Good People Abound

I had an interaction today that left me feeling... Like sometimes you just can't avoid people who are shitty and who will cheat you out of a fair deal if given the chance. That's an unpleasant reality of life.

Fortunately!
I also had several experiences in which people were/are great.

Cases in point: I got some messages from friends that helped me smile. The airbnb host where I'm staying went out of his way to help me with some simple laundry stuff, some people I don't know offered to let me use 'their' cart to carry things down the dock, someone contributed more than her share to help right an economic wrong, and I watched parents playing with their kids.

At the end of the day I found myself thousands of miles from home, hanging out on a beach with one of my best friends and her fella, watching pastel sunset colors on limestone boulders in a pale blue sea.

What really drove home the basic goodness of most people was meeting Liliana. She is helping her friend (whose name in Croatian I cannot pronounce, but is "Snow White" in English) to run a cute restaurant near where we are staying. Liliana stopped by our table to chat about travel and offer food and beverage recommendations. Not your typical "eat this" but she actually asked questions and genuinely wanted to be sure we had a good meal. I wanted some veggies so tried to order a seasonal salad with an order lf grilled veggies on top - Liliana was having none of that! She frowned and told me, no, it is better as 2 dishes. We all found the interaction noteworthy but my retelling doesn't do ot justice ... The 2 plates came out and ahe was right: it was better apart.

We had an excellent meal and one of the more memorable Croatian experiences of our week here. (Eat at History Street Food Cafe, near the airport. Good stuff)

The best part of travel is often the people and this was a fine reminder of that. Fine, and timely as it would have been easy to feel sour, otherwise.Read more