16 People Who Traveled Abroad and Brought Back a Bag of Memories

Perhaps everyone who has traveled outside their home country has a couple of stories to tell about curiosities they experienced while being abroad. And this is normal, because there will always be something unfamiliar and incomprehensible in another place. The heroes of this article have also traveled abroad and still can’t forget some of their experiences.

• I traveled to China, and what surprised me most was their attitude to personal space. I was waiting to use an ATM. Standing about 5 feet behind the person using it like any normal American would. Another person walks up and stands directly behind the guy using it.
  Then another. Then another. Then another. No space between them. I am now sixth in line for the ATM. © ClutchingMy****** / Reddit
• I was in Vienna and stayed at my friend’s place. We once went to a supermarket, and an old lady was standing near the entrance with a sign “Help me with groceries” and an empty basket at her feet. And in my country, people only beg for money. My friend said, “Beggars rarely get anything here.”
  I immediately made up a plan, went to the supermarket’s administration, and asked them to announce through the loudspeaker that an old lady was sitting at the entrance, and everyone could help her with a packet of milk, a piece of meat or vegetables. And when we went out, we saw that there was a pile of bags of groceries next to her. People were standing around her, and she thanked them with tears in her eyes. © DomAlberts / y-story
• We went to Italy with a friend. We were sitting in a cafe, and the guys at the neighboring table were peeking at us. I know Italian a little and understood that they were discussing us, saying how easy it would be to pick us up.
  Suddenly, one of the guys started to argue with the others, and they began to ridicule him. So, I got up and approached the guy. I suggested we go out tonight. He said yes.
  There’s a lot more to tell, but let’s get to the facts — next year we’re getting married. © Caramel / VK

• My mum and her friend went to Italy for 2 weeks. Every day she sent pictures from the same place. I wondered if she liked it so much that decided to go there every day. I couldn’t help but ask her what the reason was.
  It turned out that her favorite artist often goes to this cafe, and she was hoping to meet him there. Mum’s chances were minimal, but this wonder woman was lucky and she actually met him! © Not everyone will understand / VK
• I accidentally became engaged to a local in Vietnam. I was exploring this little village, and stopped at a restaurant for a drink. A guy comes up and starts talking to me in very broken English. Within 5 minutes, he asks, “You married?” I say no, so he then says, “You marry me?” with a big goofy grin on his face.
  I assumed he was joking, because we’d known each other for 5 minutes, so I said yes. He was not joking. He immediately began yelling something in Vietnamese, then grabs my hand and starts waving it around in the air. Within minutes, we were surrounded by dozens of people who are all cheering and smiling and shaking my hand.
  He then took me to his house to introduce me to my future in-laws. I broke that poor boy’s heart when I left for another city the next day. © quailgirl / Reddit
• Was visiting a friend in Germany. I understand and speak a little bit of German. The friend left for work and told me that a postman would come with a parcel. She warned me not to talk to him, but only silently sign where he’d say.
  The postman came. And he was talking and talking, and I said out loud, “Oh, shut up already.” And he answered in my language, “You should have said so earlier.” We got to talking. It was nice to meet a fellow countryman. © Podsushano / VK

• I went to Turkey with a friend. On the plane, we met an old gentleman who kept telling us how sorry he was that we were single. He said that he would definitely find us boyfriends. As soon as we got off the plane, he started introducing guys to us one after another.
  And then I saw that the old man took some guy by his tie, dragged him to us, put him opposite me and said, “That’s it, take her, she’s yours!” That’s how we met, the guy turned out to be my fellow countryman. In 10 days he came to meet my parents. And now we are husband and wife. © Not everyone will understand / VK
• My family and I flew to Japan. And one day we were riding the subway in Tokyo. The doors opened, and my 8-year-old daughter, thinking it was our stop, jumped out of the train. The younger one yelled, “It’s not our stop!” My wife tried to make her way through the crowd to the exit, but managed only to shout, “Stay where you are!”
  Some guy, seeing all this commotion, jumped out of the door just before it closed. And when I came back, I saw that he was standing with my daughter. Turns out they tried to call us, went to the station manager, but in the end the guy just calmed my daughter down, and they were patiently waiting for us. Unfortunately, I never got to thank him properly due to the language barrier. © DoomGoober / Reddit
• I was vacationing in Cyprus. On the beach, I noticed a handsome guy. I’d never tried to approach a guy first before, so I felt scared and uncomfortable. But I decided to take my chances.
  I thought for a long time how to start talking to him. And finally, I saw him swimming alone in the sea, head down in the water and looking at something. He seemed bored. I thought, “Here’s my chance.” I swam up to him, smiled sweetly and asked, “What are you doing? Did you see something interesting there?”
  And he looked at me, smiled and said, “The sand in the water is so beautiful.” And he swam away from me. I have never felt so awkward. © Caramel / VK

