south korea tour group buffalo

South Korean Tourists Trapped In Buffalo Blizzard Find Safety In Stranger's Home

A group of South Korean tourists whose van couldn’t make it through the wicked winter conditions near Buffalo, New York , found shelter thanks to a helpful stranger this past weekend.

Alexander Campagna, a dentist, wrote on Facebook that he received a “frantic knock on the door” in the village of Williamsville on Friday. Two men from a group of 10 tourists were at the door to ask for shovels to dig out their vehicle, which was stuck in front of Campagna’s home.

The tourists were stranded in what New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) described as “the blizzard of the century” ― a storm that has killed at least 28 people in Western New York’s Erie and Niagara counties, The Buffalo News reported .

People who died in the surrounding Buffalo area were discovered in snow banks and inside vehicles, The Associated Press reported , as snowfall totals reached 49.2 inches on Monday morning at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

The tourists ― who were on their way from Washington, D.C. , to Niagara Falls ― “seemed unaware” of the pending storm. They “ended up stranded” outside Campagna’s home due to worsening conditions, one of the tourists, Pyeongtaek native Yoseb Choi, told The New York Times .

That’s when Campagna and his wife, Andrea, stepped in to offer them a place to stay.

Tourists in Buffalo? In winter? They Traveled From South Korea. They Got Stranded Near Buffalo. https://t.co/0TgSU1iqLv — Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) December 26, 2022

The couple provided the 10 tourists with places to sleep. During the unexpected weekend stay, the group watched a Buffalo Bills game and ate Korean meals together ― food that the Campagnas love to consume, the newspaper reported.

“It was kind of like fate,” Choi told the Times.

“We will never forget this,” Campagna said.

The van was still stuck on Sunday, but drivers reportedly picked up the tourists for a return to New York City , as a majority of the group are set to continue back to South Korea this week.

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NY couple invites group of stranded S. Korean tourists into their home during Christmas weekend

A couple living in Buffalo, New York, welcomed a South Korean tour group to their home during an intense blizzard.

On Friday at around 2 p.m., Alexander and Andrea Campagna reportedly heard knocking on their front door. It turned out that a van got stuck in the snow nearby, and its driver and nine passengers, who were traveling to Niagara Falls from Washington, D.C., planned on digging their van out.

Two of the tourists approached the Campagnas to ask for shovels. Soon after, however, all nine tourists and their driver found themselves in the couple’s home in suburban Williamsville and were invited to stay there until the storm cleared.

“2pm frantic knock on the door today during the worst blizzard I've experienced, was from a Korean tour-group of ten en route from DC to Niagara Falls, whose bus got stuck and remains stuck in front of our house. A Festivus surprise for all," Alexander wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.

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The tourists and their driver were provided with couches, sleeping bags, air mattresses and a guest bedroom, Alexander told the New York Times they spent the weekend watching NFL games, sharing stories and cooking Korean food together.

Yoseb Choi, one of the tourists, was reportedly visiting the U.S. with his wife on their honeymoon. He told the New York Times that their van getting stuck near the Campagnas’ home was “kind of like fate.” He also said that his unexpected hosts were “the kindest people I have ever met.”

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Drivers picked up the tourists on Sunday and brought them to New York City.

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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 residents — who luckily had a well-stocked kitchen.

By Christine Chung

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.

Christine Chung is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news. More about Christine Chung

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Stranded in Buffalo, Korean tourists find a delicious solution

During a deadly blizzard last month in Buffalo, a group of Korean visitors were trapped outdoors. A few of them sought refuge at the home of a couple who loves Korean cuisine — so they began cooking.

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Couple who helped Koreans stranded in US blizzard feted as heroes in Seoul

Alexander and Andrea Campagna took in Korean travelers during deadly snowstorm in Buffalo last year – and got special thanks in return

A US husband and wife who sheltered 10 South Korean travelers in their home during a deadly snowstorm last Christmas have gone to Seoul and been feted as heroes.

Alexander and Andrea Campagna went to South Korea’s capital as part of a 10-day tour of the city organized as a token of gratitude for the husband and wife who opened up their home in Buffalo, New York, to strangers in need.

