This story is inspired by a real event. A couple split up, but they had this elaborate trip booked. The man didn't want to give up the reservations for the fantastic voyage they had planned, so he posted an online ad looking for women who shared his ex-girlfriend's name and a valid Canadian passport. Several women answered; one was selected to join him on his trip. The news media did several human interest stories on their trip together.
The rest of this is the work of my own imagination and fantasy. I changed the travelers' names and destinations. This in no way is an account of what occurred between the two actual people involved: it is fiction. It starts out a little slow, so if you're looking for quick release, you will probably need to look elsewhere. But if you stick with it, I'd like to think the payoff is immense.
MF, MFF, Exh, Voy, Mast, Int.
Chapter 1 - My wedding and honeymoon are destroyed
"That bitch has broken my heart," I thought as I read the email from Jane. A fucking email! She calls off our engagement and our wedding in a fucking email! I guess I should have seen it coming, but I wasn't expecting this. Jane and I had our problems, but I honestly believed we could work them out. I loved her and wanted to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. I thought she felt the same, but apparently not. According to her, I was "too busy planning things" and "was too wrapped up in my own notions and set unachievable expectations of even the simplest things". She didn't want "to have her life micromanaged." She wanted spontaneity and I wasn't the guy. It would have been nice to know how she felt before she agreed to marry me, but there you go.
I called Jane, begging and pleading. She wouldn't budge. I told her I could change. She said she didn't think so. Finally I got angry with her and called her all the worst names I could imagine, and said all those hurtful things I had always kept to myself for the past three years. This put the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. We left it with her saying she was going to move on and that she never wanted to see me or hear from me again.
So there I was, sitting in my condo downtown, my heart in tatters. I felt numb as I began calling and canceling things for the wedding (which was supposed to happen in two week's time, November 1st) like the DJ and the reception hall. I also had to field calls from friends and relatives, trying to explain why the wedding was off. I had to return wedding gifts that arrived in the mail. Frankly I was upset that I had so much to do (on top of work), and that she was taking no responsibility for dismantling the apparatus of our wedding.
Then it came time to cancel the honeymoon. She had gotten to plan the wedding (with a lot of input from me, admittedly), but the honeymoon was my baby.
We were supposed to be gone for a month. I had scrimped and saved and had about 18 large tied up in our grand adventure. Our itinerary included 2 weeks in Europe and 2 weeks in Southeast Asia. We were supposed to hit Paris, Rome, Venice and Florence, then fly to Hong Kong, Phuket and Bali. I had booked the best hotels, activities, tours and relaxation days. It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, but then Jane went and destroyed me and ruined the trip. I sat there thinking about how hard I had worked and how many sacrifices I made to save the money, and how much effort I had put into the planning. I couldn't do it; I couldn't cancel the trip.
At the same time, all the hotel and activity bookings I had made, not to mention the 10 sets of airline tickets, were for two people: me, Martin Lockwood, and my ex, Jane Tillson. With 13 days until our scheduled departure, I began calling airlines to see if I could switch Jane's ticket and give it to my best friend Charlie. Three airlines said yes, but four said no. I called up my travel agent Sunita (with whom I had managed to become good friends over the past 4 months of planning) and explained the situation, and asked for her advice. "How do I go on my honeymoon with someone who is not Jane?" Sunita thought about it for a moment, and then stunned me with her answer.
"Easy Martin, you go with another Jane. As long as her name is Jane Tillson, and she has a valid Canadian passport, you can go and not lose any money."
My mind raced as I considered the possibilities:
"I will still be able to go..."
"See the piazzas and canals..."
"The Colloseum..."
"...galleries..."
"...beaches..."
"With a stranger."
This brought my mind to a halt. Sunita looked at me, and as if reading my mind, said "Yes Martin, if you want to take your trip and not lose any of the deposits and all the other fees you have paid up to this point, unless you know someone else named Jane Tillson, you will need to find someone you don't know to join you."
"Is there no other way Sunita?"
"Not that I can think of. I'm so sorry to hear about you and Jane, and the situation you're in right now really sucks, but your only options at this point are to lose roughly 8 grand or to get a stranger to accompany you."
