Five Strangers Bond While Traveling By Being “Minnesota Nice”
Traveling right now can be tough, with high gas prices, and record heat waves all across the country and if you are flying we have all heard about thousands of flights being canceled mainly because of a staff shortage at the airline. Four strangers and a child soon realized that getting back to Minnesota recently would be no easy task.
If you fly with any kind of frequency you most likely have had to deal with a canceled flight. Generally, in the past, you usually could catch another flight in a few hours, but again right now with the state of the airline industry that could turn to a day or more for your next flight. Yikes!
That is exactly what happened to four strangers who were stranded at JFK Airport in New York and were all sitting around and ended up talking to each other about their dilemma. They had been waiting around the terminal for hours when they heard the announcement that there would not be another flight on JetBlue Airlines to Minneapolis for a few days, yes days and all they were offered in compensation was $150. On top of that hotels close to the airport were between $700-$800 per night.
The former strangers are: Cheryl Pendleton from Shakopee, Megan Farrand and her 12-year-old son Cayden from Robbinsdale, Grace Emma from Minneapolis, and Shannon Croston from St. Francis started talking about renting a car for the 1,200-mile trip back to Minneapolis.
According to KARE11: "We're all sitting there, and I am just sitting with Grace and Shannon and I was like 'Man, I think we should rent a car and drive home,'" Pendleton said. "Megan overheard me and she was like 'Are you serious about driving home and renting a car?' and I was like 'Absolutely.' and she was like 'I have a 12-year-old' and I was like 'That's fine, I've got kids, let's go."
So off they went all five piled in a rental car together and headed back to Minnesota. Eighteen hours later with each of them taking turns driving they made it to Minneapolis safe and sound. After rental car costs and gas they each spent about $200 per person. These four strangers had now become friends, by taking a chance that "Minnesota Nice" is a real thing, and come to find out, it is. Is it just me or does this sound like a script for a movie?