• I’m currently on a work trip at a conference in a somewhat popular tourist destination in Greece. I booked a hotel which had a block reserved by the conference and was offered as part of registration. Today, I returned from the first day of the conference to find that all of my personal belongings had been emptied from the room. After some back and forth with various managers, it was uncovered that the housekeeper had disposed of all my belongings.
  She thought I had checked out, since there was no suitcase or backpack in the room. I am flabbergasted that there was no manifest or something like that for housekeepers to know which rooms were checked in, or that she didn’t check if there was one. Most of my stuff was able to be pulled from the trash without any apparent harm. I am missing about ~£70 worth of stuff, nothing really individually valuable, just stuff that adds up (a sleep mask, several pairs of socks). © IngredientList / Reddit
• We were traveling from Bologna to Florence. We got on the train, decided to reconfirm with some lady if we were on the right train. She looked at the tickets, made big eyes and said, “No, this is a wrong train!” We jumped up, grabbed our bags, ran to the exit, but the doors slammed right in front of our faces. We started running hysterically around the carriage trying to find out how and where to change trains.
  And then suddenly a man selling newspapers came into the carriage, looked at our tickets and said that we were on the right track. We decided to ask the woman what the hell was going on, and she looked at our tickets again and was like, “Oh, I made a mistake, I looked in the wrong place.” So, we stressed out because of nothing. © mask / ADME
• I was on a train in Paris about this time last year, my friend and I were on our way to meet some people down at the Moulin Rouge. I was eating a cup of noodles with a fork I’d liberated from the hostel. When this lovely gent stands up to leave the train, sort of half bows with his head down and hands together and ever so gently takes my noodles from me. Says ’merci’ a couple of times and departs the train.
  I wasn’t even mad, it was beautiful. The way he took them was just great, one of my favorite parts of the trip. I don’t know why, it just felt awesome. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I was on a bus tour around the Czech Republic, and the first stop was Prague. We were standing on the Charles Bridge, and I was unpacking my old film camera, which attracted the attention of an old man from the group. He was also carrying a camera bag. He put his hand on my shoulder, I was already “in anticipation” of listening to his autobiography.
  Then suddenly heard him saying in a quiet voice, “Grandson, put that old thing away, don’t embarrass yourself.” While I was picking up my jaw, he was already taking photos of the bridge towers with his brand-new camera. We ended up chatting the whole way and spent the rest of the tour together looking for good angles. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I was once abroad with friends. We went on an excursion to the zoo. There were huge enclosures where the animals walked freely and paid almost no attention to people. I approached the monkeys and saw a big orangutan leaning against a low wall, half-sitting, half-lying.
  He was very relaxed, quietly gnawing a banana, eyes closed, enjoying himself. Another orangutan ran up to him, tried to pick him up, called him somewhere, but the big one just threw a banana peel at him and fell on his side to sleep. This orangutan is now my totem animal. © Ward #6 / VK
• I recently flew to Turkey, and what I remember most was not the country, but what happened on the flight. “Attention, the captain speaking. There has been a malfunction on board...” At this point, I shuddered, as did the rest of the passengers. .
  There was silence in the cabin. Even the infants stopped screaming, as if they sensed something wrong. People lifted their heads up, their eyes searching for answers.
  In those few seconds, everyone believed we were done. I looked out the window and there was the sea... And then suddenly the pilot continued, “Due to problems with hot water, there will be no hot drinks.” I think our mutual exhale was heard even in outer space. © Not everyone will understand / VK
• Everyone always talks about how you have to try street food in Bangkok. So, there I was, standing in front of a stall, trying to be brave. I pointed at something that looked interesting. The vendor laughed, probably because he knew what was coming.
  One bite later, I was in tears, hiccuping, sweating, and desperately chugging water. Turns out I’d ordered the spiciest dish on the menu. I guess some adventures are best left to the pros... © BellaFlT / Reddit

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