Do talk to strangers! Don’t be so paranoid that you avoid mingling with locals. After all, you didn’t go overseas to mix only with Americans, did you?
On a trip to Europe that my husband, David, and I took in September ’12, I was fortunate to sit next to a friendly man on a public bus in Copenhagen, Denmark. He asked if I were going to the cruise port. I said that I was and then asked why he was on the bus.
He said that he was selling a stamp collection that day. I expressed interest in this, so he showed me some of his extensive collection.
The long and short of it is that he gave me a packet of 23 “Heavyweight Boxing Champions” stamps designed by his friend, the late engraver Czeslaw Slania, and asked that I send him a postcard from the United States.
My husband took a photo of my new friend and me, and, along with the stamps, it is a cherished memory of a one-on-one encounter with a stranger who was pleased to meet an American.
PAULA PRINDLE
Orient, OH
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