Molly Selin, 27, was heading home from a work trip to Spain when she took off her headphones and struck up a conversation with a stranger on the train.
Sitting diagonally across from each other, 81-year-old Maria Alvarez asked Selin whether she had just returned from traveling.
After learning she’d just returned from Spain, Alvarez was shocked to learn she hadn’t tried one of its signature dishes, paella.
“So I said, ‘Did you ever have Puerto Rican food?’ She says no. So I said, ‘You’re gonna have to come to my house. I’m gonna cook for you Puerto Rican food,'” Alvarez recalled.
For the past two months, Selin has visited Alvarez every Monday for dinner, learning she’d not returned to her native Puerto Rico for 50 years because she was afraid to fly.
“I was like, I am going to offer to fly with her,” Selin said. “You know, she doesn’t have to say yes to it. I just want her to know that if she ever decides that she wants to or wants someone to be with her, I will happily do it.”
After Selin shared their story on TikTok, Delta, Hilton and Discover Puerto Rico volunteered to help make Alvarez’s dream come true.
The pair traveled to Puerto Rico together, took salsa lessons and went on chocolate tasting tours, fulfilling a trip Alvarez had dreamed about for decades.
Alvarez told ABC News she believes a series of coincidences — including the Delta flight number, 1966, matching the birth year of her late daughter, Janet, and meeting a chocolate tour guide with the same name — were signs that she was exactly where she was meant to be with her new friend.
“I’ve been through so much. … She changed everything for me,” Alvarez said. “It’s like my other child.”