"There are no strangers." It is one of my favourite sayings. Have you ever been on your own wondering around a town, a city or countryside? Imagine being lost, and someone walking up to you and helping you out, telling you how to walk or maybe giving you some water or even a ride.

Imagine how this may feel. You're lost, unsure, uncertain, maybe even stressed out, not knowing if you will find your way again, unsure if you will have a place to sleep tonight. It is getting dark already and suddenly out of the blue a stranger appears and helps you out.

Imagine the wonderful feeling. You are being helped by a complete stranger, who is totally willing to get out of the way just to make sure you will be fine.

While traveling I was very dependent on the help of strangers. I hitched over five thousand kilometers, and waited for strangers to pull over and to give me a ride at least eighty times during this trip.

Equally I was also dependent on strangers for a place to sleep. I never stayed at a place where I had to pay for my accommodation.

Through Couchsurfing and other hospitality exchange networks I was able to stay with people who offer their place, their hospitality and facilities for some days and nights, sometimes even more than a week. Although you can organise your stay beforehand over the internet, actually staying at somebody's place who you only know over the internet means you are being helped out by a stranger.

Knowing there are always strangers around who can help, gives me the feeling of never being lost. Knowing how to trust strangers gives me a very confident feeling. In fact, the more 'independent' I make myself, e.g. with money, the more fragile I might become as you may forget how to trust strangers.

In the past I used to think I was more independent if I would be able to take care of myself completely. It would give me confidence not to have to go and ask anyone for anything, but to have all the resources at hand myself.

Now I know it is in fact the other way around. If you know how to make yourself dependent on strangers, while traveling, you have more confidence and you need far less.

Being helped by strangers is in fact something you won't easily forget. The feeling and the memory can easily remain with you during your life. I still remember clearly - although ten years ago - how an Irish farmer helped me and two of my friends out while we were hiking in the South of Ireland and a storm came up. Later in the hostel we learned a rescue-team was looking for some people who got lost in the same hills we were at.

Strangers can leave a deep impact on your life. Independent of how small it might be for them what they give you, for you who is in need of help it can leave a deep and positive mark.

And all this reminds me of one good song of a band formerly know as Moondog jr. "Shall I let this good man in?"