Back in Canada. Happy to be so. The trip to Portugal was wonderful, created more
magical moments and lifelong memories. But like Dorothy said (and, believe it or not, our first night in Aveiro, one of the few English channels on the television was playing ‘The Wizard of Oz’), there is no place like home.
Before I move on to the topic of this blog, I want to give a shout out to the Portuguese
people we encountered. I know there is a backlash against tourism in Europe. I understand it, and despite being a tourist for the past two weeks, I support it. Having said that, with only a few exceptions, everyone we met was warm, welcoming, helpful, and just genuine. From our hostess in Lisbon (the transplanted Australian I wrote about earlier) to the staff at our exquisite hotel in Aveiro, the storyteller on our boat cruise in the canal, the owner of a wine shop, who proudly, but somehow modestly, showed us his 180 year old bottle Port worth an estimated 1.6 million euros (out of my price range if you’re wondering) to the young lady who spent over a half hour explaining the origins of their organic winery - thank you!
Which brings me to the central point of this blog: kindness.
The last two days are the type you often experience when you near the end of a trip. A
long drive, a hectic time dropping off the rental car, a search for some type of transport to an
obscure hotel, followed by long line-ups in the airport with harried travellers all trying to find the right entrance/exit, gateway to their destination. And yet, throughout that, simple acts of
kindness.
Our agent at the airport took an extraordinary amount of time to sort out the issues we
had encountered on what was supposed to be a routine flight home (multiple e-mails during the night stating your flight has been changed, cancelled, etc. can induce a certain amount of anxiety). At the end, he apologized for issues that had nothing to do with him, and wished us a safe flight home. To use my limited knowledge of Portuguese, Obrigado!
We had somehow obtained two passes to an airport lounge. They were new to us and
special. So special, that my significant other was told hers was not valid. We looked at each
other, prepared to exit, when the young lady assisting us, winked, and said go on in. An
unexpected gesture and made a long day easier to face.
Then there was our flight home. I would be the first to say air travel is not the joyous
escape it used to be. I accept that part of it is my age, part is a continuously changing
environment, brought on by tragedies such as 9/11; the impact of COVID, just to name two
world-altering events. So, we boarded and because of the numerous changes to our flight, my significant other was seated behind me. When my seatmate appeared, I greeted him, started to explain the situation and before I could finish my sentence, he said, “Of course, I’ll switch seats. No problem at all.”
A small act of kindness that made our flight home that much more enjoyable.
I could go on. The air crew was wonderful. Our bags were the first to come off the
carousel at Pearson Airport (which admittedly has nothing to do with kindness, but was such a unique event it definitely earned a mention).
Small acts of kindness, which I hope to emulate in my own daily activities.
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