What’s in a name? A free round-the-world trip

December 19, 2014 01:07 am | Updated 01:07 am IST - TORONTO:

Jordan Axani.

Jordan Axani.

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’s has found Ms. Right.

Jordan Axani, 28, and his then girlfriend, Elizabeth Gallagher, booked heavily discounted round-the-world air tickets in May, but their relationship ended and he did not want her ticket to go waste. The ticket had a strict no-transfer policy, but since passport information was not required when booking, any Canadian Elizabeth Gallagher can use it.

Mr. Axani posted his offer last month on the popular Reddit social media website, and received thousands of e-mails, including from 18 Elizabeth Gallaghers with Canadian passports.

“It’s strictly a platonic trip. It’s going to be great,” Mr. Axani said.

At first, the new Ms. 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 Mr. 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.

She already has a boyfriend though.

“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.”

She acknowledged her boyfriend was not 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.

Mr. Axani, who works for an international real estate development and advisory firm, said the tickets were bought for a couple of thousand dollars, but their cash value today was around 5,000-7,000 Canadian dollars (Rs. 2.7 lakh to Rs. 3.8 lakh).

The trip is scheduled to start in New York City on December 21 and go on to Milan, Prague, Paris, Bangkok and New Delhi before ending in Toronto on January 12.

Mr. Axani said that after the break-up, he deferred all other planning for the trip, such as making hotel reservations.

But since the story became public, Marriott International offered to accommodate him and Ms. Gallagher, in separate rooms, during their trip.

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