Stories of Kindness on the Road: One Night in Tel Aviv

Welcome to the 19th collection of stories of Kindness on the Road!

I’m back in the Philippines at the moment due to a family situation.  Once it’s resolved, I plan to be back in South America to continue my 2-year backpacking trip.

In the past 6 months of my travel in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and the United States, I’ve met so many people — both locals and travelers alike — who just reinforced my belief about the kindness of people. I’m very happy therefore to continue this series. If you have been helped by someone during your travels, feel free to send the story to me!

This month, our contributor is DJ Yabis, who blogs at Dream Euro Trip. DJ lives a charmed life in Germany, blogging about his stylish adventures in Europe and around the world. Follow his colorful and fabulous life on Instagram and Facebook.

It was a Friday night in Tel Aviv and I was running late for my friend’s house party. The plan was to have some drinks at his house first and then we’ll all go out together around midnight.

Typical me, I was out of the door after midnight but I messaged my friend that I was on my way and that they should wait for me. I wasn’t really sure if he read it though.

I didn’t have internet connection nor balance on my phone so there was no way I could contact him once I was out of the door. I only had his address and a bottle of red wine I brought from Croatia.

I decided to take a taxi so I could get there faster. The taxi dropped me at the right street address but then I realized I didn’t really know his door number nor what to press at the gate.

I was screwed. It was already half past midnight and there weren’t really that many people around until I saw two guys walk by.

I shouted “Hey!” to get their attention and ran over to them. I told them my dilemma and asked if I can use their phone or 3G personal hotspot so I could contact my friend.

They didn’t hesitate and they even gave me one of their phones. I messaged my friend. As I was waiting, I got to talk with them a bit. Their names were David and Alex. Eventually, my friend replied and said they already left and they were somewhere else in Florentine area and that I needed to go there instead.

Well I was holding a bottle of wine and I didn’t really know what to do with it. I didn’t really want to bring it to the club where my friends were because I couldn’t.

“Well, do you guys wanna have this bottle of red wine as my thank you? I can’t really bring it,” I told the two.

“Why don’t you come over our house and we can drink it. Our apartment is just around the corner,” one of them said.

“Sure!”

And so I ended up going to the apartment of these two guys and we drank the wine. I learned that they were DJs and that they just came back from Berlin. We chatted about Berlin and Tel Aviv and parties. I marvelled at their huge collection of vinyl records.

I was so happy that they were so helpful and that they even invited me to their apartment.

After we finished drinking the bottle, I thanked them and said I need to get going. They joined me and walked me out to the street and found a taxi for me to get me to Florentine.

And now I am friends with them and I might see them in Berlin next month!

Do you have any stories of kindness on the road? Send them to me and I’ll include them in a future post!

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Aleah Taboclaon

Aleah Taboclaon is a location independent writer, editor, and the travel blogger behind Solitary Wanderer. She's partial to slow travel, and prefers extreme adventures like hiking and caving over sightseeing. She likes running (completed one marathon, training for the next!), diving (PADI open water diver), and traveling with her Kindle. Follow her on Instagram and Pinterest!

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