As soon as I got on the plane, it was a HUGE relief!  After 4+ months of anticipation, I finally made it.  Got into my seat, took a Facebook selfie and relaxed.  

About 20 minutes into the flight, the guy in the row in front / diagonal from me turns around and says, “Are you Matt...from Remote Year?”  Incredible!  On a nearly full flight, the one other remote was sitting right next to me:  Patrick Almaguer.  Even though we were already Facebook friends, I didn’t recognize him because his profile photo was a bit abstract.  But, he recognized my plane selfie that I posted to Facebook!

Meeting Patrick was phenomenal.  Not only is he a really cool guy, and we have a lot in common --- it was so valuable to have a buddy to navigate the foreign airports with.  We bonded immediately.

Our flight itinerary was Los Angeles → Mexico City → Santiago, Chile → Cordoba Argentina.  While we were de-boarding the plane in Chile, I recognized Diane and Andy Brashear, one of the 2 couples that are on our Remote Year.  It was so cool running into more Remote travel buddies!  And, then, when we were waiting to board our flight to Cordoba, I realized I was standing right behind David McLaughlin, another Remote!  It’s funny, because the 5 of us are probably the 5 oldest of the 70 Remotes.  Apparently, us “elder statesmen” were magnetically attracted to each other.  Love these people already.