“To see everyone in Korea again is such a blessing,” Andrea Campagna, 43, told reporters in Seoul in reference to those whom she and her husband aided. “They ended up in the right place at the right time. Now we have people we can call friends for a lifetime.”

The 23 December blizzard that brought together the Campagnas and their newfound Korean friends was brutal. Officials said more than 22in of snow fell in Buffalo that day, and 40 people died for reasons linked to the blizzard, which New York governor Kathy Hochul memorably described as “a war with Mother Nature”.

“We’ve had snowstorms, but not to that extent,” Alexander Campagna said in Seoul, according to the Korea Herald. “We knew we were going to be stuck at home for many days.”

As they prepared to be locked down for a while, the couple suddenly heard a knock on their door. They opened the door puzzled as to “who would be outside in this weather”, said Alexander Campagna, 40, a dentist.

The Campagnas were greeted by Scott Park and a tour guide who asked them if they could borrow shovels to dig their bus out from under the snowfall.

But, as the Korea Herald noted, the couple thought the visitors had as much of a chance to do that as they would taking water out of the ocean. So they invited the group in for tea, coffee, warm socks and blankets.

To the Campagnas, it looked like their guests believed they would be able to leave after a cup of tea. “But it was impossible to get anywhere in that weather, and it was going to be time for dinner soon,” Alexander Campagna said.

The Herald recounted how Park’s wife cooked Korean dishes such as jeyuk bokkeum – spicy marinated and stir-fried pork – and dak-dori-tang, a spicy chicken stew, that everyone shared.

According to the Herald, Park recalled the relief he felt when he realized the Campagnas had a proper rice cooker and the necessary ingredients, saying: “It was as if they had prepared this for us.”

The visitors stayed at the Campagnas’ the rest of that day – a Friday – and through the remainder of the weekend before the storm passed and the group returned to South Korea, in scenes that seemed straight out of a saccharine holiday movie.

The story went viral after US media reported on it. More recently, the Korea Tourism Organization provided to the Campagnas a 10-day, all-expenses-paid tour of Seoul as a reward for their hospitality.

On Thursday, about a week into the trip, the Campagnas went sightseeing at some of Seoul’s most storied places, including Gyeongbokgung, a 14th-century palace with painted wood beams and curved roofs, the New York Times reported .

They dined at Michelin-recommended restaurants, visited a Buddhist temple and traveled to the demilitarized zone that divides South Korea from its northern counterpart. They also met up with six of the once-stranded tourists they had sheltered last year, though this time the setting was “a sun-filled restaurant in a traditional Korean house overlooking Changdeokgung Palace”, as the Times put it.

Andrea Campagna, a surgical nurse practitioner, said her and her husband’s story was only one of many neighborly good deeds done by Buffalo residents as the community fought to survive the blizzard. But she acknowledged it was a special story nonetheless.

“They endured the horrible storm with us,” she told the Korea Herald of their Christmastime guests. “When you spend time together in a disaster situation, you feel very bonded.”

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U.S. couple that took in Korean tourists invited to Korea

Andrea Campagna, center, and Alexander Campagna pose for a photo with officials from the Korea Tourism Organization on Monday. [KOREA TOURISM ORGANIZATION]

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American couple who sheltered Korean tourists in blizzard visit Korea

Published : May 14, 2023 - 17:54

Link copied

On Dec. 23 last year, a group of South Korean tourists became stranded in Buffalo, New York, during a heavy blizzard on their way to Niagara Falls. Their van got stuck in the snow, so two of them knocked on the door of a nearby house to ask for shovels to dig the vehicle out of a ditch.

That was the home of Alexander Campagna and his wife Andrea, who had planned for a quiet Christmas weekend indoors, with a stocked fridge to wait out the snowstorm. The couple invited the nine travelers plus the driver in as house guests, and they stayed for two nights and three days sharing stories, cooking Korean food and watching American football.

Their story, told by the New York Times and other US media, went viral via social media.

Fast forward to May, the warm-hearted couple are now in Seoul for a 10-day tour of South Korea. They have also reunited with their guests from that unforgettable Christmas.

“To see everyone in Korea again is such a blessing,” Andrea told reporters in Seoul on Sunday. She and her husband arrived here Saturday at the invitation of the Korea Tourism Organization.

“We’ve always had an appreciation and interest in Korea. They ended up in the right place at the right time,” she said. "Now we have people we can call friends for a lifetime."

