What’s in a name? Sometimes, it’s a vacation.
A group of friends from Bristol, England had planned a vacation to Majorca. But when one of them, named Joe McGrath, dropped out, the other friends decided to try and find a new Joe McGrath to replace him.
Luckily for one specific Joe McGrath from Stockport, he was the only one to respond. From BBC News:
The 21-year-old said they were “an absolutely lovely group of people”.
“They messaged 15 other Joe McGraths on Facebook and only one was stupid enough to reply, and that was me,” he said.
Naturally, the new McGrath shared some skepticism at first. Anyone who has been offered a free vacation by a stranger on the internet would probably think it’s either a scam or a troll rather than a genuine offer.
Eventually, Joe was convinced they were just friendly, harmless people. So he decided to go for it. Three days in the Mediterranean can be pretty tempting.
“I must be a bit mad. I was fully up for it.”
Innocent me before take off pic.twitter.com/2tAkUFEUvn
— lovely joe (@RadioJoeM) April 5, 2017
According to the Telegraph, at least he told his mom his new vacation partners weren’t strangers:
“What a mega group of people!” Joe said on returning home. “I loved every minute of it. I want to apologise to my mum who thought I knew these people all along.”
From the photographic evidence, it looks like the risk was worth it:
McGrath called them “a lovely group of people,” and he already has plans to take them out in Manchester to thank them.
Maybe that’s when he’ll finally meet the first Joe McGrath.
“I do think our paths will cross sooner or later. And it will be a magical moment.”
