A musician from suburban Chicago hitched the ride of a lifetime in Australia this week when he was unknowingly picked up by actor Chris Hemsworth and flown home in a helicopter. Kye Martin reports.
A musician from suburban Chicago hitched the ride of a lifetime in Australia this week when he was unknowingly picked up by actor Chris Hemsworth and flown home in a helicopter.
The Elmhurst native who has been living in Australia since January had just flown into Brisbane Airport after attending a friend’s wedding in Mexico. Scott Hildebrand kept his van parked in Byron Bay and was looking to save money by avoiding a bus ride back – so he hitchhiked instead.
“I got picked up in about 15 minutes,” he said.
Hildebrand thought things were strange when he first got into the car, but said he wasn’t worried.
“After they said we’re going to switch vehicles it just seemed like something was up but I didn’t know,” Hildebrand said. “It seemed safe. They were super nice.”
But the men who Hildebrand thought were merely surfers turned out to be Hemsworth, best known for his role as Thor, and his personal trainer Luke.
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“We pull up to the Helipad, and Luke told me, like, ‘This is Chris Hemsworth. This is Thor,’ and I was just like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I couldn’t believe it.” He said. “They just seemed so normal and nice. I had no idea they were famous.”
When Hemsworth learned Hildebrand was a musician, he asked him to play a tune mid-flight. Though it was too loud in the chopper to really hear, Hildebrand gave the duo one of his CDs – and they loved it.
Hemsworth later posted a video of the pair picking up Hildebrand and used the musician’s song “Ready to Fly.” The video had already been seen more than 2.2 million times. Since then, the singer said his pages have been blowing up.
