Have you ever randomly bumped into someone you knew from home while travelling?

Mine was the opposite. I just finished a four year tour in southern Italy. While home in LA on leave before heading to NM, my family and I went to Universal Studios, while waiting for the old Wild West Stunt Show, someone yelled out my name a few rows back. It was one of my neighbors from back in Italy. They were on leave as well.

When my husband, kids and I were flying from Dallas to Paris for my 40th birthday, one of his co-workers was on the plane, going to see her family in France. And a couple of years later, on another trip to Paris with my then 15 year old daughter, we were on the top of the Eiffel Tower at dusk when we heard someone say our name. It was the parents of her friend from back when we lived in Texas (both families had moved out of state a few years earlier). Turns out they were also on the same flight back to the US as we were.

It's happened twice.

First time while walking to board my train in Munich I heard my name being yelled and saw a woman who I knew from college waving from a window on the adjacent train track. We both found it amusing and a bit of a " small world," moment.

Second time was in London when I ran into a colleague near Trafalgar Square. He and his family were on vacation. They were meandering about the National Gallery and he'd gone outside to photograph the Lions. I was enroute to St Martin's of the Fields. We exchanged pleasantries.

Three times ... all spring break trips so the odds are probably greater... once hiking in Utah, once at Disneyland and once in St Thomas USVI... we live in a relatively small town (about 50,000) so it still amazed me. Sorry I realize none of these events happened in Europe but I chimed in anyway

Always love when this happens...
The most memorable was way back in time (1987) before cell phones, email etc.
I was on a European backpacking trip (college graduation) with a high school buddy and another buddy had left a few weeks earlier for his trip. We had similar itineraries as far as places but by no means an organized agenda. Lo and behold on a backstreet of a backstreet in Amsterdam in the wee early hours of the morning, we passed each other with a nod until we realized 'wait, that was Howie' and we ran down the street chasing him. From there, we had a merry old time until we hit the rails again going our separate ways. Great serendipity!

Twice. When I was a teen I went along with my Dad on a business trip to San Francisco. While standing at Powell and O'Farrell waiting to cross the street, our good family friends the Lauer's, who lived in Los Angeles four blocks from us, pull up at the light right in front of us.

The real surprise came when we were transiting the train station at La Spezia, Italy, and we found a young friend of our kids' doing the same. It's a small, small, world-getting smaller all the time. It was fun to text a photo of the meetup back to family in the states-look who we found!

Standing in the ticket line for the Siena Duomo, looked over to see good friends from home standing In the other line. Hiking in the Thingvellir National Park in Iceland, we crossed paths with our doctor and her family.

And in the boarding line in DFW, while returning to ATL from Montana, I saw my college roommate on her way to China. We had not seen each other in 20 years and we’re on the same flight, four rows apart. When I very politely explained the situation to my seat mate, and asked if she would trade her window seat for my roommate’s aisle so we could visit again, she said NO, because she wanted to look out the window. And it was a night flight!!

First, a blown meeting. We were in the Czech Republic in 2010, and at that point in Cesky Krumlov. I am trying to take a picture of a busker in an arch at the back side of the castle, and look up and across the parking lot. I swear to my wife that this our neighbors from down the street, she refuses to believe me. I knew they were in Czech Republic for month, as she had described the trip they were taking to visit her grandparents who are from and live in Brno. My wife refuses to let me call across, and I find out later that they had seen us but also refused to believe it was us. Second, close to 40 years ago, we had just pulled into the Appalachian Mountain Club camp parking lot in Pinkham Notch New Hampshire, just completed a two day hike, and in the parking lot we run into a friend from work who had gone through the same several month training class as me. Also just in from a hike.

I was looking at the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the Louvre in Paris, when a work colleague from the US called out to me.

