(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 pissed off, 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 pal. Her finish level was Canada, the place she was starting manufacturing on a film.
Upon arrival in Montreal, Hana Sofia was attributable to 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 gown in New York and boarded the flight to Canada.
After touchdown in Montreal, Hana Sofia headed straight to the airline info desk to lift her baggage criticism in particular person.
“I used to be actually pondering to myself, ‘You already know, I will explode,'” she remembers. “However however, I am a yogi too, so I additionally consider 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 in opposition to your organization, in opposition to the corporate you are working for,'” remembers Hana Sofia.
As she spoke, Hana Sofia’s frustration manifested not as anger, however as tears, and she or he discovered herself getting emotional as she poured out the small print.
Hana Sofia spent every week in New York Metropolis with out her baggage.
Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes
On the opposite facet of the airport counter was Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, an element 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, persons are impolite they usually’re very aggressive. She was completely different.”
Azalia seemed up the misplaced baggage reference quantity nevertheless it wasn’t excellent news — the display stated 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 house 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 utterly bowled over, however Azalia carried on, explaining when she wasn’t working on the airport, she was knowledgeable make-up artist.
“If you’d like, I can come to your lodge within the afternoon and do your hair and make-up to be able to attend your reception,” she stated. “If I used to be in your house, I’d be additionally freaking out. So I actually wish to do it at no cost.”
Each bemused and touched, Hana Sofia agreed and the 2 ladies 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 approach.
“I sensed in the best way that she was speaking and likewise the best way that she was behaving that she was actually, actually sincere,” she says of Azalia.
Forming a connection
Here is Azalia in Hana Sofia’s lodge room together with her make-up equipment.
Courtesy Hana Sofia Lopes
The following day Azalia arrived at Hana Sofia’s lodge, and as Azalia set to work, the 2 ladies 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 ladies 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 someone for the primary time. It felt like I used to be assembly up with an previous pal, which is loopy, as a result of I simply met her the day earlier than, however we had been speaking so much.”
As an actor, Hana Sofia spends a variety of time within the make-up chair. She is aware of what she likes and what she would not, however she completely beloved the look Azalia put collectively.
“She did an incredible, nice job,” she says.
Hana Sofia’s solely hesitation was Azalia’s insistence on doing the service at no cost. 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 prefer to make the particular person really feel good and completely satisfied.”
To prime it off, that very same day, Hana Sofia heard from the airline. Her misplaced bag wasn’t in Frankfurt in spite of everything. It had been tracked down and was on its solution to her Montreal lodge.
At that second, Hana Sofia says she felt like Azalia was an actual fairy godmother.
“She’s not solely an incredible human, she’s additionally actually good at her job as a result of she managed to seek out my baggage,” says Hana Sofia.
A pal 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 12 months, when she plans to fulfill up with Azalia for dinner and drinks.
The 2 ladies have stored in contact and message forwards and backwards recurrently.
“She has a pal in Montreal,” says Azalia of Hana Sofia. “Something that she wants, I will be there.”
Each ladies say their unlikely connection illustrates the significance of openness and empathy, particularly on the airport, the place persons are typically burdened and laser-focused on their very own journey.
“Folks 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 is not about make-up. In fact, if I did not have make-up, it isn’t the top of the world,” says Hana Sofia.
“It is way more about how little we do these type of issues. We do not cease actually typically to consider how the opposite particular person is likely to be feeling or how the opposite particular person is likely to 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 scenario, she actually did not try 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
