She got stuck at the airport, he, a taxi driver, takes her home for free.
It does not seem like news that is worth the hype of the news, so much so that it even bounces overseas and disturbs the CNN. But if the airport is in Madrid and home is in Vicenza, perhaps the prospects change. All the more so if such kindness is accomplished in a strange time like this, of distrust, distance and closure.
This is why the story of Giada and Kepa opens the heart.
Giada Collalto is a twenty-two year old girl, originally from Montebello, Vicenza. He fulfilled his dream of studying abroad thanks to the Erasmus program. And he was in fact in Spain, precisely in Bilbao, when the Coronavirus emergency began unexpectedly, which changed his and our lives.
Like all European countries, Spain has also decided to limit travel within the nation and to foreign countries. And that's how Giada she finds herself literally stuck in a foreign city he is learning about and 3700 kilometers away from his country of origin. What she misses is above all the family with whom she would like to share this difficult period, forced instead as she is to remain closed and alone in an apartment that is not hers. Due to the lockdown, he cannot go to college or hang out with new friends.
But Giada has always been a determined girl and not even in the face of this situation is she discouraged. He leaves for Madrid and at the airport he tries to board to reach Italy. But the flight purchased online is canceled, like so many in this black period. The next available is only expected from the month of June.
A place of returns and departures, hugs and emotion, Madrid airport has never been so sad for Giada. But do not lose heart and contact a dear friend who passes you the number of a trusted taxi driver who will be able to help you at least to get back to your apartment: Kepa Amantagi, originally from the Basque Country. Kepa is nice and takes her back from Madrid airport to Bilbao. Once they arrive in front of the apartment she has lived in up to that moment, Giada realizes that she has lost her keys and cannot return.
Kepa Amantagi does not leave her alone, she offers to host her at her house for the night. The two become friends and Giada confides in him that she is heartbroken at the idea of having to stay away from family, in such an uncertain moment, especially for our parents. In the morning Kepa has already made up her mind: he will take her back. Yes, directly in Montebello. Call the Basque police and the embassy to find out if the trip is actually possible. Going out of bounds. He receives an affirmative answer that will fill Giada with enthusiasm.
After twelve hours of travel by car, with no one ever stopping them during the 3700-kilometer journey, the two arrive in Montebello around nine in the evening. Giada confirms: Kepa didn't want a single euro for the trek. Like good friends, they split the highway and gasoline, nothing more. "I ask nothing of you in a moment of great difficulty for you": Kepa told her, declining every offer. A simple answer but one that is colored by a rare humanity these days.
And that's it. How much even CNN was pleased to tell. And so do we. Because these are stories we feel we need. Believing in the kindness of others now seems a luxury. Kepa, a young Basque taxi driver, is the living testimony that there are still gestures, but above all people capable of opening their hearts to us. And who know how to take us far, where we really want to be.
