It definitely isn’t true all of the time, but generally speaking, if you’re willing to give, you will get just as much in return. This is true whether it is just about being nice to the people around you or whether it comes to tipping the staff who waits on you. We’re probably guilty of over tipping at times, but we try to get to know the people who take care of us, especially if we’re going to be in a place for several days or weeks, and we tend to truly care about them by the time we leave.

When we’re at a resort, we will leave a tip for the housekeeping crew that comes to clean our room. We do it because that we know the resorts don’t pay them too much money to begin with, but also because they will usually make an extra effort and do something special in our room. On our trip to Cabo, we once again left a nominal tip every day, 20 pesos, which is about a 1 US dollar. Every day, when we returned to our room, we were greeted with another swan or other creation made from the towels and bed linens.

The same is true when it came to the waiter who took care of us at the pool every day. First and foremost, we took time to talk with him, learn a little about him, and yes we tipped him at the end of the day as well. In return, Castillo was always taking caring of us, bringing us whatever we needed, finding us wherever we might be in the pool area to make sure we were taken care of.

First and foremost, don’t give with the expectation of getting something in return. If you do, you will likely end up disappointed. However, if you give of yourself, treat others as you’d like to be treated, and genuinely show compassion to your fellow life travelers, you will find happiness wherever you go.  It doesn’t take any effort to show compassion and treat those around you with the respect that they deserve.