Alex recalled how the Christmas with the Korean guests began.

“We’ve had snowstorms, but not to that extent. … We knew we were going to be stuck at home for many days. So when we heard the knock on our door, we wondered who would be outside in this weather,” he said.

At the door were Scott Park and the tour guide asking if they could borrow shovels, but Campagna thought that would have been “like taking a spoon to take water out of the ocean.”

Their clothes were already soaked with snow, so the couple asked the travelers to come in, made tea and coffee, and gave them warm socks and blankets.

“I got the impression that for the first couple hours, our guests thought they’ll have tea and leave. But it was impossible to get anywhere in that weather, and it was going to be time for dinner soon,” he said.

Hoping to bond, he showed the guests Korean food ingredients they had, as the couple loved Korean food, and offered the guests to feel free to have or cook anything they like.

“We were surprised to see all the Korean condiments from soy sauce and mirin to chile powder and chile paste. There was even a rice cooker and Korean cookbooks as if they had prepared all this for us,” said Park, who joined the interview.

“They made us really feel at home. After our memorable time together, I thought I should do good deeds for others too.”

Park’s wife cooked Korean dishes like jeyuk bokkeum, spicy marinated and stir-fried pork, and dakdori tang, a spicy chicken stew, which they all shared together.

“They endured the horrible storm with us. When you spend time together in a disaster situation, you feel very bonded,” Andrea said.

“By Christmas morning, people were worried and there was this somber feeling. … When the plowers started coming, people were cheering and crying.”

The couple were surprised how viral the story went.

“We were shocked at how quickly and how far the story spread,” Andrea said.

“I think with how difficult things have been with COVID, after so much sadness, pain and losses, the world was hungry for a heartwarming story. I think that’s why the story resonated with so many people.”

Alex said they received many well wishes, kind messages on social media, cards in the mail and generous gifts of appreciation from Korean groups, like a coupon for a year of free fried chicken at Genesis BBQ.

“There were many other people who helped others during the storm. We were happy to do our part,” he said.

Articles by Kim So-hyun

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More from Headlines

A New York couple who sheltered 10 South Korean tourists from a blizzard got a 10-day, all-expenses paid tour of Seoul as a reward

• A couple from Buffalo were rewarded by South Korea for taking in Korean tourists during a blizzard.
• They received a 10-day, all-expenses paid tour in Seoul from the Korean Tourism Organization.
• There, they were hosted at the Four Seasons, ate four-course meals, and reunited with the tourists.

A New York couple who gave South Korean tourists a safe place to stay during a blizzard was rewarded richly — with a 10-day, all-expenses-paid tour of Seoul.

Alexander and Andrea Campagna arrived in the city on May 13 at the invitation of the  Korea Tourism Organization,  per the agency.

Treated like heroes by the local government, they lunched with tourism officials, were hosted at the Four Seasons, brought to restaurants on the Michelin guide, visited the capital's landmarks, toured the Demilitarized Zone, and showed around a Buddhist temple,  according to The New York Times.

Related stories

They also reunited with six of the tourists they invited into their Buffalo home more than five months ago — when a freak snowstorm in December stranded the South Korean group on their way to Niagra Falls.

Sharing a four-course meal with beef stew and chocolate éclairs in Seoul on Thursday, they recalled their time hiding away from the blizzard,  The Times wrote.

The tourists and their guide had knocked on the Campagnas' door, hoping to get shovels to dig their van out of a ditch.

But seeing the severity of the storm, the New York couple instead took the group in. For the next two days, the tourists  watched football and cooked meals with the Campagnas , sleeping on their couch, an air mattress, sleeping bags, and in the guest room.

The fierce weather eventually subsided on Christmas day, and drivers came to pick up the tourists.

"They endured the horrible storm with us," Andrea Campagna told  The Korea Herald . "When you spend time together in a disaster situation, you feel very bonded."

Scott Park, one of the tourists, told The Herald that the Campagnas made their guests feel right at home. "After our memorable time together, I thought I should do good deeds for others too," he said.

As word spread of their generosity, the Campagnas received well-wishes on social media, cards in the mail, and gifts from Korean groups —  like a year's supply of free fried chicken from a Korean barbecue franchise.

