Paying it forward (lessons from Madrid)

So this is a fairly funny post all in all. It’s a quasi-travel post and yet I haven’t finished (not even nearly) writing up my travels in Vietnam from over two months ago. The thing is though that something fairly amazing happened to me this weekend and I would feel remiss if I didn’t share it.

It all started with an alarm that went off a little too early for my liking at 4am on Thursday morning. An alarm that was ignored and a holiday flight to Madrid that was consequently missed. Two hours later and £40 lighter than necessary, I did however arrive in Madrid ready to start my five day jolly in Spain’s capital.

I was staying in a hostel dorm to keep costs down and to provide a little company, as this was an excursion I was taking on my own. Luckily the place I was staying had a great set of evening activities and so after half a day wandering the city I went to experience some nightlife. After a night checking out the local hostelries I retired in the early hours of the morning full of excitement and ready for the days ahead.

The next day was spent in the massive park to the east of the city with some new Aussie chums from the night before and that evening we planned a tour of some of Madrid’s tapas bars.

Three beautiful out of the way bars later that evening, a short bald-headed man dropped some change at my feet and on his way to pick it up played a comedic little game grabbing my legs. A second later my wallet - and with it all of the money I had for the trip, my bank cards and my driving licence - were gone.

This is where the story really gets interesting. In this position on a random icy Madrid street with - to all intents and purposes - complete strangers, I was screwed. I had no money to eat or to get to the airport and no way to access money even if it were wired across. Without intervention I would have spent my remaining days in Madrid begging for emergency funds from the consulate and generally being a burden to all I met.

Instead, my companions of only a couple of hours took pity and fronted me enough money to not just survive but to enjoy my remaining days in Madrid.

Without Claire, Bethany, Lucy and Matt I wouldn’t have seen the Palace, spent an evening with some of Madrid’s best flamenco musicians or had anything even approaching the experience I did. To those four people I will reiterate my utter gratitude. I had my faith in mankind thoroughly restored.

Obviously I was never in a position of real strife but there are plenty of those that are. If you’re reading this it means you have access to the internet, that you can read and that you have a predilection for pretentious self-involved writing. All of the above single you out as a misguided but ultimately fortunate individual and I urge you to pay some of your good fortune forward.

This Christmas when it gets cold, and every month from now on, please don’t just walk on by. Don’t be cynical because it’s easier than showing trust and belief.

Be the nice guy and make someone’s life a little better.