A Toronto man who made headlines last month by offering a free round-the-world air ticket to a woman with the same name as his ex-girlfriend has found Ms. Right.
Jordan Axani, 28, and his then girlfriend, named Elizabeth Gallagher, booked heavily discounted round-the-world air tickets in May, but their relationship ended and he didn't want her ticket to go to waste. The ticket had a strict no-transfer policy, but since passport information was not required when booking, it can be used by any Canadian named Elizabeth Gallagher.
Axani posted his offer last month on the popular Reddit social media website, and received thousands of emails, including 18 from actual Elizabeth Gallaghers with Canadian passports.
He's now chosen his travel mate, Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, a 23-year-old student and part-time office administrator from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
"It's strictly a platonic trip. It's going to be great," Axani said.
At first the new Elizabeth Gallagher thought a trip with a stranger whose ex-girlfriend's name is the same as hers was "crazy," but she hit it off with Axani after talking on the phone with him for hours.
"It definitely did seem a little bit creepy at the beginning, but now that I talked to him, it's less creepy and more awesome," she said.
However, Gallagher already has a boyfriend.
"This is totally sort of like as friends," she said. "I have a pretty serious boyfriend. We've been together for a while. We're planning on buying a house and we have a puppy, so yeah, I'm not really looking for anything at all."
Gallagher acknowledged that her boyfriend isn't thrilled.
"He understands that I've always wanted to travel, so while he's not happy I'm taking off for nearly a month at Christmas with a random guy, he's smiling through it," she said.
Axani, who works for an international real estate development and advisory firm, said the tickets were purchased for a few thousand dollars, but their cash value today is around $5,000 to $7,000 Canadian (US$4,400 to $6,200).
Something may or may not be coming on Wednesday. Who knows. #aticketforward http://t.co/AlcTTxXfAT— Jordan Axani (@jordanaxani) December 16, 2014
The trip is scheduled to start Dec. 21 in New York City and continue on to Milan, Prague, Paris, Bangkok and New Delhi before ending in Toronto on Jan. 12. Axani said that after the breakup, he deferred all other planning for the trip, such as making hotel reservations.
But since his story became public, Marriott International offered to put him and the new Elizabeth Gallagher up, in separate rooms, during their trip.
Axani said the trip will be documented and shared online. He said he was so moved by some of the emails -- including one from an 8-year-old boy who said he was going blind and wanted to see the world before that happens -- that he and his brother created an organization called A Ticket Forward to help people who want to see the world, but lack the finances to do so.
Tomorrow we launch @aticketforward & change the lives of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people. Can't wait to make magic #aticketforward— elana z (@e_v_z) December 17, 2014
Axani is clearly looking to turn his 15 minutes of Internet fame into something more substantial.
Additional reporting by Mashable