Here’s Why Strangers On The Train Boosted My Well-Being

On one of my last full days in the Bulgaria capital, I decided I wanted a day at the spa in one of the nearest hot springs to me in Bulgaria. After exploring Sofia’s excellent food scene, my husband and I had an itching to get some relaxation. We wanted to boost our well-being and health before we headed out to explore the fairy-tale Christmas markets in Zagreb, Croatia. I had been doing some research about the nearest hot springs to me in Sofia, Bulgaria, and found one not too far away in a small town about an hour away by train from the capital.

During our research we stumbled upon Therma Kostenets. The images of the baths looked warm, inviting, and relaxing! It seemed the perfect ambiance to get your soak on and focus on your wellness and health. We were enthralled and knew we had to go. We decided to take a day trip by using the exceptional train travel found within Europe.

Side Note: If you need another day trip idea, consider visiting Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s ancient cultural capital.

The next day we set off for our “couples retreat” (aka spa day) to the small quiet town of Kostenets. We packed our swimsuits, towels and change of comfy clothes into our day packs, then hopped straight onto the train. Anticipation a filled our minds as grins covered our faces from cheek to cheek.

Sitting on the train, we thought we had planned everything perfectly for our wellness trip. We mapped out the routes we needed to take, the cost of each transportation unit down to our switch from the train to bus. We even included the cost of a taxi if we accidentally missed our connecting bus. Lastly, we packed our emergency money, just in case.

However, when the money is gone, it’s gone. This practice really helps us stick to our wellness budget travel because if not, we’d spend over every time.

Plan A – Hop on the bus

Find where the bus stop is

Upon our arrival to the small peaceful village of Kostenets, I could feel the setting shift from the upbeat, yet relaxed city of Sofia. We speedily asked a stranger on the train if this was our stop. They said yes, so we hopped off. The relatively small train station located next to the bus station (which we couldn’t find) had two taxis waiting outside it, as opposed to the ten waiting outside Sofia’s bus station.

The air in Kostenets was more brisk than Sofia, invigorating all of your senses. You could hear the crows loudly caw, and feel the sudden gazes of the local Bulgarian people on you, especially as woman of color (since almost none live in this area). They knew we weren’t from around here. I’m guessing to them we looked like strangers in a strange lands as our eyes were wide alert and rapidly moving to soak in this quaint little town.

After we got our bearing, the second part of our agenda was to find the bus that took us to the city center. From there we planned to walk to the natural hot springs of Thermae Kostenets. We looked around pretty puzzled as the city center was made up of about six to eight buildings. One side of the street was filled with cozy restaurants, while the other side was a giant grocery store and convenient store. We were lost. We saw a small white bus in a parking lot, but with no one inside it. Did the bus finish for the day? Was this the bus stop? Again, we were lost and confused. We needed a new plan.

Plan B – Find strangers near the train

Find a local who speaks English to get directions

Our plan B was to find a local who spoke decent English for directions, since we don’t speak the Bulgaria language. From the corner of my eye I saw two strangers near the train sitting on a gray park bench nearby eyeing us. They looked friendly and they could tell we were lost. (I guess it was obvious, since we were pacing up and down the city center sidewalk about three or four times.) As soon as we walked toward them, their eyes lit up with a smile. I knew we hit the jackpot!

One of them spoke English, and we asked them where the bus station was. They told us it was in front of the giant grocery store next to two long gray benches. Confused but confident, we set off to find those magical gray benches with only fifteen minutes to find them before the last bus left. We could do it!

After power walking around for fourteen minutes, we were still puzzled as to where the bus stop was. We couldn’t find it! With one minute to spare, we quickly ran back to the kind stranger who was sitting on the gray park bench to ask for directions again. They offered to walk us there since it was a two minute walk to the bus station. Instantly we said yes and after one minute on foot, we saw the small white bus drive away. We missed it.

Plan C- Find a taxi

Take a taxi to get to the thermal baths.

I read online that the cost of the taxi was about five lev in the Bulgaria currency. With this in mind, my husband and I strolled up to taxi driver, who was parked the train station, to confirm what we had saw online. They looked at us perplexed and didn’t seem to understand us. We tried nonverbal communication by acting out our words and holding up a price with our fingers. They smirked and seemed to understand us, but they price was much more than we thought. We tried to barter with him to lower the price a little, but it didn’t seem to work.

