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| Standing Together: A tale of travel and solidarity |
I’m lucky to have traveled a great deal of the world. And I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life on the road. So when The Wall Street Journal asked readers to share their most memorable travel stories, many sprang to mind, but one stood taller than the rest.
I submitted it a couple weeks ago. And then the paper’s editors e-mailed me saying they’d like to publish it as an article. I was so flattered, and of course gave them my permission. The Wall Street Journals’ editors published it on Saturday.
You can read the full story on WSJ’s website. It’s about my trip to Nice, France during 9/11, the emotional days that ensued, and the kindness of the French.
But I was in for another pleasant surprise. I received some touching comments from WSJ readers, and I want to share them with you. Here they are, taken directly from my inbox. Thanks again to the editors for publishing my piece and the readers who wrote in to me.
Dear Ms. Goldman,I just read your article in the WSJ entitled “Standing Together After 9/11”. We were in the same area of France at the same time. Your experience is exactly the same as mine. It was my first trip to France. I was pleasantly surprised to find the people so kind and caring in Southern France. My friends back home find my “French” story hard to believe. Thank you for verifying the truth of my experience.
Regards,
Joycelyn Schmid
Ms Goldman,I read with great interest your article in travel section of todays WSJ.
My husband and I along with my sister and brother in-law left Chicago O’Hare on Sept. 10th 2001 for Paris. When we landed nothing had happened yet. We arrived at our hotel much too early to check in, so a nice young woman let us store our bags in a small office.
When we returned later in the afternoon she greeted us with apologies over and over again.
She did not speak English so she just ushered us into the small office with a small tv and we watched in horror the planes flying into the World Trade Center.
After two days in Paris, we rented cars and drove to St. Maximin in the south.
We arrived there on a Sunday and got to the house we rented and then just walked around the little town. There was a concert going on at the church so we went in and sat down.
The organist was going to be using the organ which dated back to the 11th century.
The first piece he played was the Star Spangled Banner. It just sent chills down your spine. Women were coming up to us crying and saying how sorry they were. Obviously they could tell we were Americans.Whenever I hear now about how the rude the French are I love sharing this story.
thank you.
Nancy Hansen
It’s was so nice to hear Nancy’s and Joycelyn’s travel stories. I would love to hear some of your memorable travel stories. Feel free leave a comment to this post with your story.