While sitting in the serpentine area of London's Hyde Park waiting for the free Blind Faith concert to start (June 1969) I felt someone's knee impact my shoulder. Turning around, I recognized a guy from my home town high school who graduated a year ahead of me. "Peter, what are you doing here?" I asked. He replied, " Looking for my contact lens. "

Not an "accidental" meeting, but when I heard that a co-worker and his wife would be in Amsterdam at the same time as my sister and I, we arranged to meet and tour the Anne Frank House together. It was fun!

Not on an international trip, but I was Yosemite for a week with a group of friends when I ran into my boss (not my immediate supervisor who approved my vacation). We worked in a fairly small office, and somehow neither of us had mentioned our upcoming vacation plans.

Ran into a coworker at a Wicked in London. We saw each other while in line for the bathroom at intermission and then were on the same plane back to ATL a few days later.

Ran into Rick Steves in Rome (I felt like i Knew him but I just waved :) )

I have also run into a couple of friends at Disney but honestly that's not as surprising as in Europe.

I was supposed to have dinner with my high school bestie in May this year - in Venice - as it happened we both had plans to be there at the same time. Now, as my west coast conference is cancelled, I can't see her on her home turf either :-(
Otherwise, I have met a fellow quilter from Ottawa in a quilt show in Daytona Beach. She winters in Saint Pete's, and as part of the quilting sorority, odds are greater we will see someone we know.

Not directly to me, but funny. I was traveling on business with a small group of people, one of whom was a grade school principal. Coincidentally, on the plane was another friend of mine with his family including two young boys, headed for vacation in Florida. When they saw their school principal (a stern disciplinarian) get on the plane, they started howling in fear that he was going with them to supervise and ruin their vacation. In stride, he said "hello boys, we're going to have a great trip aren't we?"

Happens all the time to my wife. She has taught college level art history for most of her career. So she is always meeting former students at various museums.

Perhaps not a huge coincidence but a few years ago in Paris I was cutting thru the Latin Quarter and saw a group of people who looked like a RS tour group. I had just finished the Paris and HOF tour so I worked my way to the front and sure enough....there was my guide Rebecca in the lead, lol!! I waved, she laughed and told her group via the headsets that I'd just finished her last tour. Pretty funny.

I also saw my Best of Paris guide Rolinka at the RS tour hotel in Ghent....that was perhaps not surprising as she does lead the Belgium and Holland tour but since it was 5 years after the Paris tour I was surprised when she called out my name in the breakfast room!

Once, about 1970 in Heathrow Airport. I was a teenager on my way to visit my brother in Germany when I ran into a classmate. I was beyond amazed at how small the world is.

On a fascinating tour of southern India we had a trip leader who went above and beyond the normal guide in sharing experiences of his country. We are from Florida and was traveling through central and Eastern Europe by bus on an independent tour of 8 countries. While getting off a bus in Riga, Latvia, Dennis came up and we visited. He was there exploring the possibility of guiding Indians during the summer to be able to work year around. You visit India in the winter months. It was such an unexpected intersection of USA and one person from the second most populous country in the world. We met half way between our 2 countries. I hope his hard work and industriousness is getting him through these hard times.
We have run into acquaintances at the Calgary stampede, a gas station in the Central Valley of California and a fancy restaurant in New Orleans. At least we were in the same continent.

It happened a few times over a few years. First time, I was singing a concert in Assisi, Italy and noticed a familiar face in the audience. Turns out he worked at the desk next to me 10 years before. Also in Assisi, where I sang for 16 years, I was sitting outside my hotel taking a break from rehearsals - a former student walked right up and said hello. In Rome a whole family recognized me at the entrance to the Foro Romano. Had not seen them in nearly 8 years. The world is a small place and such chance encounters just add to the fun!

Ran into my former coworker in Lisbon.
I had moved from the bay area to Orlando in September with no plans to travel anywhere internationally, but I knew Nancy was going to Lisbon in September. After arriving in FL I decided to take a week in Portugal and as I was walking near the tower of Belem I saw her. I saw her RS book before I saw her (I had told her about guidebook). It was a lovely moment and we arranged to have dinner together at the restaurant at my hotel which was 5 minutes walk from her hotel.

