16
PAPARAZZI

I was flying back from a business trip in Korea and was fortunate enough to be flying in business class for the long journey. The usual clientele in business class is overwhelmingly 50ish year old white men, sometimes retired couples or on occasion expats with their families. While I was used to not fitting in, I was far outranked by some very colourfully dressed Korean teenagers that boarded immediately after me. One had multicoloured hair, another was bleach blonde with an interesting hairdo, another had colour contacts and so forth. Their outfits were also very unique: a leopard print long cardigan, long tunics with loud patterns (some with hoods with a pom-pom on top), patterned face masks and just bright colours everywhere. My immediate thought was: "Oh great, spoiled rich kids on a private school trip." 
As usual, I was wrong. One sat beside me and offered me chocolate, which I politely declined since I didn't want to have an awkward conversation buddy on a 13-hour flight. While I was fully expecting diva behaviour, I was surprised at how well-behaved the group was for the duration of the flight, and I still didn't clue in that these weren't spoiled rich kids. Once we landed, the business class passengers deplaned first and shortly thereafter, I heard faint screaming and figured people were late for a connecting flight perhaps. I was wrong again. Out of nowhere, 20 paparazzi with huge cameras were running around me and taking pictures of the "spoiled rich kids" in front of me, screaming and waving for their attention. I was in the middle of a near-stampede and obviously in the background of these photos...and in the spirit of full disclosure, I also looked a little worse for wear after such a long flight and busy trip. I still have no idea where all of these paparazzi came from (surely some of them must have been hiding in the baggage compartment!?). I finally proceeded through customs and baggage claim, while the famous rich kids went aside to meet a group of handlers/local staff. As I proceeded into the arrivals hall, it was jam-packed with fans and police trying to keep people under control/clear out the crowd. The fans had signs and were screaming/crying in excitement. I could hardly wheel my luggage through the dense crowd to get to the exit doors.
As you'd expect, I later Googled what was going on in Toronto and found out that a K-Pop convention was being held for a few days. I was on a plane with a K-Pop band and didn't even get it. I regretted not taking the chocolate from my seat buddy, but also have learned my lesson about assuming things about spoiled rich kids with colourful outfits, and also that I should freshen up before deplaning in case I have another paparazzi encounter. Thankfully, the paparazzi were from Korean language publications, so I didn't have to worry about my messy hair and wrinkly clothes being in the background of one of the photos. I can just imagine the headline now: "K-Pop band takes homeless woman under their wing". What could have been!