Her baggage was misplaced. Then a sort stranger got here to her support

(CNN) — It had been seven days since she landed in New York Metropolis, and Hana Sofia Lopes’ baggage was nonetheless misplaced.

Each morning Hana Sofia phoned the airline for updates and ended the decision more and more annoyed, and nonetheless luggage-less.

Hana Sofia, a Luxembourg-born actor of Portuguese descent in her early 30s, was stopping off in New York Metropolis in October 2022 to meet up with a good friend. Her finish level was Canada, the place she was starting manufacturing on a film.

Upon arrival in Montreal, Hana Sofia was as a result of attend a prestigious business occasion, the place she’d rub shoulders with movie legends and Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel. Her fastidiously deliberate outfit seemingly misplaced ceaselessly, Hana Sofia purchased a last-minute costume in New York and boarded the flight to Canada.

After touchdown in Montreal, Hana Sofia headed straight to the airline info desk to boost her baggage grievance in particular person.

“I used to be actually considering to myself, ‘You recognize, I will explode,'” she recollects. “However alternatively, I am a yogi too, so I additionally imagine in karma.”

Hana Sofia knew her misplaced baggage — mislaid someplace en route from Europe to the US — wasn’t the fault of an airport employee in Canada. In order she approached the counter, she tempered her anger.

“I simply begin by saying, ‘Hear, what I am about to say is nothing private. It is actually simply towards your organization, towards the corporate you are working for,'” recollects Hana Sofia.

As she spoke, Hana Sofia’s frustration manifested not as anger, however as tears, and he or she discovered herself getting emotional as she poured out the main points.

Hana Sofia spent per week in New York Metropolis with out her baggage.

Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes

On the opposite aspect of the airport counter was Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, a component time airport employee in her mid-20s who’s lived in Montreal all her life.

Azalia listened to the story, and located herself imagining how she would really feel if she had been the crying stranger.

“She was actually unhappy, indignant additionally, and I understood why,” Azalia tells CNN Journey.

“I wished to assist her. Usually, individuals are impolite and so they’re very aggressive. She was completely different.”

Azalia seemed up the misplaced baggage reference quantity but it surely wasn’t excellent news — the display mentioned the bag was in Frankfurt, Germany.

Listening to this, Hana Sofia deflated.

“I am right here to shoot a film, and tomorrow, there’s a reception with the prime minister of Luxembourg, which is my dwelling nation,” she defined. “I do not even have make-up to placed on my face. I do not even have face cream. I’ve nothing.”

Azalia turned again from the pc.

“Wait, do you want make-up? I am a make-up artist, I can do your make-up for you,” she provided.

Hana Sofia was fully shocked, however Azalia carried on, explaining when she wasn’t working on the airport, she was knowledgeable make-up artist.

“If you would like, I can come to your lodge within the afternoon and do your hair and make-up so that you could attend your reception,” she mentioned. “If I used to be in your house, I might be additionally freaking out. So I actually wish to do it without spending a dime.”

Each bemused and touched, Hana Sofia agreed and the 2 girls exchanged numbers.

Azalia says she did not have any reservations about serving to Hana Sofia.

“I actually trusted her,” she says. “It is actually about her vibe and the connection we had.”

Hana Sofia felt the identical manner.

“I sensed in the best way that she was speaking and in addition the best way that she was behaving that she was actually, actually sincere,” she says of Azalia.

Forming a connection

This is Azalia in Hana Sofia’s lodge room along with her make-up package.

Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes

The following day Azalia arrived at Hana Sofia’s lodge, and as Azalia set to work, the 2 girls beginning chatting about their lives.

Hana Sofia talked about how she felt each nervous and excited in regards to the reception that night, whereas Azalia spoke about what it is like splitting her time between the airport and her make-up profession.

They toggled between French, English and Spanish — each girls are fluent in a number of languages.

“Whereas she was doing the make-up, it was very pure,” says Hana Sofia. “It did not really feel like I used to be simply assembly any person for the primary time. It felt like I used to be assembly up with an previous good friend, which is loopy, as a result of I simply met her the day earlier than, however we had been speaking loads.”

As an actor, Hana Sofia spends a whole lot of time within the make-up chair. She is aware of what she likes and what she does not, however she completely cherished the look Azalia put collectively.

“She did an awesome, nice job,” she says.

Hana Sofia’s solely hesitation was Azalia’s insistence on doing the service without spending a dime. However Azalia was firm.

“Make-up for me, it is an artwork, it is actually a ardour,” says Azalia. “So it isn’t in regards to the cash. It is simply because I actually wish to make the particular person really feel good and joyful.”

To prime it off, that very same day, Hana Sofia heard from the airline. Her misplaced bag wasn’t in Frankfurt in any case. It had been tracked down and was on its method to her Montreal lodge.

At that second, Hana Sofia says she felt like Azalia was an actual fairy godmother.

“She’s not solely an awesome human, she’s additionally actually good at her job as a result of she managed to seek out my baggage,” says Hana Sofia.

A good friend in Montreal

Lower to the current day and Hana Sofia is again in Europe for the vacations. She’s going to return to Montreal to movie within the new yr, when she plans to satisfy up with Azalia for dinner and drinks.

The 2 girls have saved in contact and message backwards and forwards frequently.

“She has a good friend in Montreal,” says Azalia of Hana Sofia. “Something that she wants, I will be there.”

Each girls say their unlikely connection illustrates the significance of openness and empathy, particularly on the airport, the place individuals are usually confused and laser-focused on their very own journey.

“Individuals need to be just a little bit extra understanding that the particular person in entrance of them, they do not have management of what occurred,” says Azalia. “So if they’re affected person and actually calm about it, the particular person in entrance goes that will help you the most effective that we will.”

“It isn’t about make-up. After all, if I did not have make-up, it isn’t the tip of the world,” says Hana Sofia.

“It is way more about how little we do these sort of issues. We do not cease actually usually to consider how the opposite particular person may be feeling or how the opposite particular person may be experiencing one thing. We simply do our personal factor and we do not care, sadly, that is the way it goes. And in her state of affairs, she actually did not do this. And that is what’s extraordinary.”

High picture: Hana Sofia Lopes, entrance, pictured after Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, again, did her make-up in Montreal. Credit score: Hana Sofia Lopes