But luckily our car didn’t. Having to pull over in the middle of nowhere because our car was drenched in gas that didn’t process through the car properly was a scary experience. We tested the limits of that machine that hot summer day on our way back from Kotor.
Never mind that we didn’t know anything about cars in general and tried to restart our car while the engine was smoking. That weekend road trip quickly turned into a very dangerous situation.
We were stranded on this portion of the road for hours, with hundreds of cars passing us by without even looking. I wrote about this already in my other post: Travel Fun to Horror.
If it weren’t for those two Slovenian men, I don’t even know what would’ve happened. They checked the car, gave us valuable advice, made sure we were okay, and then gave us some plums when they left because we didn’t have anything with us. Mind you, this was during a heatwave.
It was partially our doing that the car broke down, but we saw so many other cars on the side of the road on our way back with a similar issue. The engines were overworked in that environment and on the long drive.
But to see not a single person stop by to make sure we’re okay was honestly so devastating and disappointing. It wasn’t even the bystander effect. Some of them found it funny. I felt like all of them were so detached from reality, so weird. I don’t even know what it is anymore.
That’s why Slovenia has my heart, a beautiful country with beautiful people who restored my faith in humanity.
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My Little Hawk 
*Daily Juice*
_Refuse to major your time on the minors of life. Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities, seize common occasions and make them extraordinary; for either you run your day or your day runs you._
_One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is your time because when you give your time, you ‘re giving a portion of your life. The way you spend your time defines who you are and your future. Be picky and selective with whom and with what you invest your time in; wasted time is worst than wasted money. Spend your time wisely and maximize it. Stop procrastinating and make your life useful._
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Stranded on the roadside in a heatwave with a smoking engine sounds genuinely frightening — and cars passing while some people laughed is hard to read. But those two Slovenian men checking on you and leaving plums behind is the kind of small grace that stays with you for years. We’ve had a breakdown or two on family road trips, and it’s always a stranger’s kindness we remember most, never the trouble. So glad you were okay.
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Thank you! I mean, a lot of things can happen on a road trip. Sometimes, it makes for a good story afterwards, but it was really sad that the someone’s first instinct would be to laugh. If they had just passed us by, I would’ve thought: “okay, maybe they just don’t know how to help”, or my brain would find an excuse for them, because I wouldn’t immediately assume the worst in them, but having experienced this… It definitely changed my perspective, and highlighted the importance of kindness, with endless praise for those kind strangers.
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