As soon as I got on the plane, it was a HUGE relief! After 4+ months of anticipation, I finally made it. Got into my seat, took a Facebook selfie and relaxed.
About 20 minutes into the flight, the guy in the row in front / diagonal from me turns around and says, “Are you Matt...from Remote Year?” Incredible! On a nearly full flight, the one other remote was sitting right next to me: Patrick Almaguer. Even though we were already Facebook friends, I didn’t recognize him because his profile photo was a bit abstract. But, he recognized my plane selfie that I posted to Facebook!
Meeting Patrick was phenomenal. Not only is he a really cool guy, and we have a lot in common --- it was so valuable to have a buddy to navigate the foreign airports with. We bonded immediately.
Our flight itinerary was Los Angeles → Mexico City → Santiago, Chile → Cordoba Argentina. While we were de-boarding the plane in Chile, I recognized Diane and Andy Brashear, one of the 2 couples that are on our Remote Year. It was so cool running into more Remote travel buddies! And, then, when we were waiting to board our flight to Cordoba, I realized I was standing right behind David McLaughlin, another Remote! It’s funny, because the 5 of us are probably the 5 oldest of the 70 Remotes. Apparently, us “elder statesmen” were magnetically attracted to each other. Love these people already.