The saga begins with a 10-second TikTok dance video set in a suburban 7-ll in Osaka, Japan. Houston teacher, author, scholar and, yes, TikTok dancer, Dr. Trevor Boffone, does a few jump steps behind the caption: “You chaperoned a student trip to Japan and when you arrive at the airport you find out that American Airlines/Japan Airlines lost your booking and now you’re stranded.”

So begins a four-day odyssey that will take a group of 31 teachers, parents, and Carnegie Vanguard High School students around the world while sending Dr. Boffone on a social media viral journey with millions of views across multiple platforms.

Boffone is no stranger to TikTok stardom. His series of dance videos with his students at Bellaire High School even landed him on a segment of Good Morning America several years ago. But helping to chaperone this student group with his friend and Carnegie theater teacher, Steward Savage, was just supposed to be a fun but educational experience for students and teachers alike.

And it was, initially. They flew from Houston to Dallas, and then Dallas to Tokyo, with no incidents. Then, they traveled by rail and bus to several other Japanese cities with a great learning experience all around, then ended their trip with a final few days in Osaka.

From dream trip to nightmare

That’s when the adventure turned into chaos.

Arriving at the airport, they found the domestic airlines didn’t have notification of their tickets. Japan Airlines, American Airlines, and EF Tours company all blamed each other. American Airlines canceled their Tokyo to Dallas to Houston flights — and told them they had to speak to a specialist on group bookings in the U.S. office. Oh, and that office wouldn’t be open until many hours later.

Finally, the American representative told them they could rebook them...for August 23, some 12 days after they were supposed to get home.

While an extra 12 days in Japan might seem like a dream, for teachers and students needing to return to Houston classrooms soon — plus nowhere to stay in Japan — that scenario was definitely not going to work.

At this point, Boffone took to his extensive social media platforms and danced his 7-11 dance of frustration. It would be the first of a six video series that chronicle their journey home.

“Whatever is about is happen is going to be insane so I’m going to document it,” describes Boffone of his initial thought.

The tour company found them hotels for two more nights while the tour company and airlines hashed it out. Somehow, their previously reserved and direct route was not the one they would take back to Texas.

A direct flight home ... just a mere 50 hours

Instead, they were sent on a 50-hour-trek the rest of the way around the world, flying from Osaka to Bangkok. From there, they would have to divide up into two groups, one traveling from Bangkok to Paris to Dallas to Houston, while the other would meander from Bangkok to Munich, Germany to Charlotte, North Carolina to Houston.

All together, they would be traveling through six airports – including two Osaka airports – and endure many-hour layovers. To add to the misery, they left out of Hobby, where Boffone parked his car, but would arrive at IAH.

Boffone still doesn’t know why the tour company and American routed them the other way around the globe to get them home, but uses the analogy of that “one random” flight that might pop up when looking for the cheapest ticket from Houston to New York that somehow routes us through five different cities over three days.

“You wonder who books those. Apparently we do,” he laughs as he recalls the journey to CultureMap.

When learning of their new itinerary the teachers and students treated it like an adventure, in the beginning.

“At first we were all relieved that we were going to go home before the 23rd, and then it was exciting to go around the world, but then that morning before we left tensions were high.”

Making fun of a serious situation

At this point, Boffone got serious and seriously funny about chronicling their journey around the world.

“I didn’t want to make a Karen-style, rant-fest at American Airlines,” explains Boffone, when asked how he managed to maintain a sense of humor in all the videos. He says making a stereotypical video demanding to speak to a manager is just not his brand.

Instead, he made his next Osaka video the morning they were to leave, edited it in the taxi and uploaded it at the airport. By the time they had landed in Bangkok it had gone viral with nearly two million views by the time he landed back to Houston.

“Typically when I’ve gone viral it’s been doing some sort of trend or something dance-y, or a short video,” he says of the video. “This is the first time I’ve gone viral with a non-classroom related thing or a long piece.”

Fun night in Bangkok

The Bangkok airport gave him a wild and fun setting to dance his travel woes away. A theater scholar and musical theater kid at heart, he set this video to the soundtrack to the musical Chess.

“Bangkok was truly a crossroads of the world, with insane people-watching and flights leaving every 5 minutes,” he describes, adding “When I was dancing on the moving sidewalks, there was a women who clearly knew the dance and couldn’t stop laughing and giggling.”

Arriving in Munich with their trip only about half over, he admits everyone’s energy levels were depleted. Yet even then, the comedy of the videos perseveres.

“Morale is low. I’m going to be honest,” he deadpans in the Munich video, while also doing a food review of the airport pretzels.

In Charlotte, he reports that they’re back in the U.S. but one of the airlines lost his luggage at some point between Bangkok and North Carolina. Because of course they did.

Teaching travel via TikTok

Now that he’s finally back in Houston and had a few days to sleep and recuperate, Boffone can look back at the trip and the videos he made with an academic eye. As both a content creator on and a scholar of social media, he believes he knows why so many people have followed their journey back to Texas.

“If you watch all six videos together, they’re using TikTok tools to tell a story in a TikTok way. I’m hitting a lot of different styles of TikTok videos but using them organically to tell my story,” he describes.

“It’s sort of an insane story. It’s hard to convey, but these videos actually convey it pretty simply. From there it resonated. It also talks about students and teachers. If you leave 31 CEOs in Osaka, no one cares, but if you leave 31 teachers and students, people are going to care.”

  

Photo by Trevor Boffone

There was much to explore in the Bangkok, Thailand airport.