Yes, a few times.
A young doctor I worked with got off a sailboat outside a restaurant we were having dinner in in Turkey.
I've bumped into people on flights from and to Europe on a few occasions.
My Mum's doctor was getting off a vaporetto in Venice as we were getting on.
I've seen people in the distance in Italian towns, whom I know vaguely from where I worked....didn't stop to talk.

Happened three times. Once in Santa Fe, was just sitting down to breakfast at my hotel when a young lady from my YMCA came up to say hello. Also in Santa Fe, I was wandering among the stalls on the Plaza and suddenly someone flung their arms around me! It was an old friend from University who I hadn’t seen for years who was now living in Taos...so had a great visit with her and family.

Last one was in Libya when visiting during a period when they were opening up to tourism. We were at a hotel near a Roman site on the coast and at dinner there was a group from Elderhostel., I think. There was a lady who had been in the same Arabic class some months beforehand! It was nice to talk about our experiences in a difficult country.

Ran into our neighbors inside the Maui airport. We were on our way home to California.
I also ran into school classmates at the Worlds Fair in NY.
During free time on a RS tour, we ran into another couple on an out of the way, non tourist deserted street in Paris. The same while in Amsterdam after our cruise ended there. We ran into one man we ran into the most while on ship. We were on another off the beaten path, going in opposite directions.

We were walking and chatting with Dad in a maze at Niagara Falls when a voice from beyond the hedge called, “Sid, is that you?” We found each other eventually...It was my older brother’s childhood friend and many years later dad’s lawyer.

I've run into people I know in so many places in the U.S. that my husband says we can't go anywhere without me bumping into someone. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it happens a lot. I've met up with people in various countries in Europe, but it was always planned except once. My husband and I flew in to Rome to begin our trip. We checked into our hotel and to kill time before a scheduled walking tour we decided to head to Termini to buy our train tickets for a few days later. We got on the metro. I had read a lot about the pickpockets in Rome. I had my wallet picked from my purse on a crowded metro train in Paris a couple of years before, so I was on high alert. We arrived at the train station and I started out the door, my husband right behind me. A man reached between us and grabbed my arm. My husband was turning around to do I don't know what, when the man said my name. It was a former co-worker who was there with his family. I happened to run into him at the bank about a month before this. I hadn't seen him in quite some time. We briefly chit chatted about travel and he mentioned he was leaving for Europe in a few days. I told him I was going as well, but neither one of us mentioned where we were going. We happened to both live in the same small suburban community. I never once, in 24 years, ran into him there.

A few years ago we were going home through Zagreb airport. We were behind a very well dressed woman, nice dress, high heels, hat, etc. I commented to my daughters that in my mind I Looked that pulled together. She then turns around and starts calling out hello to us. It was an old friend from the neighborhood who had moved out of state years before. Also, I ran into not one but two different people I knew on our Alaskan cruise. Always amazes me those meetings.

The governor of my home state.

Not one who directly knew me, but still a small world moment. Some years ago on a Rick Steves tour in Spain, a couple days into the tour, one of the older gentlemen on the tour says Dubost is not a very common name, is it? I said not very. He then asked if I had any relatives who worked for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). When I said yes, he asked if one of them was named [first name redacted]. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I said "yes, my father"! Yep I ran into someone who had worked with my father while on a Rick Steves tour.

In 2016 we did the RS Switzerland tour. We were at the top of the Schilthorn waiting for the cable car. When the door opened, Rolinka the guide from our 2014 RS tour to Southern France got off with her group. Nice reunion!