The only other Jane Tillson I knew was Jane's grandma, a 75 year old woman living in a palliative care facility. She wouldn't be able to make the trip even if I wanted her to come (which I didn't). I thanked Sunita for all she had done, and left with the gears turning in my head.
Chapter 2 - I find another Jane
The ad I posted on Reddit said, "ISO a girl named Jane Tillson who is seeking adventure. Must have a valid Canadian passport, must be named Jane Tillson, and must be free to travel from November 2 to December 3. My fiancée called off our wedding, but I still want to go on our honeymoon. If you're interested in visiting Paris, Florence, Venice, Rome, Hong Kong, Phuket and Bali with a guy who's just had his heart broken, please respond to this ad. The flights and hotels are all paid for. You would be responsible for your food and other expenses. This is not a joke."
I didn't know what to expect in response. Twelve days until I was supposed to fly out of Toronto Pearson airport for Paris.
I checked my email constantly that first day: I was disappointed to only receive two responses. One from a lady name Jane Tillsonburg, who sounded nice but wouldn't fit the bill, and one from a hooker who said she could be whoever I needed her to be, and it would cost me $500 per day plus expenses for the full "newlywed" treatment.
I was dejected. Charlie came in on the train from the suburbs and took me out drinking. That night I drank way too much and puked in the cab on the way home. I was miserable.
But God bless Charlie. I told him about the trip and what Sunita said, and the Reddit ad. Later that evening, on the train ride home, he tracked down my ad and tweeted it out to his 650 followers. The next day it went viral and my ad went from 28 views to 25,873. It was generating a lot of buzz and the emails started rolling in.
I received about a hundred emails, including messages from 30 different Jane Tillsons in Canada, and a couple media requests. I was able to filter out all the non-Janes and replied directly to the Janes, explaining the situation in a bit more detail, the trip itinerary and answering their questions. I was also being cautious and asked each Jane to send me a hi-res picture of them holding today's newspaper and their passport so I could validate they were who they claimed to be. Over the next couple days this eliminated 10 applicants, while another 8 new ones rolled in. I was also interviewed by a reporter from a Toronto daily newspaper.
I could tell by the emails I received the Janes who might be suitable travel companions: if one could not spell or form a cogent sentence, or if they seemed flaky or evasive, they were out. Since some of the planned activities were "extreme" like rock climbing and parasailing, not to mention all the walking we would be doing in Europe and Asia, I was inclined to eliminate women over 40. I was going to be spending a month with this person, so I wanted to be sure we would have something in common, so I eliminated girls that were too young, or had kids.
My list of 28 Janes was whittled down to 3 within the next day. To each of these Janes, I sent pics of myself, a copy of Jane's email and the travel docs and plans. I arranged to FaceTime each of them.
I had a pretty good exchange with the Jane from Canmore, a disastrous exchange with the Jane from Toronto (her expectations were out of sync with the trip I had imagined in my head, and she also accused me of being a stalker) and a great exchange with the Jane from Kelowna. It also helped that Kelowna Jane (or KJ as I called her) was an active, attractive 23 year old. Ultimately, I was leaning towards KJ because we got along in our email exchanges. I told the other Jane from Canmore that it was great talking to her, but I had decided to choose someone else. Immediately after talking with her, I received a call from the guest booker at
Wake Up and Have Breakfast TV
, who invited me to come on the show in the morning to tell my story. The Toronto Daily News also wanted to do a story on me if I was able to successfully find a Jane, and they wanted to send along a photo journalist and their travel writer to meet us at a few of our destinations. Both people who called me told me about all the buzz my story had generated up to this point. It got me excited as well and I told them about KJ. The booker for the TV spot wanted to know if KJ could join us on the show tomorrow morning via phone. I said I'd ask her.
I face timed KJ again and explained that I had chosen her as my trip companion. I was happy to have her along, it would be strictly platonic etc. I explained about when we would be leaving, where we would meet in Toronto etc. I told her about the media requests and how excited I was about that (having never received media attention before). She asked a few questions about the media and agreed to have the paper and the show contact her to make arrangements and ask questions of their own.
I called Jackie at the TV show, and Greg at the paper and filled them in on KJ. I answered more of their questions for background and sent the paper our detailed travel schedule at their request. It was now three days until departure and I was pretty content about the trip. I was still mad as hell at my ex, but that anger and hurt were fading.