If you reside near a major airport hub PLEASE consider extending some kindness

[Dover]

to those who are experiencing the stress and distress of having their journey abruptly altered.

I have been the recipient of the kindness of strangers when I've traveled abroad. One can feel
especially vulnerable and frightened in foreign places where there are none of the usual
touchstones of familiarity or understanding of how to maneuver. And a language barrier
just exacerbates that feeling.

I'm reminded of how touched I was by the story about how the good folks in Nova Scotia took strangers into their homes and lives when a plane bound for the U.S. was grounded there for several days on 9/11.

Many people who are stranded cannot afford
housing or even food for an extended period of time.

So if you can open your homes or provide a cot, a hot meal and some books or just provide some friendly support and companionship to stranded passengers, it can turn a very difficult experience into a fond memory.

According to current news reports it seems the volcanic activity in Iceland is only increasing
in intensity and may go on for a few weeks.



P.S. - If you speak a foreign language you might be especially helpful!

[aquart]

1. How?

Perfectly willing, but who to tell and how? Can sleep two couples.

[Dover]

3. Well you could just GO to the airport and ask around, at the airline desks

the security people, etc. Just showing up and expressing your concern would be huge.
Let them know what you can offer. Talk to passengers...etc. Make a day of it.

[aquart]

8. NY airports don't encourage strangers wandering around.

[Mother Smuckers]

6. Travelers Aid has been around for...I think about 60+ years

http://www.travelersaid.org/

[aquart]

9. Thank you. Told TA what we have.

[izquierdista]

2. Looks like a lot of people will be couchsurfing

And in case you need to, here is the link: http://www.couchsurfing.org

[Duer 157099]

4. Jeez, there's 67 couches available in Afghanistan

Tempting, tempting...

But seriously, what a fun site.

[here_is_to_hope]

18. I live on the Coast and get a few bike tourists through here

who love our 'outdoor' couch on the rear deck. Met quite a few really nice people, including a couple who rode their bikes all the way to Panama.

http://nowheresoon.com/bike/

[Dover]

5. Hey, how about forming a local area "DU squad" and tackle it as a group..

I wonder what, if anything, communities are planning on doing if this really is an extended
delay (a few weeks or more)? It will take some creative problem solving.

[bobbolink]

11. Excellent idea!

:yourock:

Unfortunately, you haven't gotten a lot of response. :(

We could create a lot of Good Will and contribute to world peace by some simple acts of kindness.

[MineralMan]

7. There was a nice story on tonight's news in Minneapolis...

Seems a group of about 50 French kids was on a tour in the USA. They were on their way home, when they got stranded at a stop in Minneapolis. Well, the local Hilton provided a block of rooms for them and their chaperones, and they're getting rides to the various attractions around the Twin Cities. It's open-ended, so they'll go home when transportation is available. The TV station interviewed one of the kids tonight. They all look like they're middle school age.

[Dappleganger]

13. Awesome!

Having kept various exchange students in the past (French, mostly) I've no doubt they were very appreciative...especially their parents!

[bobbolink]

15. However, consider this.... that was CORPORATE aid. Is that really what we want to

be the impression on people from other countries, that its only corporations you can count on?

If WE, The People extend hospitality, we will forge a much different image.

Something to consider.

[bobbolink]

10. In Greece, they have the Tourist Police, who, among other things, help visitors find accomodations

in the homes of the Greek people.

I had occasion to be availed of some of the services of the Tourist Police, and I can tell you, their hospitality really creates Good Will.

USians would do well to emulate them.

[bobbolink]

12. last kick for the night

:kick:

[Dappleganger]

14. Wish we could but two couches are already taken for the next week.

Seriously, LOL. There's another one on youngest ds' top bunk, too. Our daughter's out of town friends can pretty much crash anywhere.

[bobbolink]

16. There are other ways to offer kindness.

Just taking a basket of fruit, for instance.

Fresh fruit while sitting around an airport... that would be very welcome, I would guess.

[antigone382]

17. K & R

:kick:

[Stinky The Clown]

19. I had actually thought about that, but the world today is very mistrustful .....

Some years ago we offered to take in people from Bethesda or Walter Reed for a holiday. We were told they would not allow that. "Thanks but no thanks".

Today I imagined going to airport to ...... what? Troll for stranded travelers? Tell an airline employee that I'm trustworthy and won't axe murder their passengers?

I understand the sentiment and endorse it. I just don't know, as a practical matter, how it would work.

[Dover]

20. Rule #1 - throw out that all-too- American "practical" approach.

And how do we change issues of trust/mistrust(yours or theirs?). We have to risk and overcome fear.
What else works?

The news tonight showed some people "trolling" the N.Y. airport to offer help. They were people who had themselves been helped during their travels.
If I had family or friends stuck abroad I'd certainly hope someone would put their
"practical" concerns aside and just be a good oldfashioned human being.
I think many people are so inundated with negative news images that they mistaken
that reality for the reality on the ground. It might do people who spend an inordinant
amount of time in front of the t.v. or 'trolling' the internet, a world of good to rediscover
that kind of connection that only can occur in the flesh.


If you or others go to the airport, I would suggest going without any agenda other than to find out what the situation is and be open to helping should a need arise. And just let people know you care. Often it is not necessary to 'fix' things, but simply to offer kindness and be receptive... someone to talk to, that sees and hears your pain. Try putting yourself in their situation and consider what might feel best to you.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Now see ..... you made an assumption and then told me why I'm wrong ......

The assumed mistrust to which I alluded is from the stranded traveler to me, not the other way around.

[Dover]

23. My apologies Stinky, but blanket statements like "the world today is very mistrustful"

sets me off.
In my own experience, especially traveling abroad, I have not found that to be
true at all. In fact the good will of others and an easy trust that worked both ways, had the affect of causing me to discover my own hangups about that. I'm speaking of one-on-one interactions with people, not governments or security oriented entities.

I think your initial instinct to help was absolutely right.

I hope you won't let one negative experience years ago get in the way of that positive natural instinctive response and color your current experiences.

[Ignis]

22. As a frequent world traveler, I say...

:yourock:

Thanks for this thread. :thumbsup:

[DAMANgoldberg]

24. Gander, Newfoundland

During the Vancouver Olympics, NBC aired a story on a small airport in Gander, Newfoundland that immediately after 9/11 and the ground stop that followed, this small community opened their hearts, beds, and hospitality to the stranded passengers attempting to return to the US from Europe over routes that planes cannot currently fly because they would be in the volcano zone. I watched it and it aired on the final days of the games. This is the link to the story of the interview, not the video itself, which I can't find (may be property of the International Olympic Committee {IOC} and not NBC Universal).

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/09/17/brokaw-newfoundland.html