We’ve all probably had experiences of being stranded somewhere, not knowing where we are in an unfamiliar place, or maybe you've left something important behind in another country…Laptop in China? Oh yes - hands up that was me!! And, this story is about something that at the time I thought was catastrophic.

I was only 17 years old traveling from the UK to Australia with my boyfriend on what we hoped would be a working holiday. His brother had previously emigrated to Australia and was offering us a place to stay in the middle of the wine-growing area so we felt we had a good chance of getting work. 

Our flight had a layover in Bali.  We thought it sounded exotic so we took a seven-day layover there as it seemed extremely good value for money.  At the time, neither my boyfriend nor I had credit cards, and for some reason, we did not trust travellers checks so we decided to take cash.

We had about £3000 and kept it in a bum bag.

We had about £3000 and kept it in a bum bag - I believe you call it a fanny pack in the US. Of course, we were nervous about losing our money.  When we arrived in Bali, we jumped in a taxi and headed for Sanur, the resort we were booked. Being quite naive wanderers at the time (even I was once!!), the taxi driver convinced us it would be much nicer to stay at his cousins' place — a small hotel on the beach but also in the jungle.  We agreed.

I remember clearly it was raining cats and dogs and there were huge bullfrogs everywhere. As we came off the main road onto a smaller road and then another dirt track I began to wonder if our taxi driver was just going to rob us and leave us in the jungle. But a few minutes later we arrived in total darkness and he stopped.

Some lights came on, and a little smiling Balinese man came out to greet us, the taxi driver had a brief conversation with his cousin, and before we knew it, our suitcases were being carried to our room. It seemed now we had no choice, so we just kind of went along with it, smiling like two mad tourists.

When we saw the room we were amazed. 

Imagine a quaint thatched roofed wooden cabin with a wrap-around balcony furnished with two wicker rocking chairs and a double hammock, surrounded by a moat filled with huge Koi carp, all lit with fairy lights that resembled dancing fireflies. Once inside a commanding wooden intricately carved king-sized bed complete with mosquito net took up most of the room. The outside bathroom - the first time I'd seen one - was complete with a walk-in shower and bath for two.

We thought this was going to cost a fortune, but once we finally understood our Balinese host who hurried back with a calculator in hand - it transpired, our lodgings, including breakfast on the beach, would cost just £3 a night ($4 USD) We’d hit the jackpot!

We hired a moped and drove around the absolutely splendid island of Bali - The Land of the Gods.  There was no safe in our room, so my boyfriend wore the bum bag on the bike wherever we went.

We lost our entire savings!

One evening after touring all around Bali for the day, we returned to our little paradise, he realized the bum bag was not around his waist, we were devastated as you can imagine, it could be anywhere and we would never find it. 

Thankfully, my boyfriend had quite an optimistic outlook and suggested we go to the bar for a drink. What else were we to do? While there, we met a typical English gentleman and we got talking. Of course, our story unfolded. We looked so depressed and couldn’t really fathom what we were going to do from here on out. We hadn’t even set foot in Australia and on the stopover we’d lost our entire savings.

Our British friend headed off for dinner and we skulked back to the room to deliberate our next move. At least our room and breakfast were paid for a week and we paid for the bike. So the next morning we headed off out trying to retrace our steps, but failed miserably.

Our Good Samaritan

Later, in the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel beach where we met our British friend.  When we got there, he handed an envelope to me and said “Here have this.“ I looked in the envelope, and there was a fat wad of British sterling pounds.  I told him immediately we couldn’t accept it.

Why would a stranger want to give us money? He told us that we would accept it, so might as well be now - I couldn't accept it then and he had to hound us a little more before we finally took his envelope. 

He explained he was a businessman, he had a good salary — no wife, no kids, and our company was valuable to him, even if we were the most miserable couple on the island! If I remember, rightly it was £1500 he handed us and we were shocked, to say the least! We were so grateful we couldn’t put it into words. In those days, there was no computer and no mobile phones so we took his address written on a napkin from the bar. I wrote several times but never had a response so maybe he was an angel in disguise. 

Have you ever had similar circumstances?  Tell us your stories in the comments below.  We’d love to hear from you!