A group of 13 strangers embarked on a 650-mile, 11-hour road trip after their flight was cancelled in Orlando.
The travellers were at Orlando International Airport on Sunday (4 December) when their Frontier Airlines flight to Knoxville, Tennessee was cancelled at the last minute.
One passenger, Alanah Story, took to TikTok to document the moment. “Our flight is cancelled. So me and a bunch of strangers and my family, we decide to rent a 15-passenger van and ride back to Tennessee.”
“So meet the gang,” she adds, introducing some of her fellow impromptu road trippers. Alanah was travelling with her mother and godmother, but the other 10 people who drove between states were complete strangers.
“I can’t make this up. Road trip!” she captioned her first video telling the story.
Another passenger on the van journey, Mikayla Puckering, told CNN: “When [the group] first told me I looked at them like they were crazy. I’m like, ‘You want to get into this big van with a bunch of random strangers?’”
Some passengers told reporters they simply wanted to get home; others had pressing work engagements the next day in Knoxville. Mikayla had a tour booked of a prospective college in Tennessee.
Mikayla’s parents, Laura and Carlos, said they were hesitant at first. But when the group approached them, they warmed up to the spontaneous idea.
“I said, ‘I’m down,’” said Carlos. “She was like, ‘If you’re down, I’m in.’ Then some other lady came in and said, ‘If you guys are in, I’m in.’
“We got a really good vibe, because these are regular, normal, wholesome people trying to get home and having things that they need to take care of,” he added.
They went to the Hertz rental desk in Orlando Airport, where a 15-seater van was available for hire. They left Orlando around 9.30pm, arriving in Knoxville around 8.30am.
“So we rented it. And the rest is kind of history,”said Carlo, who drove the majority of the journey with the help of “the world’s strongest cappucino” from Dunkin’ Donuts.
Fellow passenger Seth said he helped keep Carlos awake and alert for the journey by chatting to him about his job as a minister.
The group took bathroom breaks and numbered themselves so they could have a head count each time they got back into the van.
In a video posted by Alanah after the group’s arrival, Carlo…
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