s office.  She demanded that they cover our night stay in Milan because it was their fault we missed the trains to Venice. So nice!! You got to love the Italians!!

Namita from New York

I arrived with some friends in Athens at night, when the city center was barricaded due to riots. We took the bus as far as we could but had to walk through the police barricades and find our way to the hotel. The city center was deserted, with bars on every door and things burning in the side streets. Two older Greek women saw us and were very anxious that we were out on the street. They offered us a ride to our hotel in their car, and we arrived safely!

Dawn from West Midlands, UK

Whilst working in Greece, I earnt very little money and I soon realized that it was going to be my first Christmas in my life away from my family as I couldn’t afford the flight. It was going to be tough but I had good friends there and well it would be an interesting experience so I eventually just accepted it. My Greek friends are quite family-oriented, so they were surprised when I said I was gonna spend Christmas alone. One night after talking about it a lot, I had a homesick breakdown in a bar… (there may have been gin involved). My friend comforted me, bought me food & took me home. The next day he called and dragged me out of bed to meet up. He walked in that same bar, placed plane tickets on the table, said “Tell everyone your mum bought them for you.” and left.
I was speechless and so so grateful… so selflessly generous, my faith in humanity was restored that day.

One of the most moving points I realized when I was reading these stories was how so many helpers/saviors considered how it would feel if their own daughter or a family member were in the needy situation in front of them. They felt empathy. They were able to understand and share the feeling of the person in need. I believe we can all become better people if we strive for empathy and view others like a loved one when a situation arises. The world would be a better place.

So, it feels like we mostly hear about the scary, travel stories out there (pickpockets, muggings, etc. ) But in my opinion, there are just as many feel-good stories where strangers have taken care of people in need. This has restored my faith in people, my belief in the inherent good nature of people, and increased my feeling of hope for our future. If you have an opportunity to help someone and to go forward hopefully, consider yourself blessed and pass on prosperity.

Do you have a generous stranger story to tell? Please share in the comments!