8 People Whose Journey Turned From Routine to Exceptional

Many of us travel every day. And we can come across eccentric women, cute children, and terrible neighbors that we can’t get away from, especially on an airplane. However, there are passengers who can raise our spirits and remain in our memories for the rest of our lives.

• We got on a train after a long and tiring day, and a woman got on the train and sat behind us. She had a crow sitting on her shoulder. An actual crow. It kept fluttering from shoulder to shoulder, and at one point was sitting on her head while she fed it little bits of who knows what from her pocket. © Franklin Veaux / Quora

• Two grungy men get on the bus and sit across from me. One has a small battered suitcase.
  “Here is what we’ll do today,” one says to the other. “We will get off the bus. We will find a watering hole.”
  He opens a smidgen of the suitcase. “And we will color.”
  He reveals dozens of coloring books. “You will color inside the lines,” he instructs. “I will color outside the lines, and by end of the day we will see how each of us is feeling.”
  He pulls out two packages of crayons from his jacket pocket. He hands one over. “This is yours. It’s new. All I did was throw out the pink one. I don’t believe in pink.” © Dushka Zapata / Quora
• Once, on the subway, I saw a man sit down between 2 other people on a fairly crowded train. He had a folded TV table. He then proceeded to unfold the table and set it up in front of him. Keep in mind there were people on either side — he had virtually no elbow room. He then opened his backpack and began pulling out metalworking tools. He then dumped a bunch of little silver things all over the table (on a moving train!) And then he pulled out the chain mail he was working on. And then he made chain mail all the way home. © Jennifer Dziura / Quora

• Dogs aren’t allowed on the subway unless they’re in bags. Saw someone walking a pony-sized Great Dane onto a train as I was exiting; doggy was wearing a giant duffle bag with leg holes cut out. The top had a Velcro closure so head and tail were all set. © Tracy McCulloch / Quora

• I was on a bus home from the mall when 2 mimes climbed on. They were both obviously young, probably only a year or 2 older than me. They were having a full, silent conversation with each other. The taller of the 2 spotted me and grinned, gesturing to his friend. I was reading a book, minding my own business, but a white glove waved in front of my face, calling my attention away from my book. Glancing up, I stared at the mimes as they attempted to communicate with me. They were obviously attempting to ask for my phone number, but I played stupid, staring blankly at them. This continued for 10 minutes or so before the taller one huffed and, very angrily, burst out with, “Will you just give us your phone number?” I tilted my head to the side, frowned, and blinked, saying, “I thought mimes didn’t talk.” Then I got off the bus. © Grace Franke / Quora

• A passenger on my flight was insisting that her dinner contained a bad potato. The crew member explained several times that there were no more dinners left to be served and to just leave the potato to one side, and not eat it. As the passenger got more vociferous the crew called over the senior flight attendant to appease the passenger. “What seems to be the problem, madam,” he said. The lady replied in disgust while pointing at the potato, “This is a bad potato!” Whereupon the flight attendant looked at the lady, then at the potato. He picked up the potato, waved an admonishing finger at it, and in his best scolding teacher voice said, “Bad potato, BAD Potato, BAAD POTATO!” He then placed the potato gingerly back on the lady’s plate and said, “There you are, madam, I don’t think you will have trouble from that potato again,” then walked away. Genius! © Fergal Dearle / Quora

• While in Japan, I was riding on the metro with my headphones in when a lady with a baby stroller walked on. The doors closed. I heard a quack. I put my headphones back in, but then I heard it again. I looked over at the stroller and sure enough, there was an actual duck dressed up in the stroller quacking. But nobody else cared. They didn’t even look at it. But they all started looking at me as I took out my headphones, leaned forward, and started laughing. Seriously, they looked at me like I was crazy, and it just made the situation 10 times more bizarre. © Chris Schwab / Quora

• This happened in the Paris metro. Once, a white-haired, very shabbily-dressed man stepped into the metro car, removed his worn hat out of respect, and announced in French, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to sing you a song.” Several of us jaded riders exchanged skeptical glances — and then the man opened his mouth and sang. His voice was clear, steady, and genuinely magnificent. It filled the car and instantly silenced even the fretting and stirring of small children.
  People who had begun to rise, preparing to exit at the next station, sank back down in their seats, simply mesmerized. When he finished, he bowed his head and said quietly, “I thank you.” No one applauded — it was one of those occasions on which applause would have cheapened the performance. But as the door opened the man stepped out onto the platform. That was in about 1988, and when I close my eyes I can still hear him sing. © Kathryn Berck / Quora

What interesting stories have you had with your co-travelers? Tell us in the comments below.