In 2017 we spent a week in Murren, Switzerland on our own prior to boarding a river cruise in Basel. On Saturday night we went to church in Murren. We were the first to arrive and one by one the residents filed into the tiny church, about eight people total. Two women came in and I thought they looked familiar. Turns out it was my buddy from the 2016 RS Switzerland tour and her friend. They were on another RS tour. Small world. 😊

I sat in a window seat on one side of a 777 on a flight from Madrid to Dallas. On my row, but the opposite window seat, I kept hearing a familiar voice talking to the flight attendant. I asked my wife several times if she recognized the man talking (and his wife). She did not. This was a Saturday. On Monday morning back in my small town, I sat down to meet with my first client of the day, and it was the man and his wife from the flight. I had done some very minor legal work for them about 5 years before, and a new issue had developed while they were in Europe. The guy had gone from clean shaven (5 years before) to a lumberjack beard....but I still might have struggled identifying him on that flight.

My dad travelled frequently for work, dragging us kids along when he could. Sometimes he wouldn’t even tell us where we were going...made us guess along the way, or at the airport.

One such trip, he didn’t tell the neighbors. We just took off on a Friday night. Next day we arrived in Detroit Michigan. He rented a car, drove us over to the Henry Ford Museum.

There was a stagecoach ride he thought would be fun to rent, to drive us kids around the grounds. The stagecoach driver smacked cowboy hats on us, gave us cap gun pistols, hauled us up onto the roof. He said he would have put us inside the coach but there was already a family in the coach so us kids would have to take air on the roof. We loved it.

As we rode around, he told us all kinds of tales about the museum. Then he asked where we were from. When we told him, he told us the people inside the coach was a family from the same small town we lived in.

When the ride ended, the driver swung us off the roof, just as our next door neighbor family popped out of the inside of the stagecoach.

Our parents never believed us when we told them. I don’t recall getting a reason why our neighbors would have been in such a random place like that at the same time.

Donna!! Rolinka is “everywhere”, hahaha! What a dynamo!

Have run into one of my patients twice in Europe. Most recently was returning to our hotel in Salzburg and trying to figure out the combination to the main door while returning late. One of my long time patients came up behind us and patiently waited for me to figure it out. They were on a RS tour staying at the hotel, we were free-styling.

Ran into good friends who had moved away in Venice rounding the corner at Harry's Bar. They were off a cruise ship, we were just finishing 2 days in Venice.

Previously ran into the CEO of my wife's hospital at the Pompeii museum in Naples.

Also have encountered people we know (and once a long lost cousin) on ski trips in western US (and Canada). Sometimes it is a small world.

My father was a lieutenant in the US Navy in the Pacific during World War Two for four years, most of the time on a sub chaser. He told very few war stories while I was growing up, but one concerned a guy on his ship who jumped overboard in the middle of nowhere. Someone saw him jump, and a rescue operation was launched. After two or three hours, they found the guy, still treading water. "Imagine that," my father said. "The will to live was that strong, even though the guy had intended to commit suicide."

More than a decade later, my father saw the very same guy somewhere in Europe, and recognized him immediately, but the guy pretended he did not know my father and refused to acknowledge him.

This story has stuck with me since my childhood.

My hubs saw someone he knew a little via work (didn't work at his office but in the building industry and he'd dealt with him) at Heathrow. But the plane was flying to Halifax so I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

Ran into a neighbor in the Atlanta airport. We were going to Ft. Lauderdal on different flights to take different cruises. Neither of us knew about the other's plans.

In Venice we ran into a man from our gym. For some reason he didn't introduce the attractive young lady with him. Must have been his "niece".

This has happened fairly often to me. I think it tends in some ways to be more likely abroad than in your home city to cross paths with someone you know if they are in the same city, as you're going to the same tourist places. The most memorable was taking the slow boat to China in 1989 (quite literally -- the overnight ferry from Hong Kong to Guangzhou), traveling by myself, disembarking the next morning into a teeming customs hall, not knowing a soul among China's billion people, and the first thing I heard was my name -- a guy I knew from law school, had been on the same ferry but we hadn't met on the boat or known each other was in Asia. So we hung out for a few days there, then parted, but I ran into him three more times in Asia over the next few months -- a tailor shop in Hong Kong (not a surprise as I'd recommended it), then on the street in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and finally in the American Express office in New Delhi when cashing a travelers check (remember those?). Other places I've encountered people I know have been the Acropolis, on the street in Kathmandu, and staying in the same hostel bedroom in Rome.

