The Kind Blog

August 11, 2017

Kindness in Corfu and Tivat
We've been traveling for a couple of months now and one thing we were most excited about was doing laundry.

Our host in Corfu, Greece, was absolutely adorable—Angela is a professor of Ancient Greek and Latin. She met us by her place close to 11 p.m. and graciously showed us around the apartment we'd rented on Airbnb for a few days.

We hadn't stayed in a place with a washer machine in weeks, so suffice to say we all had a stench around us and were in dire need of washing clothes. But when Angela got to the washing machine, she hesitated. 

"I'm so sorry," she led with, and I knew something was wrong. "The washer machine is broken and nobody could come fix it."

I don't have much of a poker face, so she must've seen my face fall. Again, let me emphasize how badly we needed to do laundry. We'd already been re-wearing clothes for a while. 

"But if you need any laundry done, you can just give it to me and I will clean it and iron it all for you in my home," she told us. 

Boy, were we relieved and thankful. As an Airbnb host, she went above and beyond. A day later, she returned with freshly pressed clothes and we couldn't have been more thrilled. So when we left in the early hours of the morning a few days later, I left her a note and €50. She made our day, so we wanted to make hers in return. 

For another Airbnb who went above and beyond in Montenegro, we also left about €50. He picked us up and dropped us off at the bus station and airport, which is definitely not required of Airbnb hosts. But knowing we'd come a long way and were on a tight budget, Jovan worked it into his schedule and it made our travels much smoother.

Sometimes a Random Act of Kindness can recognize people who exceed your expectations and help you out. They've done something nice for you expecting nothing in return—so a small act of kindness can help them feel like what they do makes a difference.


Vanessa Daves is a recent college graduate and a RAKtivist who is spending three months traveling the world. Iris Telehealth is sponsoring her random acts of kindness throughout the summer in the places she travels. When she returns back to the United States in the fall, she will be marketing coordinator for Iris Telehealth. Learn more at iristelehealth.com/love.

1 Comment

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Great ideas!

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