A chance meeting of two bearded men just before takeoff. (Lee Beattie)
Seat mates can be the most aggravating part of flying. Whether you’re seated next to a chatty stranger, a noisy eater, or slumping sleeper—other passengers can really be the worst.
But what would you do if you sat down next to…yourself? Take a selfie, obviously.
That’s just what happened to Neil Thomas Douglas, a Scottish photographer traveling to Ireland to shoot a wedding. When Douglas boarded his Ryanair flight he noticed there was a man already sitting in his seat. When he asked him to move, things took a funny turn as the man looked up.
The bearded man in his seat-- Robert Stirling from London-- bore an uncanny resemblance to him.
“They had a big laugh about it – everyone around them had a laugh, they took a selfie and that was it,” says Lee Beattie, a friend of Douglas who later posted the selfie on Twitter.
Other passengers were clearly delighted by the fateful run in and posed in the photograph. The two men were seated next to each other throughout the flight then parted ways in Ireland.
But things got even weirder. When Douglas checked into his hotel in Galway, he saw Stirling in the lobby—the two were booked in the same hotel. Beattie says both men shared a laugh. Later that night, they again spotted each other at a local pub where they shared a pint and more laughter.
Ryanair may be known for their no frills service but at least they can bring long lost twins back together.
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