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by TJG
OK - no photos with this one - just the story. This is one of those stories that happen every oncee and a while when one travels and gets themselves into a little pinch. A story about how good people really are out there.
So here it is:
On August 10, I caught the 18:30 flight from Florence to Frankfurt, then flew 11.5 hours from Frankfort to Singapore, then caught a flight from Singapore to Krabi, arriving at the Krabi airport at 18:45 on Saturday, August 11. Needless to say, I was tired. I was through immigration with no problems - the officer made some quip about me liking Thailand this time of year. (I was in Thailand from mid-August through mid-September last year too.) Luggage came out in a reasonable time and I picked up my bags and made my way to the bank machine to get some cash so I could take a taxi the hotel I was planning to stay at and crash.
Problem - the machine didn't like my bank card. Apparently the information was incomplete. OK - strange - it was working fine in Europe and I knew I had cash in there - so maybe it was just the machine. So, I walked over to a machine provided by another bank. Same problem.
Well - luckily I still had travellers cheques that I never used from the first time I went travelling on my own two years ago. I had been thinking of just cashing them in since I never use them - luckily I hadn't. I headed to the foreign exchange desk to cash some of them in. Unfortunately, they closed at 7pm. It was now 7:15pm - and the girl behind that glass was not going to help me out. There were closed - too bad.
Krabi airport is a small airport - there were no other options for getting cash. However, there was a hotel accomodation and tour desk open. Maybe I could book my hotel on my credit card and somehow arrange transport through them. So I walked over to the desk and asked about the hotel I was thinking about - Krabi City Seaview - and yes they did bookings for that. "Oh, and I can pay by credit card?", I asked. "No, only cash." was the response
Sh!t. It was now 7:30pm. I had 60 baht (from my last trip to Thailand) and that wasn't going to get me anywhere - the only way out of the airport at this time of night is by taxi and costs 350 baht. I explained my situation to the girl at the accomdation desk. I had 60 baht, $250 US in travellers cheques, 210 swiss francs, $85 CAN and $100 BDA, a credit card and a bank card, which wasn't working - and the exchange desk was closed. The girl came with me back the the exchange desk to see if she could convince them to open up - no luck. She then asked me to sit down and she wandered off for a bit.
By this point I'm kind of freaking out because I am really tired and have no baht. I tried to calm myself down by explaining to myself that the worst that could happen is that I would sleep in the airport and the exchange desk would be open in the morning and I could catch a taxi out of here then. But I was really tired and really wanted a decent bed tonight.
The girl came back and started talking on her mobile and then went over to the taxi desk and came back to me. "OK" she said, "my sister can change your money. She can give you 1500 baht for $50 US and will charge a 33 baht commission for travellers cheques. I will pay for your taxi to get to my sister's place, which will be $350 baht. So my sister will give you 1500 baht, less 33 baht for commission, less 350 baht for the taxi and less 400 baht for the deposit on the hotel."
I have never heard better news in my life. This complete stranger was going to pay for my taxi and get me to a place where I could have my money changed. She didn't know me from anybody, but she went out of her way to help me out and I will never forget it.
OK - no photos with this one - just the story. This is one of those stories that happen every oncee and a while when one travels and gets themselves into a little pinch. A story about how good people really are out there.
So here it is:
On August 10, I caught the 18:30 flight from Florence to Frankfurt, then flew 11.5 hours from Frankfort to Singapore, then caught a flight from Singapore to Krabi, arriving at the Krabi airport at 18:45 on Saturday, August 11. Needless to say, I was tired. I was through immigration with no problems - the officer made some quip about me liking Thailand this time of year. (I was in Thailand from mid-August through mid-September last year too.) Luggage came out in a reasonable time and I picked up my bags and made my way to the bank machine to get some cash so I could take a taxi the hotel I was planning to stay at and crash.
Problem - the machine didn't like my bank card. Apparently the information was incomplete. OK - strange - it was working fine in Europe and I knew I had cash in there - so maybe it was just the machine. So, I walked over to a machine provided by another bank. Same problem.
Well - luckily I still had travellers cheques that I never used from the first time I went travelling on my own two years ago. I had been thinking of just cashing them in since I never use them - luckily I hadn't. I headed to the foreign exchange desk to cash some of them in. Unfortunately, they closed at 7pm. It was now 7:15pm - and the girl behind that glass was not going to help me out. There were closed - too bad.
Krabi airport is a small airport - there were no other options for getting cash. However, there was a hotel accomodation and tour desk open. Maybe I could book my hotel on my credit card and somehow arrange transport through them. So I walked over to the desk and asked about the hotel I was thinking about - Krabi City Seaview - and yes they did bookings for that. "Oh, and I can pay by credit card?", I asked. "No, only cash." was the response
Sh!t. It was now 7:30pm. I had 60 baht (from my last trip to Thailand) and that wasn't going to get me anywhere - the only way out of the airport at this time of night is by taxi and costs 350 baht. I explained my situation to the girl at the accomdation desk. I had 60 baht, $250 US in travellers cheques, 210 swiss francs, $85 CAN and $100 BDA, a credit card and a bank card, which wasn't working - and the exchange desk was closed. The girl came with me back the the exchange desk to see if she could convince them to open up - no luck. She then asked me to sit down and she wandered off for a bit.
By this point I'm kind of freaking out because I am really tired and have no baht. I tried to calm myself down by explaining to myself that the worst that could happen is that I would sleep in the airport and the exchange desk would be open in the morning and I could catch a taxi out of here then. But I was really tired and really wanted a decent bed tonight.
The girl came back and started talking on her mobile and then went over to the taxi desk and came back to me. "OK" she said, "my sister can change your money. She can give you 1500 baht for $50 US and will charge a 33 baht commission for travellers cheques. I will pay for your taxi to get to my sister's place, which will be $350 baht. So my sister will give you 1500 baht, less 33 baht for commission, less 350 baht for the taxi and less 400 baht for the deposit on the hotel."
I have never heard better news in my life. This complete stranger was going to pay for my taxi and get me to a place where I could have my money changed. She didn't know me from anybody, but she went out of her way to help me out and I will never forget it.