Watch: What it's like inside North Korea's controversial restaurant chain

• Main content

Buffalo couple hosts stranded South Korean tourists

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A couple in Buffalo, New York, helped a group of tourists stranded in the snow.

Ten travelers, most who were from South Korea, were making their way to Niagara Falls from Washington, D.C., CNN and The New York Times reported.

On Friday, the Campagna's heard a knock on their front door around 2 p.m.

Two men were standing there asking for shovels because their van got stuck in the snow, the news outlets reported.

Alexander Campagna went outside to help but couldn't see anything, his wife Andrea told CNN.

"He got about 10 feet out and realized he couldn't see anything, Andrea Campagna told CNN. "The snow was coming down really heavy, and then they said they were part of a tour group. Soon 10 people were in our home, and they were freezing cold."

The visitors stayed for 2 nights and passed the time by cooking meals, the news outlets reported.

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A New York couple who sheltered 10 South Korean tourists from a blizzard got a 10-day, all-expenses paid tour of Seoul as a reward

• A couple from Buffalo were rewarded by South Korea for taking in Korean tourists during a blizzard.
• They received a 10-day, all-expenses paid tour in Seoul from the Korean Tourism Organization.

A New York couple who gave South Korean tourists a safe place to stay during a blizzard was rewarded richly — with a 10-day, all-expenses-paid tour of Seoul.

Alexander and Andrea Campagna arrived in the city on May 13 at the invitation of the Korea Tourism Organization, per the agency.

Treated like heroes by the local government, they lunched with tourism officials, were hosted at the Four Seasons, brought to restaurants on the Michelin guide, visited the capital's landmarks, toured the Demilitarized Zone, and showed around a Buddhist temple, according to The New York Times.

They also reunited with six of the tourists they invited into their Buffalo home more than five months ago — when a freak snowstorm in December stranded the South Korean group on their way to Niagra Falls.

Sharing a four-course meal with beef stew and chocolate éclairs in Seoul on Thursday, they recalled their time hiding away from the blizzard, The Times wrote.

The tourists and their guide had knocked on the Campagnas' door, hoping to get shovels to dig their van out of a ditch.

But seeing the severity of the storm, the New York couple instead took the group in. For the next two days, the tourists watched football and cooked meals with the Campagnas , sleeping on their couch, an air mattress, sleeping bags, and in the guest room.

The fierce weather eventually subsided on Christmas day, and drivers came to pick up the tourists.

"They endured the horrible storm with us," Andrea Campagna told The Korea Herald . "When you spend time together in a disaster situation, you feel very bonded."

Scott Park, one of the tourists, told The Herald that the Campagnas made their guests feel right at home. "After our memorable time together, I thought I should do good deeds for others too," he said.

As word spread of their generosity, the Campagnas received well-wishes on social media, cards in the mail, and gifts from Korean groups — like a year's supply of free fried chicken from a Korean barbecue franchise.

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Stranded in Buffalo, Korean tourists find a delicious solution

ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:

Buffalo residents are still dealing with the aftermath of one of the worst blizzards of all time. Alexander Campagna and his wife, Andrea, had planned for a quiet Christmas weekend of family, football and food. Then, just after 2 p.m., they heard a knock on their door.

ALEXANDER CAMPAGNA: We answered the door, and there were two men covered in snow already from head to foot. And they said, our vehicle is stuck. Could we borrow some shovels?

NADWORNY: We read about their story in The New York Times and had to find out more. The two men at the door were part of a nine-person tour group from South Korea on their way to visit Niagara Falls. The group wasn't planning to be in Buffalo for long.

CAMPAGNA: When I met them outside, I realized I was getting coated from head to toe in snow. It was that thick and coming down that heavy that I said, guys, guys, this is not going to happen.

NADWORNY: They wouldn't be driving anywhere anytime soon.

YOSEB CHOI: We tried to call the towing company and even called a police station and fire station. We couldn't get help from them 'cause of the very bad snowstorm.

NADWORNY: Yoseb Choi and his wife, Claire, were part of that tour group. Now, they realized they'd be spending their honeymoon at the Campagnas, along with their fellow travelers.

CHOI: We felt really grateful that, you know, Alex and Andrea welcomed with a towel and hot coffee. And they tried to make us feel comfortable and relaxed, even in that situation.

