OK, well, in that case, if you want crazy, my first trip to Europe in 1986, not quite three weeks...of course, we tried to go everywhere.
First I drove from Seattle to New York, because flights were cheaper to Europe there, I had a free place to stay there, and I could park my car at my folks' house while we were away. Fresh out of college, I had a few hundred dollars in my pocket from cutting fish heads in Alaska that summer, no credit cards in my name, but a girlfriend who was a Rick Steves fan and a copy of one of his guidebooks. Before dropping us at JFK for our flight, my very kind father took pity on me and quietly slipped me a gas station credit card in his name and a couple hundred bucks in cash.
The cheapest ticket available was of course on old Icelandic Airlines to Luxembourg; after all passengers were seated on the plane at JFK the captain announced we would be flying first to Baltimore, to pick up more passengers, after an hour on the ground there, off we flew to Keflavík, eventually ending up in Luxembourg. We rented a car there and drove through Luxembourg, across France, Paris, Normandy, south to Carcasonne, across the Pyrenees, Andorra, into northern Spain, west through the Basque Country, to Santiago de Compostela, south into Portugal. Lisbon, Sintra, the Algarve, to Sagres, then east to Sevilla, down to Gibraltar, up around and through Andalusia, Cordoba, Granada, Toledo, Madrid, along the coast through Valencia, to Barcelona. At this point, we were getting very low on money, and it's a good thing my wise father had slipped me his gas card before we left, since I was charging every tank-full, that card was getting a real workout. We continued north, stopping at Chateaux in the Loire Valley. We were rapidly running out of money and time, too, our flight home was coming up fast.
On the day of our flight back, we were racing through Alsace, heading for Luxembourg to drop the car at the airport and catch our flight. It would be tight, but we had just enough time to make it to the airport. With our car running on fumes and us just about out of cash, I stopped at a gas station to fill the tank, at one of the gas station brands where the card usually worked. The pumps rejected our gas card, and our hearts sunk. My girlfriend started crying. I was digging in the car seats looking for loose coins, going through our packs, counting our few remaining dollars, francs and pesetas. Things did not look good. I must have appeared pretty stressed out, pacing around the car and trying my card over and over to no avail.
A Mercedes Benz pulled up to the pump behind us. A man filled his tank, paid, and got back in his car, but he didn't leave, he just sat there. After a couple minutes, he got out, and approached me. An older German man, he asked in English if I needed help. I explained we were out of gas, just about out of cash, and needed to get to the Luxembourg airport in the next couple hours or we would miss our flight home. He paused, smiled at me, walked over to the gas pump, stuck his own card in it without saying a word. The pump came to life, he filled the tank on my car. I told him I could not pay him now, asked him to write his address and promised I would send him the money to reimburse him once we got home.
He smiled, shook his head, and put his hand on my shoulder. "No, my friend", he said. "Today, I help you. Some day, you will help someone else. This way is better." He looked in the car at my crying girlfriend, and told her not to worry. He turned back to me, pointed towards the road, and said, "You have a flight, don't miss it." I could have kissed him. I stammered my thanks, he waved me off and got in his car, drove away. We drove to the airport, returned the car, and just barely made our flight.
Since that day I have always tried to help others in need when I can, bought more than a few tanks of gas for others, and I will never forget the kindness of that man.
