Never mind what Mom said!

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