Doing The Right Thing: How Random Acts Of Kindness Give you That Good Feeling

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The Great Adventure People reveal the truth about travel karma with a recent survey of their travellers

The Great Adventure People reveal the truth about travel karma

A normal day in a normal city can be utterly transformed by a random act of kindness, according to Gap Adventures’ latest survey.

The leading independent adventure tour operator reveals it is not just the memories of breathtaking scenery, wonderful wildlife and a great Gap Adventures group that stay with travellers on their return home, but the people met along the way and their simple acts of kindness.

Heading away with Gap Adventures is pretty much worry-free as travellers are under the protective wing of a CEO (Chief Experience Officer). However our survey has revealed tales of travellers getting lost in foreign cities while not on small-group travel, losing precious items and falling ill after a Gap Adventure had ended, all of which have been solved by a stranger’s simple kindness.

Grateful travellers have gleefully divulged stories of being treated to home cooked meals in far-flung destinations while at Gap Adventures homestays and evidently one of the most appreciated acts of kindness is simply being treated like one of the family. Judging by the results of the survey, locals love showing travellers around their hometown and anyone who offers to take a group photo has also received huge thanks from Gap Adventurers.

The survey has exposed just how important it is to maintain your travel karma when travelling, as these acts of kindness have improved the experiences of countless individuals.

“On Gap Adventures trips, travel karma is supplied in force by our Chief Experience Officers on all our small group adventures, so travellers never have to worry about getting into a sticky situation,” says Michael Edwards, Director of Sales and Marketing in the UK.

“However, we endeavour to challenge our travellers to Do the Right Thing and help in any way they can to improve their fellow travellers’ experience and the lives of locals visited along the way.”

The top three stories Gap Adventurers shared are:

1 “I’m lost and alone in a foreign land…”
It seems that while journeying independently travellers have managed to get lost all over the world and strangers have luckily been on hand to help. One explorer told Gap Adventures how having missed the last bus back from a remote area in Mexico, the bus driver made a special journey just to pick her up and ensure she got safely back to her hotel.

2 “I’ve left my wallet, camera, sunglasses…”
Even with twelve pairs of eyes in a Gap Adventures group looking out for each other’s belongings, cameras and wallets are still the most common items lost by travellers. Heart-warming tales of strangers returning the lost items to the owner are happily just as abundant. From kindly taxi drivers who keep hold of a wallet to return it to the owner, to bus drivers making special journeys to return cameras – the survey has shown it’s a common misadventure often with an unexpectedly cheerful ending.

3 “I’m not feeling very well…”
A few travellers have told the Great Adventure People tales of falling ill while travelling independently after their Gap Adventures trip and receiving help from a stranger, but the one that really stands out is the tale of a solo British traveller in India. Falling ill on a train, a stranger suspected he might have contracted malaria and swiftly took him under his wing, got him into a taxi, took him to a hospital and paid for all the necessary drugs and injections. The traveller recovered fully and the stranger would accept nothing but thanks for his assistance.

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About Gap Adventures
Gap Adventures (www.gapadventures.com) was established in 1990 by avid adventurer, Bruce Poon Tip. The Canadian entrepreneur is still at the helm of the company, which is now the world’s largest independently-owned adventure tour operator, offering more than 1,000 small group experiences, safaris and expeditions on all seven continents to more than 100,000 travellers a year.
The company’s worldwide adventures focus on wildlife encounters, active travel and cultural interaction, appealing to those who want to get off the beaten track and experience local culture. Its non-profit organisation, Planeterra (www.planeterra.org), was established in 2003 as a way for the company and its passengers to give back to the communities visited around the globe.

For further information
Rebecca Holloway / Jill Duffell / Laura Collins / Gemma Chapman
Rooster PR
Tel: 020 7953 7416 / 7419 / 7519 / 7460
Email: rebecca.holloway@rooster.co.uk/jill.duffell@rooster.co.uk/ laura.collins@rooster.co.uk/ gemma.chapman@rooster.co.uk