When Bristol-born Joe McGrath had to pull out of a holiday with friends, his resourceful pals decided not to let the ticket go to waste.
Instead, they searched Facebook to find a person with the same name as their friend and offered him the chance to go on holiday with nine complete strangers.
Much to everyone’s surprise, the second Joe McGrath, from Manchester, decided to roll the dice and say yes to the adventure.
On Facebook, (the second) McGrath posted a photo of himself with the group, explaining how the whole situation came about.
“So a guy called Dan (who I have never met before) messaged me out of the blue to tell me that his friend ‘Joe McGrath’ couldn’t go away on a trip that they had already booked. Dan asked if I could take his place,” he said.
“Although I had my doubt[s] if the offer was legit, I decided to take the plunge as my legendary boss gave me the time off work.
“I drove down to Bristol on Saturday night and had a mad three days with complete strangers that I think I can [c]all my good friends. What a mega group of people! I loved every minute of it.”
McGrath, 21, met the group at Bristol airport and enjoyed three days in the sun with them in Mallorca.
Although the original ‘Joe McGrath’ was registered for the flight, he had yet to put in his passport number, meaning lucky McGrath number two could easily stand in.
On Twitter, McGrath posted a photo of himself at the airport as well as the original Facebook message Dan sent him.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, McGrath admitted that he lied to his mum and told her he knew the group from university so she didn’t worry.
He discussed the real details of his trip with his boss and girlfriend though.
“As I was driving down and it was getting dark, there were a few moments when I thought, ‘this is like something from a horror film’,” he said.
“When I turned up at Dan’s house and it was all dark I was a bit nervous, but as soon as I met him it was fine. There was no awkwardness really.”
He added that he had a great holiday and plans to meet up with the group in the future.
“They are such a great bunch of people. I’m hopefully going back to Bristol again soon and there might be more holidays in future,” he said.
It looks like this friendship group will have two Joe McGraths from now on.