Her luggage was lost. Then a kind stranger came to her aid

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(CNN) — It had been seven days due to the fact she landed in New York Metropolis, and Hana Sofia Lopes’ baggage was still misplaced.

Each individual early morning Hana Sofia phoned the airline for updates and ended the connect with progressively discouraged, and even now baggage-a lot less.

“Here I am in New York, with no clothing other than those people I was wearing throughout the flight. No sneakers. No brush for my hair. No make-up. No socks. Absolutely nothing. Just me and my purse,” she tells CNN Travel.

Hana Sofia, a Luxembourg-born actor of Portuguese descent in her early 30s, was halting off in New York City in October 2022 to catch up with a mate. Her finish issue was Canada, the place she was commencing production on a movie.

Upon arrival in Montreal, Hana Sofia was thanks to go to a prestigious field function, in which she’d rub shoulders with movie legends and Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel. Her cautiously planned outfit seemingly shed eternally, Hana Sofia bought a last-minute dress in New York and boarded the flight to Canada.

Just after landing in Montreal, Hana Sofia headed straight to the airline information desk to increase her baggage grievance in human being.

“I was actually imagining to myself, ‘You know, I’m going to explode,'” she recollects. “But on the other hand, I am a yogi too, so I also feel in karma.”

Hana Sofia realized her lost baggage — mislaid somewhere en route from Europe to the US — was not the fault of an airport employee in Canada. So as she approached the counter, she tempered her anger.

“I just commence by expressing, ‘Listen, what I’m about to say is practically nothing personalized. It is seriously just from your corporation, against the firm you might be doing the job for,'” remembers Hana Sofia.

As she spoke, Hana Sofia’s frustration manifested not as anger, but as tears, and she discovered herself getting psychological as she poured out the specifics.

lost luggage friendship1

Hana Sofia expended a week in New York City devoid of her luggage.

Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes

On the other side of the airport counter was Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, a part time airport employee in her mid-20s who’s lived in Montreal all her daily life.

Azalia listened to the tale, and found herself imagining how she would sense if she ended up the crying stranger.

“She was really sad, angry also, and I recognized why,” Azalia tells CNN Travel.

“I wanted to help her. Normally, men and women are rude and they are incredibly intense. She was various.”

Azalia seemed up the shed baggage reference amount but it wasn’t superior news — the monitor said the bag was in Frankfurt, Germany.

Listening to this, Hana Sofia deflated.

“I am right here to shoot a motion picture, and tomorrow, there is a reception with the primary minister of Luxembourg, which is my household region,” she spelled out. “I don’t even have make-up to put on my facial area. I will not even have facial area product. I have nothing.”

Azalia turned again from the computer system.

“Wait around, do you need to have makeup? I’m a makeup artist, I can do your make-up for you,” she supplied.

Hana Sofia was wholly taken aback, but Azalia carried on, describing when she was not doing the job at the airport, she was a expert make-up artist.

“If you want, I can appear to your lodge in the afternoon and do your hair and make-up so that you can attend your reception,” she said. “If I was in your area, I would be also freaking out. So I definitely want to do it for no cost.”

The two bemused and touched, Hana Sofia agreed and the two ladies exchanged quantities.

Azalia says she failed to have any reservations about encouraging Hana Sofia.

“I truly trusted her,” she says. “It can be seriously about her vibe and the relationship we experienced.”

Hana Sofia felt the similar way.

“I sensed in the way that she was talking and also the way that she was behaving that she was definitely, seriously sincere,” she suggests of Azalia.

Forming a connection

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Here’s Azalia in Hana Sofia’s resort room with her make-up kit.

Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes

The following day Azalia arrived at Hana Sofia’s resort, and as Azalia bought to operate, the two women of all ages beginning chatting about their life.

Hana Sofia talked about how she felt both equally anxious and psyched about the reception that night, though Azalia spoke about what it really is like splitting her time in between the airport and her makeup career.

They toggled involving French, English and Spanish — both equally ladies are fluent in many languages.

“Whilst she was carrying out the makeup, it was pretty normal,” states Hana Sofia. “It did not come to feel like I was just conference somebody for the very first time. It felt like I was meeting up with an previous friend, which is crazy, since I just satisfied her the working day in advance of, but we had been chatting a lot.”

As an actor, Hana Sofia spends a lot of time in the make-up chair. She understands what she likes and what she isn’t going to, but she unquestionably liked the appear Azalia set together.

“She did a fantastic, excellent job,” she states.

Hana Sofia’s only hesitation was Azalia’s insistence on carrying out the company for absolutely free. But Azalia was resolute.

“Make-up for me, it truly is an art, it can be actually a enthusiasm,” suggests Azalia. “So it is not about the income. It truly is just mainly because I really like to make the individual feel fantastic and satisfied.”

To leading it off, that identical day, Hana Sofia listened to from the airline. Her shed bag was not in Frankfurt after all. It had been tracked down and was on its way to her Montreal resort.

At that instant, Hana Sofia suggests she felt like Azalia was a real fairy godmother.

“She’s not only a excellent human, she’s also really good at her job since she managed to find my luggage,” says Hana Sofia.

A close friend in Montreal

Slash to the existing working day and Hana Sofia is again in Europe for the holiday seasons. She will return to Montreal to film in the new 12 months, when she programs to meet up with up with Azalia for evening meal and beverages.

The two females have kept in touch and information back and forth on a regular basis.

“She has a pal in Montreal,” says Azalia of Hana Sofia. “Just about anything that she demands, I am likely to be there.”

Equally women say their not likely link illustrates the worth of openness and empathy, primarily at the airport, where by persons are normally stressed and laser-centered on their very own journey.

“People have to be a very little bit far more knowing that the individual in entrance of them, they do not have command of what happened,” suggests Azalia. “So if they are affected person and really calm about it, the human being in entrance is heading to support you the very best that we can.”

“It really is not about make-up. Of system, if I didn’t have makeup, it is not the conclude of the globe,” claims Hana Sofia.

“It is really significantly far more about how minor we do these form of things. We really don’t prevent seriously often to imagine about how the other human being may well be feeling or how the other particular person could possibly be experiencing some thing. We just do our have factor and we will not treatment, regrettably, that is how it goes. And in her problem, she seriously did not do that. And which is what is extraordinary.”

Major impression: Hana Sofia Lopes, entrance, pictured just after Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, again, did her make-up in Montreal. Credit rating: Hana Sofia Lopes