NADWORNY: Choi wanted to find a way to thank their hosts for taking them in. And to their surprise...

CHOI: We found out that, you know, Alex and Andrea had the first date in Korean restaurant. So we tried to do some good cooking for Alex and Andrea. So I felt like, you know, this meeting was, like, fate.

NADWORNY: Their kitchen was already stocked with Korean staples, like red pepper paste, sesame oil and kimchi, so they all spent Christmas weekend cooking and eating together.

CAMPAGNA: We were all enjoying a great meal Friday night, a chicken stir-fry dish, and on Saturday a pork stew. Both were absolutely delicious. It really did feel like it was meant to be.

NADWORNY: While this sounds like an incredible act of generosity, Alex and his wife say they did nothing special.

CAMPAGNA: I'm convinced - and my wife would say the same thing - that, when faced with sudden emergency situations, that human beings across the world all share that instinct to jump into action because we're all human beings fueled by compassion and empathy. And we want to help rescue people, help people, especially if they're in immediate danger.

NADWORNY: For Choi, his weekend at the Campagnas has left a lasting impact.

CHOI: So I really felt, you know, ah, OK, like, I also have to learn this, you know, kindness that I can offer to other people in South Korea, too, or anywhere I go. Alex and Andrea made our honeymoon really, really memorable and great. And especially, my Christmas was the best Christmas ever yet.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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South Korean Tourists Stuck In Snow Make An Interesting Blizzard For WNY Couple

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There's been a lot of depressing and sad news this weekend due to the blizzard in Buffalo, but this story is heart warming! A tour bus carrying 10 tourists, most from South Korea, who were headed to Niagara Falls, ended up getting stuck in snow during the blizzard. Imagine being from a different country, coming to see Niagara Falls, but instead, seeing snow, ice, and whiteout conditions. As much as the tourists were surprised by the situation they found themselves in, a Williamsville couple was just as surprised by the unexpected house guests they were about to have. Alexander Campagna, a dentist, shared a photo of what became maybe the most interesting blizzard holiday dinner ever in WNY,

2pm frantic knock on the door today during the worst blizzard i've experienced, was from a Korean tour-group of ten en route from DC to Niagara Falls, whose bus got stuck and remains stuck in front of our house. A Festivus surprise for all:

According to the New York Times , the seven women and three men, somehow fit into Campagna's three-bedroom house. The tourists included a couple from South Korea, who recently married and were on their honeymoon, two friends from Seoul, a college student from Indiana, and parents with their daughter.

To pass the time during the brutal blizzard, they watched the Buffalo Bills beat down the Chicago Bears. They also enjoyed a Korean dinner cooked by their guests. Campagna and his wife enjoy Korean food, so they had plenty of ingredients at their home. Replying to comments on his Facebook page, Campagna wrote,

the one lady made use of a bunch of our defrosted chicken, korean spices/sauces, rice, and made a FEAST! They made use of ingredients we had: chicken, gochugaru, kimchi, green onions, soy sauce, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sugar.... made some amazing dish served with rice! annnnnnd there was the ramyum.

This is such a great story. Campagna, his wife, and the tourists had a once-in-a-lifetime experience during a historic blizzard. They will remember those moments for the rest of their lives!

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Nightly news, buffalo couple takes in stranded tourists amid monstrous winter storm.

The historic blizzard in Buffalo, New York, stranded a bus full of nine South Korean tourists and their driver. Alex and Andrea Campagna took them into their home and offered food and shelter. NBC News’ Jesse Kirsch shares their story of kindness. Dec. 27, 2022

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9 Korean tourists got stranded in snow outside a New York house. They spent Christmas weekend with the homeowners

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Mr Alexander Campagna (left most) and his wife, Andrea, with the nine stranded South Korean tourists and their driver in their home. The guests prepared Korean dishes, like spicy stir-fried pork, during the holiday weekend.

NEW YORK — Alexander Campagna and his wife, Andrea, lifelong residents of Buffalo, New York, 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, as long as the power stayed on.

Then, on Friday at 2 pm, 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 travelling 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 travellers, along with their driver, as house guests.

They became “accidental innkeepers,” said Mr Campagna, a 40-year-old dentist.

