The people of Indonesian New Guinea were among the most friendly I’ve met anywhere in the world. At the beginning of our trip, Deb and I walked the main road in Kaimana (a remote island town of about 17,000) as people on scooters whizzed by. As the only visible white people in town, we were quite the novelty. People honked horns and waved, and when we walked past a school, children stopped to wave and two smiling young boys ran out into the street to greet us (sidewalks were intermittent at best).

After sailing for several days on The Katharina, we and the seven other passengers on the boat stopped at a tiny island village. There, the entire village came out to greet us, and the girls in this photo performed a traditional dance for us. Obviously, they knew in advance that we were coming. The children who weren’t performing wore T-shirts and shorts or school uniforms, so I don’t want to mislead you into thinking this is how they dress all the time.

During our final five days, Deb and I got off the boat and stayed at the two-cabin Raja Ampat Eco-Lodge on another island. There, the staff took great care of us, and we bonded with Ratih, the woman who cooked and delivered meals to the dining table on the front porch of our cabin. She was so observant. One afternoon, we ordered gin and tonics. The next day, at about the same time, Ratih showed up unannounced with more gin and tonics! It was as if she had read our minds. They were so good after a hot day of hiking in the rainforest!

On the morning of our departure, a change in the ferry schedule forced us to hire a speedboat to pick us up at 6:00 a.m. and take us on a rough two-hour open-ocean ride to the town of Sorong, where we would catch a flight to Jakarta, the next leg on our three-day journey home. The entire eco-lodge staff got up early to see us off at the dock, and Ratih handed me a container with sandwiches and bananas for our journey!

It was such a great trip to experience such friendliness, not hear a single hate-filled Donald Trump rant for three weeks, and, basically, get away from the ugliness that possesses some Americans.

A reminder of what we were coming home to popped up while we were boarding the flight between Tokyo and Los Angeles. Deb and I were in the second row of business class, and the seats (lie-flat sleepers) were arranged with single seats on the sides separated by an aisle and two seats together in the middle. We reserved the middle seats, so we could be together. There was not an overhead luggage compartment above my seat, so I had to put mine in the mostly empty compartment across the aisle.

As I did so, the American man in the window seat yelled, “Hey! Put your luggage somewhere else!” as if he owned the entire compartment. I gave him a look and placed my luggage there anyway. He then got up, huffed, and inspected the compartment to make sure I hadn’t touched his coat or travel bag. He fumed all the way across the ocean.

Later, on our first-class flight from Denver to Missoula, someone had already partially filled the compartment above Deb’s and my seats, so I put Deb’s rollaboard in the mostly empty compartment across the aisle. Once again a man spoke up, claiming I couldn’t use his compartment!

No one owns an overhead storage compartment but the airline.

At that moment, I had had maybe two hours of sleep in the past thirty-six hours. “There is plenty of room,” I said.

“But then I’ll have to go back further!” he complained.

The only thing that kept me somewhat restrained was that I didn’t want to get kicked off the airplane on my final flight. Instead, I shoved Deb’s rollaboard all the way to the side of the compartment making a loud crash!

The man, shocked by my response, quickly said, “I was just kidding!”

Yeah right. And I’d bet a thousand dollars both American men voted for Trump. They certainly had the look.

America, can we please learn a lesson from foreign countries, like Indonesia, and get rid of this entitled assholish behavior? We could all use a little more niceness.