The people we meet along the way…
For over an hour, we listened to the rumbling and watched the Czech landscape pass by. At a station half-way to Cesky Krumlov, we noticed some of our fellow passengers were confused about the public transport system. We could see it in their faces. Were we only picking-up passengers, or did we stop for a 10-minute break? Before we knew it, the bus driver continued his way.
Upon arriving at our final destination, we prepared ourselves for a walk into the historical town and explore the castle. Just when we were about to leave, we found our fellow passengers, an elderly Korean couple, try to make sense of the information board. They had some technological challenges, as they relied on paper maps and travel guides. So, we decided to help them out a little and nudge them in the right direction.
Quickly, we discovered that we faced a language barrier. Their English wasn’t fluent, and our Korean was, well, pretty much non-existent. Nonetheless, we tried our best to communicate and showcase our hospitality.
Seeing their confusion grow the more we tried to explain things, we invited them to join us into town. See, we didn’t know them, and we couldn’t engage in lengthy conversations, so why did we decide to invite them to tag along?
Truth of the matter is, extending a helping hand to those who are lost, and could use a small push in the right direction, is never a waste. The Korean couple was so humble and so grateful, it was unbelievably beautiful to experience.
As we slowly walked towards the town centre, we said our goodbyes to the couple, wished them a lot of fun, and started exploring with just the two of us. Whilst we were wandering through the maze of streets, we crossed paths with our old friends several times. It almost felt like an endless game of hide-and-seek.
Several hours later, in the corner of my eye, I noticed them sitting on a bench. They were dozing off for a well-deserved rest. We could only imagine them having a blast visiting all the wonderful places they came to see that day.
After a stop for an amazing local dinner, we were getting concerned if they would it make it back to their bus in time. After all, we already saw them dozing off on a bench, there could be a chance that they had actually fallen asleep. So, we went out of our way to check up on them. However, we didn’t find them again. We trusted the universe that they made their way back safely to the bus.
We both are from the hospitality industry, and offering first-class service and genuine care is in our very nature.
Looking back at this photo, I find myself getting lost in thought. As we live our lives, we come across so many different people. However, we don’t always get to connect with others, like we did with this Korean couple, on a daily basis. And even if we do, we don’t know if it would be the last time would see each other. Chances are, we probably never get to see them again. As we lose them in the crowd of people on this planet filled with billions of individuals, I can’t help but feel somewhat sad about all of this.
What this experience taught me is to make every interaction count. You never know when you’ll meet someone for the last time, and, until then, every goodbye feels more like a ‘see you later’. Once you realise that there is an end to it, you will start to cherish every moment you get to spend together.