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People I Met On Vacation

Unique interactions at unexpected moments that make travel memorable and worthwhile

Ranjani Rao
7 min readApr 4, 2022
Photo credit Ranjani Rao

After two years of being stuck on the small island nation of Singapore, I was thrilled to finally board a long flight (15 hours) to San Francisco. I was eager to meet my daughter who had left months earlier to begin her Master’s degree and also to revisit the neighborhoods which had been home for me almost two decades ago.

The holiday was fun and I returned with many good memories, stunning photographs and assorted books. Yet, there was one aspect that was striking, not because it was unusual but because we seldom stop to write about this aspect of our travel — the random conversations with people who cross our paths. These are the interactions that are sometimes quirky, sometimes life-changing but always memorable, if we choose to honor them.

Generosity at the most unexpected moment

Our family’s fondest memories are from our holidays to exotic places. Thanks to Covid, the last memorable holiday was our safari trip to Tanzania in 2019. In order to have a few days together in a new location, we planned a trip to San Diego. We had booked a cute cottage not far from the beach that was furnished with an ocean theme and had surfboards in the backyard. In order to use…

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Ranjani Rao
Ranjani Rao

Written by Ranjani Rao

I write insightful personal stories about my scientist, immigrant, travel life. 4 books http://bit.ly/RanjaniRao. Share memoir journey -www.ranjanirao.com

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