When I was 8 (in 1982), my family went on a driving trip around western Europe. One hot day walking around Milan, I complained until my parents stopped for ice cream. I also had to use the restroom, and because it was 1982, my parents sent my 8 year-old-self alone upstairs in the ice cream shop (I remember it as almost a palace of ice cream?) to find the toilets. While waiting in line for the bathroom, an older woman next to me saw my t-shirt advertising my hometown tv station, and said "My goodness, are you from the U.P.?" (I was raised in a very rural area of northern Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior - the Upper Peninsula- or U.P. if you're familiar with it.) The woman was my best friend's grandmother! I learned young what a small world we live in...

Twice. We met a couple on our honeymoon ,Caribbean cruise, and ran into them again a year later in Disneyland!
Last year we ran into our neighbors at the airport and we were both headed to Germany. We arranged to meet them in Munich for dinner and had a great time. We spoke more to them in Germany than we do at home, thats a bit pathetic :(

The first was when my mother was visiting me from Chicago. We went to the ancient port of Jaffa one evening and ran into her first cousin and spouse, also from Chicago.

Once in London I met two people I knew from Israel in one week, a friend from my Scrabble club in Jerusalem and a partner in the firm I was working for. We'd seen each other just a few days before in the office, I guess neither of us knew the other would be in London, him on business, me on holiday.

There were others less memorable. The weirdest story was meeting close friends of close friends who I'd never met. Sound complicated? I was in the Hermitage (St.Petersburg) cafe with 2 friends. We started talking to a woman because she was speaking Hebrew to her husband. After a couple rounds of "Jewish geography" it suddenly clicked that my Australian friends in Israel had often spoken about Sara and Chaim, Israelis who live in Orange County California. I remembered that "their" Sara was in real estate and asked her if she was. She thought it was eerie, until I asked if she knew my friends. Sure enough, same couple. We sent a selfie to the Aussies with no explanation :-)

Friends had moved to Northern California from Santa Barbara where we live. On our way home from Carmel, we stopped to eat in Atascadero and ran into them outside the restaurant as we were leaving.
Had not seen them in years.

In 1974 we were heading to Europe for 4 months, on a 3 year delayed honeymoon. Before leaving we had dinner at some friends' and there we met a couple who said they were going to England for a temporary job of about one month. Our mutual friends said "Oh, you're both going to Europe. Maybe you'll meet up." Since we planned on visiting at least 8 countries, and had no fixed itinerary, except for picking up our VW bug in Wolfsburg, Germany, we thought "Yeah, Sure!"
About 2 1/2 months into our trip we were in London, planning on eating at an inexpensive restaurant recommended in our Frommer's "Europe on Five and Ten Dollars a Day" book. When we got there, lo and behold, there were the couple we had met before we left. We haven't seen or spoken with them since then, but we did share a table for dinner. I don't remember their names, and neither does our mutual friend.
That same trip, we were at the Eiffel Tower on the next to highest level, waiting for the elevator, and saw a couple, one of whom was wearing a t-shirt that said "Acapulco Inn, Belmont Shore". Well, that is the bar where my husband and I met 6 years before. They were in Paris for a day's layover, en route from Egypt to California. They were patrons of this divey, student-centric bar also! The Eiffel Tower was especially busy that day as it was the day the Louvre and other museums were closed, so it was pretty crowded, but we were tickled to see a reminder from home.

Yes, Tower of London. I ran into my childhood best friend’s younger brother and his wife. So random. We took a picture together and sent it to her.

We've run into co-workers in Maui several times. Last year we were out on the lanai of our condo and recognized our neighbors walk past on the beach. We were surprised to learn that they own a condo in the complex next door and travel at the same time we do every Spring.

Two stories. 1) sitting on Chunnel train when woman behind us leans over to say hi- my husband’s teacher from back home. We said goodbye in Paris as we got off train. Two days later, riding a bus in Paris and we looked out the window and there she was again. 2) ate dinner in Krakow at small Indian place. Chatted with British guy at next table. Next day we went to Auschwitz and there he was in our small tour group.

