A missed flight, a random Amsterdam photo, and a surprise win: Ankur Warikoo shares a story about unexpected luck

Travel delays usually mean long queues, airport food, and frustration. But for entrepreneur and content creator Ankur Warikoo, a missed connection years ago quietly set off a chain of events that would return him to the very city he had briefly explored by accident. What began as a disrupted journey in 2014 slowly turned into an unlikely story involving spontaneous sightseeing, a random photograph, and a surprise win in a tourism photography contest two years later.

Warikoo recently shared the story on social media while reflecting on the idea that luck often favours people who are willing to take small chances.

A missed connection in Amsterdam

Ankur Warikoo shares that the story dates back to August 2014, when he had just wrapped up a leadership offsite in Seattle. He was travelling back to Delhi with a layover in Amsterdam. But the journey did not go as planned. His flight was delayed, and by the time he reached Amsterdam, he had already missed the connecting flight to Delhi. The next available flight was nearly 24 hours away.


Airlines typically compensate such delays with meal vouchers, and in Warikoo’s case, the airline offered him a €50 food coupon. Instead of accepting it, he made an unusual request. He asked the airline staff if they could arrange a one-day transit visa so he could step out and explore the city. According to Warikoo, the airline staff were surprised by the request. Still, once they realised he was serious and had a valid US visa, they decided to check if it was possible.

After about two hours, the unexpected happened. Warikoo was granted a two-day transit visa, along with a hotel booking for the night.

An unplanned day exploring the city

With his next flight scheduled at 3 pm the following day, Warikoo suddenly had a free day in a city he had never visited before. He decided to make the most of it.

Carrying his camera, he took a cab to Amsterdam Centraal and began walking around the city, capturing moments through his lens. The streets were buzzing with life. People were out eating, dancing, and enjoying the atmosphere. Warikoo spent the day wandering through the lively surroundings, taking photographs of the scenes unfolding around him.

At that time, the photos were simply souvenirs from an unexpected stopover.

Two years later, a surprising opportunity

Nearly two years passed before those pictures resurfaced unexpectedly. In 2016, Warikoo was on a Delhi-Mumbai flight flipping through a magazine when an advertisement caught his attention. It was from the Holland Tourism Board announcing a photography contest. The competition invited participants to submit photographs taken in Holland, with the winner receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam.

Warikoo remembered the photographs he had clicked during his accidental day in the city. He submitted three of those images to the contest.

An unexpected win

Warikoo said he had not expected much from the submission. For him, entering the contest was more about acknowledging the strange chain of events that had led to the photos in the first place. But one of the images ended up winning first prize.

The reward was exactly what the contest had promised: an all-expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam.

Returning to the city years later

The trip finally happened in April 2017. Warikoo travelled to Amsterdam with his son Vidur, wife Ruchi, who was pregnant with their second child, daughter Uzma at the time. The visit marked their first family trip to Europe, bringing the story full circle by returning to the same city where the photographs had been taken during a completely unplanned stopover years earlier.

A reminder about taking chances

For Warikoo, the entire sequence reinforced a simple idea: sometimes it is worth taking chances rather than second-guessing yourself, even when the outcome feels uncertain.