https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/25/nyregion/snow-storm-korean-tourists.html
They Traveled From South Korea. They Got Stranded Near Buffalo.
A South Korean tour group’s van became stuck in the snow outside a house in Williamsville, N.Y. They spent the weekend with the homeowners — who luckily had a well-stocked kitchen.
Alexander Campagna and his wife, Andrea, lifelong residents of Buffalo, were ready to wait the blizzard out. They had stocked the fridge and planned for a quiet holiday weekend indoors at their home in suburban Williamsville, N.Y., as long as the power stayed on.
Then, on Friday at 2 p.m., with the storm already swirling and snow rapidly piling up, making roads impassable, there was a knock at the door. Two men, part of a group of nine tourists from South Korea that was traveling to Niagara Falls, asked for shovels to dig their passenger van out of a ditch.
And so an unlikely holiday weekend began, with the Campagnas welcoming the travelers, along with their driver, as house guests. They became “accidental innkeepers,” said Mr. Campagna, a 40-year-old dentist.
Before leaving on Friday morning from Washington, D.C., the tour participants, most of them from Seoul, seemed unaware of the worrisome forecast, said Yoseb Choi, 27, who is from Pyeongtaek. He was traveling with his wife, Claire, on the tour, which they had booked for their honeymoon.
A day earlier, he had grown concerned after receiving messages from friends alerting him to the coming storm. On Friday, the van ride was slippery and windy, and the passengers had become anxious, he said.
Then, after hours of watching the weather deteriorate outside the van’s windows, they ended up stranded near the Campagna house, Mr. Choi said.
The Campagnas, well aware of the dangers the storm presented, immediately invited the travelers in, “knowing, as a Buffalonian, this is on another level, the Darth Vader of storms,” Mr. Campagna said.
The visitors — seven women and three men — filled the three-bedroom house, sleeping on couches, sleeping bags, an air mattress and in the home’s guest bedroom. The other travelers included parents with their daughter, an Indiana college student, and two college-age friends from Seoul. Three of them spoke English proficiently.
They spent the weekend swapping stories, watching the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve and sharing delicious Korean home-cooked meals prepared by the guests, like jeyuk bokkeum, a spicy stir-fried pork dish, and dakdori tang, a chicken stew laced with fiery red pepper. To the surprise and glee of the Korean guests, Mr. Campagna and his wife, who are both fans of Korean food, had all the necessary condiments on hand: mirin, soy sauce, Korean red pepper paste, sesame oil and chili flakes. There was also kimchi and a rice cooker.
“It was kind of like fate,” Mr. Choi said, remarking on the luck of arriving at the Campagnas’ doorstep with their fully stocked kitchen and unhesitating hospitality. He said the hosts were “the kindest people I have ever met.”
One of the guests, the mother of the Indiana college student, was a fabulous cook, he said.
“We destroyed so much food,” he added.
Mr. Campagna said that the unexpected guests had been a delight.
“We have enjoyed this so much,” he said, calling it a “unique blessing,” and adding that the experience has inspired the couple to plan a visit to South Korea. “We will never forget this.”
Mr. Choi said he had spent some of his high school years learning English in Michigan and Kansas, but his wife had never been to the United States, so the tour was a chance to travel to several cities she was eager to see. The plan had been to visit New York City, Washington, Niagara Falls and Montreal.
After landing in New York City on Dec. 21 for the tour, which was operated by a South Korean company called Yellow Balloon, they visited the Empire State Building and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, browsed the Museum of Modern Art and checked out the Oculus at the World Trade Center, all in one day. In Washington, they visited the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and one of the Smithsonian museums.
“We were tired, but it was exciting,” Mr. Choi said. Even the unexpected snow disaster contributed to the experience, he said, allowing the couple to experience a “warm welcome from real Americans.”
“We are happy and luckily and gracefully having a great Christmas with Andrea and Alex,” Mr. Choi said.
On Sunday, the snow was winding down and the road was plowed, but the van remained stuck. Drivers arrived to pick up the tourists, who were returning to New York City, where most of them will fly back to South Korea in the middle of the week. Mr. Choi said he and his wife will stay a bit longer to celebrate New Year’s Day in Times Square.
Had they been stranded for another night, they had been thinking bulgogi — Korean grilled beef — for Christmas dinner.
Jack Begg contributed research.
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