So, just yesterday we did an overnight a few hours away. Hubs always likes to revisit the air force base where he spent a lot of his childhood. So we drove around, then popped into a store for 20 min (and the owner at the store - her 'lady' neighbor we believe was one of my junior high home ec teachers - she retired there I guess). OK, off to the next town, pull off the highway and a guy was walking down the side of the road. Hubs is like - is that Trevor? I wasn't looking so he turned around and I'm like - I think it is - pulled into a parking lot - yes, my husband's childhood friend who we used to go visit but haven't seen prob for 15 yrs and haven't heard from for at least 10 yrs.

Spent an hour standing there talking (he was sad to learn that hubs parents passed away in '13 and '18 - he never knew - but he said "I always said if I hadn't had my mom growing up, I'd have wanted yours"). But all the things we did that just led to is passing by that spot just as he was walking by. Life is odd sometimes. I mean, odds were a little better we'd see him in the next town over, but still...

Vienna, 1981, I'm in the concert audience, he's onstage, we were UCSD music students together eight-ish yrs earlier.

Sion, Switzerland, 1991?, she's in the audience, I'm onstage, she sings in the symphony chorus I accompany.

JFK airport, 1990's, familiar voice, he's returning from concerts in China, I'm going to concerts in France, we sing together in the five-voice group that was performing in Sion.

Lascaux II, 1994, tap on the shoulder, another UCSD alum musician!

Yangtze River, China, 2004, woman aboard our boat lives maybe half a mile from us in San Diego.

Valetta, Malta, 2018, woman yells my husband's name, they go to the same coffee cart in SD.

Every time I'm gobsmacked. Thank you, everyone, for all these serendipities. Great reads!

Twice on our first trip to Europe on 2012.

We had just finished seeing the Ufizzi and were coming down the steps entering the ubiquitous gift shop and saw directly in front of us, perusing a book, a man my husband taught with and we went to church with.

Then as we were returning home and waiting at Heathrow for our connection, on my way back from the restroom I heard my first name called. It’s not that common a name so I thought, without looking, “Oh, someone else has that name. Interesting.” Then I heard my full name called - and looked to see my daughter’s long-time friend and her mom also waiting for a flight (heading to Greece).

In 2018, I was leading a small group and we were on the train platform in Vienna heading to Budapest. I walked up to half the group enjoying a conversation with four college-age girls, three of whom were students at our local 4,000 student university (a number of our group were either professors or alumni).

Unfortunately (or fortunately) is not an uncommon occurrence. Has something to do with being in education for nearly 40 years. AND, I don't always recognize former students and that includes sometimes graduate assistants. And that is getting worst. And for my wife it is even more difficult because she was in an elementary school. But they all know her.

Because of a bus mix-up, we had four hours to kill in Aix-en-Provence. We were sitting on a shady bench, people-watching, when up popped three folks from our small (20,000) hometown in western Colorado.

At dinner in Venice, we sat next to a guy who was a former owner of our favorite Italian restaurant in another western Colorado town. I was happy to see him because it made me think I had chosen wisely for our dinner restaurant!

In Rome, standing in line for the Vatican scavi tour, we met a woman from my husband's small high school class.

In 1991 during a business trip in Cologne, I had about an hour of free time to see the cathedral. While wandering around inside I ran into a former co-worker who was on her honeymoon. If I had been 15 minutes later I would have missed them.