Before leaving 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 travelling 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 travellers 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 travellers 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 US, 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.

This article originally appeared in  The New York Times .

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South Korea’s opposition leader urges the president to accept investigation of wife, top officials

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung during a meeting at the presidential office in Seoul South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Hong Hae-in]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Emboldened by his party’s recent election win , South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung pressured President Yoon Suk Yeol to accept special investigations into allegations involving top officials and his wife, as they met Monday for talks on bipartisan cooperation.

The meeting was their first since Yoon, a conservative former top prosecutor, took office in 2022 after defeating Lee , a liberal former provincial governor, in the country’s closest presidential election race. During their 2022 campaigns, Yoon, Lee and their supporters demonized each other and filed dozens of lawsuits against one another.

Yoon proposed the meeting as he faces growing calls to cooperate with Lee’s Democratic Party, whose victory in the April 10 parliamentary election allows it to extend its control of the single-chamber National Assembly until after Yoon’s single five-year term ends in 2027.

In his lengthy opening remarks, Lee, now the Democratic Party chairman, said the election results mean “the people’s stern demand for correcting wrong government administrations,” addressing economic troubles and restoring democratic rules.

Lee urged Yoon to accept independent probes into the 2022 Halloween crush in Seoul that killed 159 people, and the 2023 death of a marine who drowned during a search-and-rescue operation for flood victims. Lee’s party has accused Yoon of ignoring public demands and retaining top officials and military commanders responsible for the deadly incidents.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, talks with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung during a meeting at the presidential office in Seoul South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Hong Hae-in

Lee also asked Yoon to resolve “diverse suspicions involving his family” that “poses a big burden on government operations.” That was apparently a reference to first lady Kim Keon Hee, who faces an allegation of involvement in a stock price manipulation and other scandals.

“I’d say it would be good for you, as president, to respect the National Assembly and consider the opposition party as a partner for government operations,” Lee said.

While listening to Lee’s statement, Yoon nodded several times and said he had expected Lee to make such comments but didn’t elaborate. Their meeting was closed to media after Lee and Yoon’s opening remarks.

Senior presidential adviser Lee Do-woon said after the meeting that Yoon told Lee that he won’t oppose a special law to investigate the Halloween deaths. But he said that concerns over the powers of an ad-hoc investigation committee must be resolved first. Yoon and Lee didn’t discuss Lee’s demands for other probes, according to Yoon’s office.

During the meeting, Lee also asked Yoon to accept his contentious idea of the government giving 250,000 won (about $180) to all South Koreans as a way to boost the economy, a step that Yoon’s party has called a populist measure. Lee Do-woon, the presidential adviser, said Yoon said that he prefers selectively supporting those in need.

In a separate briefing, Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon accused Yoon of lacking the resolve to revive public livelihoods. Park cited Lee as suggesting he was disappointed at the meeting’s results though the start of direct communication with Yoon would still be meaningful.

No agreement was reached, but Yoon’s office said the president and Lee agreed to meet again, without setting a date.

In one positive news for bipartisan cooperation, Lee told Yoon that his party would support the government’s high-stakes push to increase medical school students, which prompted thousands of young doctors to walk out of the job in February. The government recently suggested it’s open to halving its target medical school enrollment increase to 1,000 next year from the previously proposed 2,000, but doctors say they can’t accept any increase in students.

Yoon has said South Korea needs to create more doctors as it has one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations and its doctors-to-patient ratio is among the lowest in advanced economies. Doctors say schools can’t deal with a too steep increase in students, but critics say they simply worry the supply of more doctors would eventually result in lowering their income.

The parliamentary election was seen as a litmus test of Yoon, who has been struggling with low approval rating and an opposition-controlled parliament that has limited his policy agenda since his inauguration. Critics say the election defeat was largely attributable to the government’s failure to suppress rising prices and other economic problems and Yoon’s personal management and leadership styles.

Despite the election defeat, Yoon’s major foreign policy agendas will likely remain unchanged as they mostly don’t require parliamentary endorsements. Yoon has pushed hard to boost cooperation with the United States and Japan to cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and other challenges.

During Monday’s meeting, Yoon and Lee didn’t have meaningful exchange of opinions on North Korea and other foreign policy issues, according to Yoon’s office.

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