Help From Friends

It just feels good to help some one out. That sense and feeling you have just makes you feel like you are on top of the world. When some one goes out of their way to help you, it just touching as well. I remember a time when I was on the receiving end of getting help. I also remember a time when I was the person giving help to another. When traveling, situations like this seem to occur a lot. The idea of giving is what helped create this website and inspired part of it’s manifesto. They are all interesting stories.

The second time going to India started by flying into New Delhi to explore the city as a solo traveler. New Delhi can be a pit for anyone who has not explored it before. Eventually the road was going to lead to Jammu City, a large city in Jammu & Kashmir area of India. After purchasing a bus ticket online the day before, a tired and weary traveler headed to the bus area after a long day of seeing Delhi. The final destination on Metro rail was the Rama Krishna Ashram Marg station, where the buses were around the corner, loading and unloading foreign and domestic travelers heading to other cities.

After some long waiting at the instructed place on the ticket and some poor communication, 3 hours had passed and a lone traveler was left standing in the dark all alone with no bus around. A man told asked where the final destination was, as he informed a weary traveler that all the buses have already left day. At this point a queasiness had entered the stomach and worry, anger and disappoint settled in all at the same time as well. Fear and irrationality started to form after the brain went a mile a minute thinking of what to do next.

The same man who had delivered the bad news tried to calm worried look on the travelers face. He mentioned previously being in the tourism business. A nice couple, who ran the vendor stall nearby and were very talkative, convinced the former tourist agent to help out. With out hesitation, he was on his cell phone and in 10 minutes passing said aloud “Hurry, we got you on another bus, but we have to catch it.” A rush to a cab had ensued, as if it were a scene from Shantaram, an intense and fast paced situation where Prabakar was leading and Lin was following in trust. The cab driver stopped at Red Fort, a place visited earlier that day, and sense of relief and smile came to the face that was once filled with worry as the spared traveler entered the bus. Eventually the bus stopped in Jammu City thanks to a man and his help. The words said by the man just before the cab drove away was inspiring. “We have to help each other out, tourist or not, we need to show that we are people, good people.”

Good people indeed, which had inspired me to be good to others. A friend of mine, that was meet through a travel chat had expressed her dream to become a journalist. She wanted to travel the world and write and photograph it’s wonders. This girl lives in one of the poorer situation out of anyone in my circle of friends. Her house is a small shack, with no electricity or running water in a small town on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. She had never gone any further than the towns north and south of her. Her father was a fisherman and her mother worked on a farm which did not make for easy opportunity for someone of her background to accomplish the dream to be a journalist.

One day she sent an invitation to visit Leyte, and the offer was seized. There was one stipulation on the visit, she had to travel and serve as a guide on the culture of Philippines. With no hesitation she agreed and started a new adventure, one not easily a lotted to others. A dream was set in motion that day as the young girl got to see Leyte, Bohol and Metro Manilla. Who knows what future dreams can occur next after a beginning of an accomplished dream has been started. It is exhilarating to know that you were the one to set that in motion.

Upon the return the Philippines, a thought had entered my brain. How can this dream keep going? That is where the birth of Pathless Travels came about. The idea of the site originally was to try to be a platform to promote myself as a travel photographer, but why could it not also be a platform to help a young girl accomplish a dream? Great seemed to be inspired by wanting to help others. Kahn Academy is a great example of this. The creator started Kahn as videos to help a niece understand math easier, and eventually spread to a whole new concept behind how schools run, and all for free.

Inspired to help some one, Pathless Travels went from concept, to actually happening. The goal, help a friend get into travel journalism. The manifesto for the site, inspired by a friend in need and the want to be good to others. It does feel good to help others.

My question to you is this: What has inspired you on your travels? What kind of experiences have inspired you to good to others? What kind of greatness has come of it? If not, at least help inspire my friend to become a travel journalist to help us accomplish our goal. Perhaps we can help you as well. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and leave us some feedback.