Ran into my boss's boss on one trip. She and her husband were staying at the same hotel I was. I was just vacationing and she was just along for the trip while her husband had some sort of convention to attend. During the week I was there, she and I hung out more than she did with her husband. Found out she was a fun person away from work and we actually had many interests in common. First woman I ever met who knew more about original Star Trek than I did! Nothing changed at work afterward. :-)

En route to Italy for a study abroad program in college, I ran into our campus pastor during a layover at the airport in Amsterdam. He was leading a group to Greece and Turkey. Probably not too unusual, since many of my college's January-term programs left the States on the same day and I'm sure routed through Amsterdam, but amusing to my travel group at the time :-D

Probably the best story was my first visit to Sydney. I was at a shopping mall in Parramatta and stopped at a cafe for lunch. After I ordered, a big Italian chef came out and asked where I was from in America? I told him San Diego originally. He said, "You must know my brother." Turns out, yes, his brother sponsored several of my little league teams. He owned a nice Italian restaurant and several pizza places - and was a friend of my mother's.

Another time I was at Tower of London and a lady in our Beefeater tour said she knew me. I didn't recognize her at first but it turned out we had gone to lunch in Olympia, Washington. She was an energy lobbyist from Oregon and one of my friends in the legislature chaired the Energy committee.

After college I joined the Air Force. I asked for a fighter to Europe and was given a B-52 to Guam (pretty much the opposite of what I wanted). A friend from college went back into the Navy after graduating. I went home to San Diego for a vacation before moving to Guam. On the beach one day I saw a guy who looked like my friend. Sure enough. Turned out, the Navy was sending him to Guam too. He was a Navy diver and worked on a sub-tender there. We spent lots of hours diving together over the next couple of years and even went on a three week vacation to Korea and Japan together with our wives.

I have run into people I know while traveling in the US on occasion. That is unusual but not shocking.

My mother ran into a girl I was dating once at the Altanta airport.

I was taking my wife to the airport in Rome once and heard my name being called as we walked along the track to board the Leonardo Express train. It was a former colleague that I had not seen for a few years. He and his family were also heading home and so my wife hung out with them while she waiting for her flight.

We were in St. Peter’s Square during the week before Easter and spotted two young women who looked familiar. They were the daughters of our friends from home. One was studying In Florence and the other was her best friend from our home town.

Have you ever randomly bumped into someone you knew from home while travelling?

Yes, but first a little background.

From 1960 to 1920 (two years) I studied German in high school because I was probably going to be an engineer, and my high school counselor said it would be good for me to take it since it was a technical language. I didn't use it for 25 years until, in 1987, the dialysis equipment company I was working for sent me to Europe to observe their dialysis techniques.

In the middle of the two week trip I had a free weekend and went to the town in Germany where I thought my g.grandfather was from to get his birth records. In the process I met relatives who only spoke German. I barely managed to communicate with them with what I remembered from HS. It became a challenge for me to pick up the language again, so when I returned to this country I started taking a beginning German course in adult education in our school district.

In the German class with me were a couple. The wife was a travel agent and they were planning on taking a trip to Germany, so they wanted to be able to speak a little German when they were there.

About six months later I was traveling in Germany. I was walking down the street in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I barely noticed a man and a woman sitting at an outdoor restaurant.; I did notice he was sitting in front of a half liter glass of Weisbier. As I walked past, I heard him say, in English, "I know you; you're from Denver." It was the guy from my class. They were on their trip.

That was in 1988. Since then, because of the way I travel, mostly avoiding large towns and overly touristy sights, except for one instance, I doubt that I have encountered a dozen Americans in my travels, let alone anyone I know. That one exception, a few years ago, I was in Prague. Because I am not as "at ease" traveling in the CR as I am in Germany, I used a RS guidebook and picked Guesthouse Lida to stay at. I think everyone in the room at breakfast had a Rick Steves guidebook on their table. (But I didn't already know anyone there.)

By the way, Guesthouse Lida is a great place. The two brothers who run it are charming hosts, and enthusiastic about their cit;y. I would recommend it.

Twice: 1) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at a nightclub during spring break 1983 I ran into a fraternity brother (Pi Kappa Alpha at Missouri State University) - both of us had graduated a couple of years previously, and 2) on the front lawn of Mt. Vernon in Virginia around 2007-2008 the younger brother of a friend was visiting with this family.

In London one year out of college ran into a couple from the theater department from the same small college in Missouri