Stranger on train befriends and helps 81-year-old return to Puerto Rico
A chance train ride led to a viral friendship and a dream trip to Puerto Rico.
A chance conversation on a train turned into an unlikely friendship that changed two women's lives.
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.
That stranger was 81-year-old Maria Alvarez, and the chance encounter would lead to weekly dinners, a viral TikTok and a long-awaited trip to Puerto Rico.
Sitting diagonally across from each other, Alvarez asked Selin whether she had just returned from traveling.
"I had my headphones in, and you know, she leans over a little bit. We were sitting diagonal from each other, and she's like, 'Were you just traveling?' And I'm like, 'Oh, someone's talking to me,'" Selin told ABC News.
After learning Selin had just returned from Spain, Alvarez asked whether she had tried one of the country's signature dishes.
"I said, 'What? You were in Spain and you didn't have paella?'" Alvarez recalled her response. "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.'"
That invitation marked the beginning of a new tradition.
For the past two months, Selin has visited Alvarez every Monday for dinner, where she learned about Alvarez's life, including the loss of her husband and her beloved daughter, Janet.
Alvarez also shared that she had not returned to her native Puerto Rico in more than 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, where they took salsa lessons and went on chocolate tasting tours, fulfilling a trip Alvarez had dreamed about for decades.
The trip also carried special meaning for Alvarez.
She 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.
When asked what Selin has brought into her life, Alvarez became emotional.
"Changed my life," she said. "I've been through so much. So much. I never had anything like this happen to me. Never. I never got anything. I never went anywhere. So she changed everything for me. It's amazing how I feel. It's like my other child."
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