A Little Help From My Friends #3

We had another neat experience while in Athens that I just had to write about.  I must say here that we try really hard to be independent and we don't count on having these experiences but are super grateful when we do.

In Athens we chose to follow a guidebook's advice and see Athens without a tour guide. The guide book made it seem easy to find the exact bus stop we needed. The bus stop wasn't as close to the cruise ship terminal as we thought it should be and we thought we were lost. Meanwhile every taxi driver within 100 miles sensed that we were lost and offered to take us around. One particular gentleman approached us on the sidewalk. We decided his offer was too much for our budget and declined his offer.  After declining, Elaine asked him if he knew where the bus stop was. At this point I wondered what he would say. Would he help us even though we had declined his offer? Or would he be offended and angry? Or something in between?

He very kindly gave us directions. We thanked him, and headed on our way. We were so grateful that he would choose to help us even after we declined his offer. A few moments later we heard him calling, "Lady! Lady!" and chasing us down the street. He caught up to us and lowered his offer which we also declined. After being turned down twice he was still kind enough to tell us that we had missed the turn and help us get to the bus stop.

We found the bus stop and experienced a day in Athens without a tour guide. I thought about that kind man several times throughout the day and hoped that he found multiple, full-fare, big-tipping customers.