Best driver i had ever met

Best driver I had ever met

In my hitchhiking career I had met many people. Drives, workers, gas station staff, other travelers and lots and lots of other folk. Some of them were not worthy remembering, some were really bad and I wish I haven’t met them, but some were exceptionally good. I would like to tell you a story about a man who came from heaven.

There we are! About 40 km outside Venice in scorching heat, on a country road with the closest gas station about 20 km away… We slept on the side of the road behind trees and woke up with a beautiful view of a grape wine field. Wonderful scenery but we were tired, thirsty and hungry out of our minds. And then He came. Dominico. A personification of Italy. If you can think of an Italian men, he was even more Italian than that. Only with a huge heart. From the begging he flooded us with stories from his life, showed us pictures of his wife and children and his house. He drove us for about 50 min before he heard our stomachs shy grumble. Without even saying a word Dominico took a turn into a café at the side of the road. While we stood in line to the bathroom on the other side of the shop, he bought us pastry and coffee. When we offered to pay for the meal (even though we didn’t have much money) he looked offended and waved his hand. After finishing this surprise breakfast we when back to the care and Dom, as he instructed us to call him, continued his tale. It turned out that when he was our age, he was also a hitchhiker so he knew all the things we were feeling. He took us down until the highway and sadly stated that he’s sorry but he can’t take us any further because his wife is waiting for him and there is no rage like an Italian women rage, and he actually lives in a village 80 km back. We were stoned, quickly gathered our things and left the car. Dom got out and gave us all a hug and a hand shake. When he let go of my hand I realized he stealthy slipped 40 euro into my hand and ran away to his car screaming “It’s for my friends, fun fun holiday”. Before I could do anything he had already left and we all stood there amazed. We make good use of this money and stocked up on food and drinks before the rest of our journey.

I have heard so much about people’s hospitality during hitchhiking but never expected something like this to hapen in today’s world. My faith in humanity is restored every time I travel.