From a corner of my eye a few pages on, I noticed a little Vietnamese girl in a red dress shyly emerge from the baggage laden throng.

With two fingers pressed against her lips, she carefully watched me as she slowly walked over to the bench I had wedged myself onto and asked in halting, accented English, “What is your name?”

She grinned with delight at getting a response, immediately returned to her mother for a bit of coaching and slipped back through the cramped confusion with other questions; “How old are you?”…”Do you like Vietnam?”…and finally, “What country are you from?”

Though few in the crowd of curious eyes understood English, all knew what the last question had been when I answered, “America.”

At this, the girl beamed with excitement, turned on her heel, and dashed back to her mother. – After a few minutes, she hesitantly returned, stood up straight in front of me, and softly sang a Vietnamese song, as the place gradually quieted and all eyes looked on.

Touched by this gesture of hospitality, an especially open-hearted one in light of the tragic past our two countries share, I had to briefly look away, press my lips together and slightly turn them inward to keep my eyes from watering. As she finished the song, I started a solitary applause which was soon joined by everyone in the place.

At that instant, the train whistle abruptly echoed down the station platform. Bundles and bags were quickly hoisted, and the little girl was grabbed up, waving goodbye over her mother’s shoulder as they disappeared into the crowd flooding out to the waiting carriages.

Although the moment evaporated with the sound of the train whistle, it will always remain in my memory.

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." Because travel constantly allows you to live in the absolute moment of such unanticipated destinations and create such priceless memories, I believe it’s as close as you can get to the weightlessness and wonder of being a kid again.