This week, Jamie Simons shares more “Grateful Traveler” stories that span the globe.

She tells the stories of random encounters with “Eskimos,” the people of all ages, races, religions, economic backgrounds, countries, and cultures who teach us that the world is not such a scary or lonely place.

CHINA

In the south of China, along the Po River that runs by Guilin, my boyfriend and I rented bicycles and headed out to see the famed limestone caves that surround the city.

Caught in a downpour, we stopped at a tiny roadside shop and crouched with the locals under a tin overhang to keep from getting wet.

Suddenly, a young woman appeared and beckoned us into the shop.

When I say “shop,” I use the term loosely. Her entire collection of wares was housed in a single glass counter that contained two mugs, four spark plugs, assorted chopsticks and some matches.

The rest of the room was bare save for a double bed covered in a quilt. Using hand signals and smiles, the woman made it clear that we were now her guests and we were to take the seat of honor—her bed.

Realizing the shop doubled as her home, we refused. She insisted. We sat down on the bed. She again signaled us, this time beseeching us to lay back and get comfortable.

We did, rising to the task so admirably we fell asleep. One hour later, when the rainstorm had stopped, the shopkeeper woke us up and smiling happily sent us on our way.

SPAIN

Do Eskimos only show up in the lives of the young and carefree?

Hardly.

A 55-year-old friend recently returned from Spain and told this story: she was visiting her daughter who was studying abroad. Their plan and their plane tickets had them leaving Malaga for Barcelona. They missed the plane and were unable to get their money refunded.

Since they were on a very limited budget with no room for mistakes or extra hotel rooms, this pretty much spelled disaster.

That is, until they were walking along the street and met some local college students.

When they told the girls what had happened, one insisted that my friend and her daughter come and stay at her house. “Her house” turned out to be her parents’ home. When the daughter explained to her parents that these Americans were long-lost friends, the parents were delighted to put them up and feed them.

After dinner, the dad turned to my girlfriend and asked, “So how long have you known each other?”

“Two hours,” came the reply.

“I thought so,” he said with a grin, then refilled everyone’s wine glass.

SAN FRANCISCO

I was showing a relative from Ireland the sights and sounds of San Francisco when we came upon a beautifully dressed, beautifully coifed and perfectly made-up matron ordering a policeman to take her to her hotel.

The more the policeman explained he couldn’t leave his beat, the more agitated she became.

Finally I offered to give her a ride, which she accepted, clearly out of desperation. From her looks and upscale style, this was a woman used to the grander things in life and not used to being crammed into a tiny VW with two strangers and her mountains of packages.

As we drove to her ultra-luxurious hotel, she explained that she was from Argentina (where, one suspects, the rich are used to having the police do their bidding), had lost track of the time and if she hadn’t gotten a ride, she and her husband would have missed their plane and her husband would have killed her (metaphorically speaking).

When we got to her hotel she turned to me and said, “How can I ever repay you?”

“Simple,” I replied. “The next time you meet a traveler in Argentina who looks like they need help, help them. That’s all the thanks I need.”

I hope she did. And I hope that person passed it on and then the next person passed it on and then the next until what was created is something my sister calls “smile” travel—you start it and it always comes back to you.

By Jamie Simons for PeterGreenberg.com.

Check out the rest of the Grateful Traveler series in our Personal Travel Journals section.

Read the entry that started it all: Grateful Traveler: An Eskimo Showed Me the Way.

Prefer not to rely on luck to secure a home stay? Don’t miss Making a Home Stay Work for You.