A Dutch teen booked a ticket to Sydney, but ended up in Canada instead of Australia. Photo: gofundme.com
Sydney, Australia (BBN) - Think Sydney and chances are you automatically think Australia - sandy beaches, the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Think Sydney, and we're almost certain you won't think of a small town in Canada's Nova Scotia, reports NDTV.
You probably aren't even aware that there are multiple cities called Sydney across the world.
Neither was 18-year-old Milan Schipper.
The Dutch student recently booked a flight from Amsterdam to Sydney after finding a "great deal" online and was shocked to find himself in chilly Canada instead of the land down under.
The teenager's plan was to backpack through Australia before starting college.
While searching for flights to Sydney, he found one ticket that was significantly cheaper than the rest.
"So I thought, 'Well, let's book that one,'" he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Schipper said he first thought something was wrong when he arrived in Toronto during a stopover and saw the second plane that would take him to his final destination.
"The plane was really small and so I figured, would that make it to Australia?"
He got on the plane anyway.
Then he looked up at a map on a screen in front of him.
"I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left.
It was about the time that I realised there was another Sydney."
"I felt terrible," Schipper said.
"I think I swore in my head for like 10 minutes.
But there was nothing I could do about it because I was already up in the air."
Upon landing, a few airport employees helped the teen book a ticket back to Toronto, so that he could return to the Netherlands.
His father, he told the CBC, laughed when he picked up Schipper at the airport.
"He felt really sorry for me but he thought only I could do such a thing."
A spokesperson for Air Canada told the Chronicle Herald that this was not the first such mix-up that had occurred and listed at least three similar errors.
Schipper has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for another ticket for a future trip.
According to reports, an airline has even offered him a free ticket to Australia but, for now, the teen is happy to stay home.
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