The world can be a scary place these days. There is no shortage of bad news and everyone is fighting their own battle. So I always try to be kind to everyone, but these days we need more than that. Random acts of kindness (ROAK) are a great way to bring something positive into someone’s life. If more people would spread kindness, the world would be a better place.
Random Act of Kindness Challenge
Recently Soo Hyun wrote a post about random acts of kindness and tagged me in it. She was inspired seeing a woman buy a homeless man a yogurt drink in Korea. Not just the fact that she bought him a drink but she showed compassion giving it to him. It gave her hope, so she decided to create the spark hope tag to help spread the love. Once you are tagged you must do your own act of kindness and then tag others to continue the trend. Thank Soo Hyun for the inspiration and the random act of kindness challenge.
My Kindness Challenge Idea
Since this is a travel blog, I wanted my random act of kindness to be travel related. I decided that I would carry out a random act of kindness for the flight attendants on my Cathay Pacific long haul flight from JFK to Hong Kong. Of course, without flight attendants, the travel we do would not be possible.
Anisa with the Hong Kong skyline in the background.
Flight attendants do not have an easy job. Their schedules can be brutal and constantly change. Customers don’t listen and sometimes take out their frustrations on them. Plus they are undercompensated, although the flight benefits are a nice perk. One of my college friends, Julie, recently became a flight attendant and the stories she has told me have made me appreciate all they do.
So for my flight, I decided I would get a box of chocolates and a thank you card to give to the flight attendants. The morning of my flight, I picked up a box of Lindt truffles and a thank you card from Duane Reade, it cost me $20.12. Nothing too fancy. It is more about the gesture and the thought than the money spent. Random acts of kindness notes can be priceless!
Just a small token of my appreciation – chocolates and a thank you card.
I didn’t wrap the chocolates as I was worried it might cause issues going through security. Inside the card, I hand wrote “Thanks for all that you do” and signed my name.
My ROAK
I waited until after the first meal service when the flight attendants were not busy and walked up to the crew area to give them my gift. When I handed over the gift, the flight attendant gave was confused at first. “What is this?” she asked. I told her it was chocolates for the crew as a thank you. She asked for my name, so I wrote it down for her. I could tell it made her happy, so in my mind, I thought that would be it. I went back to my seat. Then soon after another flight attendant came by with some desserts from first class as a thank you gesture to me. I was not expecting that!
Desserts from First Class. A brownie and fruit parfait. Yummy!
It didn’t stop there either. I did not count how many flight attendants stopped by seat to personally thank me. Later, the head flight attendant stopped by and gave me a card signed by all the flight attendants thanking me. To say they appreciated the gesture is an understatement! I couldn’t believe how gracious they were.
The whole crew signed a card for me – so thoughtful of them!
So looking back on it, my random act of kindness not only made a big impact on the flight crew but it made my day as well. I did not think it was going to make the impact on them that it did.
Let’s Spread Kindness
I do always try to be kind and do things for people I care about, but this experience has motivated me to try to do more for other people that I don’t know. It did not take much effort or expense on my part but look at the payoff. Especially with all the hate that exists in this world today, we could all use a little more love and random acts of kindness.
So today, I tag myself, Katherine, Russell, all of our readers, as well as Katie from Untold Morsels, Angie from Feet Do Travel, Vicky from Eat Sleep Love Travel, and Stephanie from Ginger on the Goto participate in the random acts of kindness challenge
So let’s get out there and spread kindness today! I would love to hear about your random acts of kindness in the comments.
-Anisa
The Weekly Postcard
We are happy to co-host the Weekly Postcard Linkup. Everyone is invited to join us and share their travel blog posts here beginning at 12 p.m. (PST) / 8 p.m. (GMT) Friday November 25th. The instructions are below, but if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us. Happy Travels!
Awww Anisa, reading this post seriously got me choked up and brought a tear to my eye, then I read to the bottom and saw you tagged me and that just made my day! We need more people in the world like you and half way through reading I was wondering what I could do as you are an inspiration! I will let you know what random act of kindness I do and thank you again xx
Angie – Thanks so much. Honestly I get emotional about this too! I know you have a big heart and that’s why I tagged you. Looking forward to reading about your act of kindness.
I absolutely love this. This is exactly what I had in mind when I first posted about the tag! It’s so beautiful when kindness is reciprocated and I’m glad you had such a positive experience. Reading this made me feel all warm inside. Thank you so much for taking part in the tag. Hugs ❤
Soo Hyun – Thanks so much for the inspiration!
LOVED this. It’s so true how flight attendants do so many wonderful things for passengers. I read the stories in Southwest’s in-flight magazine and they always bring tears to my eyes. Your story did the same. What an incredibly considerate act of kindness from you for a group of folks who fly so under the radar (pun intended) despite their efforts. Big hugs and thank you for the inspiration!!!!!
Awe Emily. Thanks so much. Glad to hear it inspired you.
What a wonderful idea! While I like to think I’m kind, I’m not sure I’ve done much in the random kindness category and with the holiday season here, that seems like a great time to change that. 🙂
P.S. I’m traveling over the Christmas holidays and it now has me thinking about all the people who will be working to allow me to do that. I will have to find a good Thank You for them.
Cynthia – Yes I’m the same way. I always try to be kind but had never really done anything like this before and it was such a great experience.
This is such a great idea Anisa. It just shows how rarely flight attendants must be feeling appreciated by customers even though they do so much. And Lindt truffles were a great gift. I love them too.
Thanks Sara. Yes I think we too often take flight attendants and others for granted.
That’s so cute! As a travel agent, a heartfelt thank you through email or call is such a great thing to receive from a client. It’s the little things that matters the most.
Thanks Noemi. Yes it is the little things!
This is such a wonderful idea. I will have to think what random thing I can do to carry it forward. I’m sure that flight attendants feel rather underappreciated many times, so I’m sure your gesture meant a lot to them.
Thanks Michele. Yes would love to read about your act of kindness. Lets help spread the word about the difference it can make.
Such an awesome idea!! I know you made their day! Sounds like they made yours too. Inspiring post!
Nancie Lee – so glad you enjoyed the post. I was really amazed at our appreciative they were, it definitely made my day!
I seriously needed a tissue! Thank you for sharing your story, it’s truly inspiring. I’m not a traveler, the opposite in fact, but I’m sure with a little thinking I could come up with some ideas for RAoKs for a home-bound person such as myself.
Awe! Thanks so much for the nice comment! Yes, I’m sure you can think of a random act of kindness that does not involve travel. There are so many people in the world that have thankless jobs, and I’m sure they would appreciate recognition. Think about it and I look forward to hearing about yours.
I love this!! What a fantastic idea. The world most certainly needs more kindness. Thank you for sparking the conversation and the idea <3
Sherrie – So glad you enjoyed the post. I hope it inspired you!