A little ways away, another stranger near the train station was silently standing there watching us. A small and extremely cordial Bulgarian man gravitated towards us exclaiming “My friend taxi,” then put his hand up signaling a price. We tried to negotiate, but he kept shrugging. I thought this type of natural communication through gestures and facial expressions was working but I became rapidly doubtful that we were understanding each other. He smiled and laughed. ”My friend” he would say repeatedly, then shrug his shoulders. He laughed again, and I grinned as he disappeared into the convenience store next to us.

Five minutes later he came out and led us to a taxi. He repeated, “My friend”, then introduced us to his friend a local taxi driver. The man smiled at us one more time, waved goodbye and blessed us with a random act of kindness. He didn’t want us to see, so he quickly hand-shook with his friend and paid for half of our taxi ride. What a complete blessing! I didn’t ask for it, but I felt deeply grateful for his helping act.

At the time, I didn’t know this, but without his generosity we wouldn’t have had enough money to have our spa day. I grinned enormously at the man, and said “Thank you for kindness”. It was a gently reminder to always treat people with kindness.

You never know what someone is going through and your kindness can help someone

You never know what someone is going through and your random act of kindness can positively impact you (the giver) and someone else’s (the receiver) emotional well being. Then off we went up the mountain side.

The spa

We arrived at the spa and immediately I could feel my psychological well being improve. The spa, located in a slightly remote area in the woods, is perfect for any health travel or wellness travel. (If you want to learn how to wellness travel —read this how to guide). Because we went during the off-season we had the natural hot springs completely to ourselves for about an hour and a half. They also give you complimentary homemade juice once your enter the facilities.

Leaving the spa

I even had a chance to meet the owner who is extremely welcoming. We were planning on walking back to the city center, then taking a taxi to the train station since we were short on cash. The owner heard our plan, and immediately offered to give us a ride straight to the train station. It was a tremendously kind gesture! All we had to do was wait till the spa closed, which was perfect because we planned to stay there till close. This was another blessing and random acts of kindness we got to experience in this generous big hearted town!

The ride back with strangers on the train

After waving goodbye to our new friends we made at the hot springs, my husband and I casually hopped on the night train back to Bulgaria Sofia. We took our seats and snuggled into the warm feelings we just witnessed from all those kindness acts and hot natural waters at the spa. Who knew a day trip to the nearest hot spring near me meant a lesson of kindness and humbleness from strangers on the train, near the train and at the hot springs. Right when I thought the lesson was over, one of the strangers on the train, a Bulgarian women, across from us started chatting away in the Bulgarian language.

Instantly we grinned, then asked how she was through gestures. I don’t think she quite understood the gestures since she just kept talking. So, we sat back smiling warmly, and tried our best to connect with her. Since it was Christmas season, and Sofia just opened their holiday market, we thought classic Christmas music would be perfect to connect over. I eagerly took out my iPod, since I didn’t have a phone.

Side Note: My phone was previously stolen. I won’t go into detail here, but this post does, “How I survived when my phone was stolen abroad”.

Then I blasted an upbeat Christmas song. Luckily, we were the only people in that train car so playing aloud holly jolly holiday music was okay.

The lady immediately lit up with a wide grin, and replied with, “Dah.” (This means yes in Bulgarian.) Then, she did the unexpected, and began to sing! She sang to us Christmas songs in Bulgarian. We happily smiled along to the tune, and hummed to any part that sounded familiar. I was pretty lost because I know absolutely no Bulgarian, but my partner felt inspired to sing along. So he did! She absolutely loved it and beamed from cheek to cheek with joy.

After she sang her first song, we energetically applauded her. She about three more songs, then the train came to her stop and she grabbed her stuff. My husband and I thanked her with brightly lit grins, laughter, waving goodbye and by saying “Thank you” in English. We applauded this stranger on the train profusely for her enjoyable yet warm performance, trying to leave her with high feelings of kindness regards. She laughed with us and put on her burgundy hat, then left.

Lessons I learned from strangers on the train:

Our health and wellness travel trip ended up boosting our well being more than we thought. I thought this would be an ordinary trip to the nearest hot springs to me, but kindness acts or feeling loved seemed to be the story the universe was teaching us through random encounters with strangers on the train. Research from Positive Psychology shows that kindness can be extremely powerful. It can:

• boost feelings of energy and strengths
• increase oxytocin levels (aka the love hormone)
• decrease pain and increase physical well being
• make you feel loved and awe

From random encounters with strangers on the train, to random acts of kindness, this overseas adventure travel experience is one for the books. It makes me think of the show “The Kindness Diaries”. Although interpersonal communication may be hard across languages, kindness is a language everyone can understand. I just can’t wait to pay it forward in an unexpected way. Operation kindness will be one of my new mantras in this new year.

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