I was moving to study abroad and there was no direct flight to Milan, Italy so I had to fly to Paris first from Toronto. On this flight, I was sitting in a middle seat with lots of luggage as I was going for more than a few months and had to bring both winter and summer clothes. Beside me sat a guy who was going on a month long road trip around Italy and also had a layover in Paris. We started talking about work, life, and of course travel itineraries. Before touch down in Paris, we both discovered that the first thing we were dreaming of doing, was to get a nice European pastry. As we both had about 2-3 hours of layover between our next flight, we decided to go together. However, upon disembarking, one of my carry-on bags tore in half. He not only helped me put it back together but also helped me carry it to the nearest coffee shop. The pastry, as anyone who has ever been to France knows, was to die for. However, it was only the begining of my journey.

As my flight had a slight delay and I had no cell-phone to contact my friend who was waiting for me at the hotel in Milan, I was going to use a pay-phone. But my flight mate gave me his to use to text my friend. It was very kind of him and I wanted to continue talking to him as he was well travelled, lived around the world and had the most interesting business but I had to catch my flight to Milan. Upon arrival in Milan, a friend I was meeting in Milan took a while to get to the hotel. After a while, she shows up in a sweat (after all it was August) and laughter, saying you would not believe what happened!

Her taxi, drove her to the wrong Ibis hotel in Milan, and she ended up circuling the area trying to find the right hotel. This explained the sweat however, the laughter I could not explain. She said I just talked to a guy. I said what guy? She said that since she was lost she decided to call the number the text came from to ask me for directions. The guy from the plane, told her that he just met me on the flight and that he was in Rome and all he knows is that I got on the flight to Milan. He later went on to tell her how beautiful and nice I was. If I was not going for an unknown period of time to Italy, he would have been the perfect guy, or at least for me.

This was a great start to my time abroad where I did find love even if it was short lived. Therefore, if you are searching for love and if you travel solo, you have a great chance of meeting someone on your way to your destination or trip back home. You never know who will be in the seat beside you!