the ticket that keeps on giving

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1. Coming home on the train a couple of months ago I noticed that they'd changed the ticket gates at my station. At peak hour under the old railway corporation the gates all used to be open, letting us crowds of pushing sheep through the turnstiles quickly. Now they are all shut, meaning every person has to fumble through bags to find tickets. Tempers fray. I feel claustrophobic. Mykis are swiped and rejected, swiped and rejected. Tickets shoved in hurriedly bounce back. The mob stretches back to the train carriages, at risk of spilling onto the track. 

Finally through the ordeal I burst out into fresh air. Ticket in hand I notice a group of girls at the ticket machine. I'm done for the day, so bowl up to them and ask if anyone would like a ticket. They look at me suspiciously. I have to repeat myself. One of them takes it gratefully, I've saved her $7. If I hadn't had to take my ticket out of my wallet to get through the gate, I probably would have walked straight past them and not even thought of it.

2. At the group interview for my amazing, fantastic job which I finally got, we were talking about what inspires us everyday. A girl talked about random acts of kindness, and mentioned she'd been given a train ticket after someone else had finished using it. It had saved her $7. It wasn't the girl I gave the ticket to, but it made me smile, thinking that maybe my action had inspired further action, a ripple effect. I know I'm not the only person in Melbourne who has passed on a train ticket, but it was such a great coincidence that I was hearing about it so soon.

3. On my way home from Queensland after a day of frustrating travel delays. The delays meant my lift home from the airport had fallen through, so I grumbled and paid for the $16 skybus to the city and then was about to buy another metcard at Southern Cross station, scrounging through my wallet for enough coins. A young guy approached me, and called me 'Maam.' He offered me his ticket which he'd finished with for the day. "It's only Zone 1, 2 hours" he said almost apologetically. Just what I needed to get home. I told him he'd made my day. 

I hadn't given my ticket in the first place in order to secure karma for myself. I hadn't done it to make me feel good. I never expected it to come back to me. But what goes around comes around.

These three incidences happened in the space of three weeks.

Now every time I'm done with my ticket I try to pass it on, but recently there hasn't been anyone at the machines buying one.  I stick it in the change slot of the machine, hoping the next person to come along will see it there. 

travel karma II: mexican payback

As a traveller, you are so vulnerable. You've got your most important possessions on you ready to be stolen, you've got no knowledge of your surroundings so you can be taken advantage of, and if you're alone then you're counting on strangers for friendship, company, and safety. You need all the good energy of the universe on your side!

Travel karma exists: you better believe it. If you find a wallet/ phone/ passport try your best to get it back to the owner (imagine if it was you!) Be nice to strangers! Help someone who's lost! Make someone's day! It will all come back to you times three.

I was travelling through Mexico with Boyfriend-At-The-Time and two of his guy mates. They lost our room key on the beach somewhere in Playa del Carmen. We spent the whole time there hiding our valuables around the hostel room and leaving the door chocked open a tiny bit, so we wouldn't have to pay for a replacement key. Bad backpackers. Karma coming to get ya. When checking out, the boys made a quick getaway, and I got asked about the whereabouts of the key. I mumbled. I lied. I said something about the boys handing it in.

What's three times worse than a lost key? That very afternoon, only a couple of hours later on the bus, I got paid back big time. Yep- passport, iPhone, bank card. The big three, all stolen out of my bag on the bus (the bag was between my feet as I wrote in my journal.) Ouch! Luckily, being with friends, I was able to use their money and phones to organise myself. If I'd been on my own, I would have been screwed. Then again, if I had been on my own, maybe I wouldn't have lost and needed to lie about the key...

Never mind, lesson learnt. I was very very honest for the remainder of my trip.


Has the universe ever paid you back for doing something bad?

travel karma: the swiss miracle

If karma is going to be evident in everyday life, you're going to notice it when you travel.

I owe the world a lot. The amount of drinks I was bought on my trip (not in a sleazy way, but in a 'you're a poor backpacker a long way from home, let me buy you a drink' way) the homes that were opened to me through Couchsurfing, new friends, and long lost family friends, the time out of strangers days that they took to show me something on a map or point me in the right direction. Here's the story of "How a stranger in a strange country absolutely made my day with a random act of kindness."

After a crazy week of partying on a boat in Croatia I dragged my sorry body into Switzerland with the worst flu of my life. I was shivering, feverish, aching all over with a killer headache, cough, and could hardly swallow because my throat hurt so much. Being sick when you're backpacking is the worst— no privacy to rest in, and I felt so guilty coughing all night in the dorms. At my worst I was in tears because I didn't have the energy to swing myself down from the top bunk, in tears because I couldn't eat enough food to take painkillers, and in tears because I couldn't get my t-shirt over my head in the shower! Bit of a misery guts, knowing that it was all self-inflicted by too much fun.

The hostel in Interlaken had a lock-out policy for most of the day so they could clean the dorms, which sucked because I just wanted to be in bed. Took myself down to an internet cafe to upload the Croatia photos onto facebook because it wasn't warm enough to hang around outside, and I didn't feel up to doing anything energetic like walking around town! The internet was slow and expensive, the photos kept failing to upload and then uploading twice. Frustrated but defeated, what else could I do to while away the hours?

Eventually I got chatting with the owner and his friend— in my memory he looks a bit like a skinny Santa Claus, but beardless? Talking about Australia I think. When I was ready to pay (yet terrified of the cost.. I'd been there a couple of hours) the first good news was that the price maxed out at 10 Swiss francs. Woohoo! That's a big chunk out of the daily budget, but not tooo bad. I had a 20 franc note, but the owner didn't have any change. I suggested I go to the shops to break my note, or come back tomorrow to use the internet again and pay then, but the Santa Claus interrupts.

'Just put it on my bill,' he says. 'I have to pay anyway, it's nothing for me' he says. I thank him for the offer, but decline. He insists. Then he gives me detailed directions of how to get to the chemist, which Swiss brand cold & flu medicine I should get, and strict instructions to go to the supermarket to get some lemons too for a hot drink. 'Just think of it as a gift from the Swiss,' he tells me, and waves me out the door.

So in perspective: I've gone from exhausted, frustrated, and resigned to paying a lot of money— to energised, fortunate, and generally uplifted by someone's kindness. A shit day of sickness and wasting money has just been turned upside down: I walked on air out of that shop. 10 francs to him may be nothing, but to me it was huge. I got the miracle drugs from the chemist, made my hot lemon drink back in the hostel kitchen, and was so grateful to that Swiss man. I didn't know his name, and never saw him again (and wouldn't even recognise him now) but he's made such a huge impact that I know in the future I will help some backpacker like this, and 'pay it forward.'

Any strangers made your day lately?