I flew into Rome and joined the crowd of fifty or more people sleeping in the airport. For the first time, I utilized my trash gathering skills to garner an old Pringles box on which to lounge, blew up my travel pillow, and snuggled with my brick bags…and promptly the air whistled from my pillow and my head descended to the floor. I tried my best to sleep through the noises of the airport, and perhaps had a few hours of interrupted sleep before I made my way to the bathroom to clean up a bit before hailing a cab from the airport to the local train station.
“How much would it cost for a ride to Roma Ciampano train station?” Not only was the cab 15-20 Euro for a five minute drive (night fees, baggage fees, etc), but apparently the internet (which had said that I could easily walk to the station, should a bus not be available) was wrong. The cab driver informed me that the road between the airport and the local station was a highway without sidewalks and would be very dangerous for me to walk. A little frustrated, the driver asked me how much money I had. I found fifteen Euro in my bag and he decided that he would take me for ten Euro. When I got in the car, thanking him profusely, he told me that he had three daughters and that should someday any be in my situation, he hoped someone would help them. Well, we got to talking and the kind father of three decided that it would be better for me for him just to take me all the way to the central station, eliminating a change on the train and allowing me to arrive in Naples faster. He turned the meter off and took me on a ride that surely would have cost 60 Euro for my measly ten and a smile.
This man was the highlight of my morning – my knight in shining armor. When I told him so, he said I was crazy, but that he had fallen for my smile. Had I fussed with him, haggled, and gestured, rather than simply smiling and explaining that I didn’t have money and I would walk, he would have left me to my own devices. However, my smile, he said, would have the world at my feet someday. Who could have a better morning than me? God brings the best people into my life at all the right moments.
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