On my way now waiting for my 11:40 AM flight to IAD, I thought…

How funny and nice it was to have Kelly, the driver for Skyline cabs 704-392 0775 to pick me up and drop me off.  Yes, there were cabs everywhere I could have taken, and yes, his battery credit card machine was not working, yet, the simple fact that he was competing with companies that had company vehicles, and…he played George Clinton and told me about him riding in his cab, and Kelly was animated, the whole way to and from, excited about the music he had a million songs on the cd, telling me a little about what to see in Charlotte, and he was just ALIVE with funny stories and not afraid to share them, (George Washington coming here to share in the discovery of gold that lead to minting money, the discovery of gold as a nugget used as a doorstop, the fact that gold still exists and it is so deep not worth the bother to dig it, the meanness of King George the III with Charlotte, NC and the name given based on the British consort that remained), sticking with him as a local driver – it made all the difference in him or a major anyway everywhere company cab – remember him and remember Skyline- he was AWESOME – he is worth bypassing companies and asking him for the business.

Adding to that, Louisheta (spelling, ugh, I think I was close!) and The Holiday Inn desk attendant were AMAZING.  All the way from the airport to The Holiday Inn, we talked about teachers, how they should be higher on the pay scale, their lack of recognition of being the real heroes behind the future of tomorrow, and she was amazing and wonderful – and very accommodating.  Holiday Inn was better thanks to their help in obtaining a cab as well as offering anything needed – they made the trip and overnight experience better than 100% – thank you so much for putting yourself out not only to pick me up, as she also worked the front desk to check me in, but again, making the name Holiday Inn appear better than the name of Hilton and Sheraton for a night.

Walking after dinner at Whisky River, I was taking pictures and a woman approached me from the center of where I was taking statues and asked if I was gong to eat my dinner (I took a box of hamburger, Quesadilla, and Sweet Potato fries) and realized, after she hugged me two times and thanks me profusely for the food, that I had just given her dinner tonight.  Always the skeptic in us as humans, I know we always wander how true those that asks for money and food are, but in the reality of things,  alot of times your gut tells you what is in fact reality, and in this case, I could not have wished the food to go to anyone else.    It was a good night.

As I wait and have retrieved a blueberry breakfast cake and blueberry bagel from Einstein’s Bagel (Close to Panera bread-like bagels but not quite there, but delicious) I see the little things we do, if we all did them make a HUGE difference.  Case in point, making as little a mess for cleaning staff as possible when they come into clean, collecting shampoo, mouth wash, soap extras from the hotel and possibly creating a company to have those items go to homeless (does anyone do that?) – paying recognition to those that work hard everyday and taking 10 minutes to send comments to corporate to make their day better, is just the tip of what we can do.  I bet if each of us thought about what we can do ONE thing, on a daily basis to improve the lives of another, the world would begin a changing.  This is something we can all do when we are on vacation!  (P.S.  EVERY airport should offer free WIFI like Charlotte, EVERY!)