A travel influencer has gone viral after accidentally wandering into a family’s home in China, mistaking it for a quaint tea shop.
Kendall, who goes by the handle ‘ourtravitude’ on Instagram and runs a blog of the same name, was solo travelling in China when she unknowingly sat down inside someone’s house and ordered tea, thinking it was a café.
“[This] place looked so peaceful and inviting that I just walked in, smiled, sat down, and enjoyed the tea they offered me,” she said in the viral post.
“It wasn’t until I finished and went to ask how much I owed that they laughed and gently told me … this was their home. Not a business.”
The family from Zhujiajiao, an ancient town located in the Qingpu District of Shanghai, were “so kind” despite the mix-up.
“They insisted I was welcome, and even offered more tea before I left. No bill. Just pure kindness and quiet hospitality,” she continued.
“Solo travel has a way of humbling you, surprising you, and reminding you how generous people can be even when you get it completely wrong.”
The post has racked up nearly half a million likes and thousands of comments, with others sharing similar travel mishaps.
“This literally happened to me in Cairo, Egypt,” one user wrote.
“I wandered into this hole in the wall cafe. I sat down on a dusty old chair and an old man (the owner) came up to me. I ordered a coffee from him. He was a little confused but made it for me. When I went to pay, he refused to take the money. I thanked him and left …. It turned out it was his garage.”
Another commenter added, “Know a guy who did this to a family barbecue on the sidewalk, requested two meat skewers and a beer, got served, tried to pay and was told they thought he was someone’s cousin.”
One woman recalled a similarly surreal experience while travelling in Morocco.
“Y’all that was a whole house and me and my two friends walked into THEIR WEDDING. (They were incredibly nice and insisted we stay),” they wrote.
It’s not the first time a case of mistaken hospitality has gone viral. In April, a tourist from China made headlines after confusing a Hari Raya open house in Malaysia for a restaurant.
“The tourist from a nearby hotel walked in thinking it was a restaurant and was later embarrassed and wanted to leave,” the TikTok caption read.
“However, this being Malaysia, we insisted he join us … he enjoyed the food, later said thank you and left.”
Images: Instagram
