It's truly a small World. What's your story?

Many years ago we went to Hawaii for a week. While waiting for our return flight, I saw our neighbors in the lounge across from us.

I've got a couple; I'll have to remember all of them. But here's one: My husband and I lived in Belgium in 1990, when my younger brother Larry visited us after his college graduation. Together we all trained down to Paris to spend a couple of days; it was his first-ever trip to Europe.

Trying to get around town on the Metro and RER to Versailles, we took a couple of wrong exits, and ended up at one of those crossovers very deep underground, where several lines cross. Scores of people were entering, exiting, crossing over via stairsteps and lifts, and we heard a weak "Larry!" And then a stronger "Larry!" It was a girl who had often seen him in the Library at Cal Berkeley.

And a "friendship" story: When I was at the University of Heidelberg, my cousin Kathie came to visit me and travel for the two month winter-semester break. We trained all over Germany, Switzerland and Italy, staying in youth hostels in every city, when not using the trains as our Hotel, first sleeping NORTH, then SOUTH, as one did when one was young.

Well, we met a nice young American girl in the Geneva Hostel, saw her again 3 days later in - oh, maybe Lucerne. Happy about meeting her again, this time we stayed together for 2 days, visiting Switzerland. Then she left us to go somewhere else, and Cousin Kathie and I went on to Italy.

Ha! There she was two weeks later, in the Hostel in Milan! So we toured all the sites with her there, too, and all went together to Florence, and Rome. I have some very precious photos of us 3 at the Boboli Gardens in Milan. She and Cousin Kathie went on to be lifelong friends, and still are to this day. I visited her several times in Washington DC, and met her parents, and lived around the corner from her for 3 years in Arlington, VA.

1967 ( long ago). I was a uni student studying in Germany. While in Stuttgart, I ran across a friend from high school on the street. She was a ballerina dancing with the Stuttgart ballet.

Fast forward to 2015. We are in a Venice, in a nice hotel getting my brother-in- law and his wife settled in ( my husband and I had an apartment nearby). While waiting for the elevator carrying our family up ( we walked up the stairs), my husband saw an old friend from medical school. Many hugs and greetings later, we parted with contact info and a date to meet on our Altana for drinks and antipasti days later. That went well, and we learned we would all be in Rome at the same time. Made no plans as we both thought we would be too busy with family. Four days later DH and I are sitting outside at a small restaurant near Piazza Navona and my husband raises both arms in a greeting---guess what, old friend is coming up the street towards us. Same friend, two random meetings in two Italian cities.

I have a few.

The best was when we were in Ottawa. Watching a boat go thru the locks. My husband was wearing a green tshirt that said Clarks England on it (I used to sell shoes and there would be giveaways with Clarks all the time). A man started talking because he saw the England on the shirt - he was from England. Chatted for 5 min or so, admiring the boats. 3-4 days later, we are in Montreal at a B&B. Having breakfast and the other couple come down...started chatting - hubby was wearing the green shirt again - and wouldn't you know it - it was the same couple we had talked to in Ottawa! What are the odds - of every B&B in Mtl, and the totally random person we'd talk to in Ottawa...I really should have gotten his name and address or email.

Few other chances - in PEI, hubby left his necklace in a campground bathroom. Went back, it was gone. Left a note - the person who found it brought it to our campsite - turns out, they lived in the apartment building behind my in-laws. In Maine (or New Hampshire, this was years ago) at a hotel. Hubby goes to get some breakfast to bring back to the room. Got chatting with a guy who had a NS license plate - turns out he lived in the same trailer court as my parents and knew my father-in-law.

About ten years ago my cousin, her daughter, who both live in Michigan, plus myself took a two week trip to Europe. At the end of our tour we stayed one more day for a tour of Windsor Castle. Our bus stopped at several hotels picking people up. At the end of the tour on the way back to the various hotels my cousin started chatting with a lady next to her, "Where are you from" type of chatter. The lady says Midland, Michigan. Turns out the lady lived one town over from my cousin's town. And to add to that my cousin baked this lady's daughter's wedding cake. Small world.

There was some problem unloading the boats, so this caused a long back-up and delay getting off the ride. I sat there listening to the same 30 second loop of that damn song for about 5 minutes straight, enough to drive any adult into rage.

Wait, that's probably not what you meant by a "Small World" story...

Back in 1968 when I was 10. (yipe am I that old?) We were on a family vacation in Tahiti. We lived in California. We were on a round the island trip and sitting on a beach eating lunch and who should walk up but my kindergarten teacher all the way for California. Wow!!!

I hear you Tom. Many years ago when I was in the Air Force I was stationed in Southern Italy and lived on base for 3 of our 4 years there. Across the street lived a family who we got to know during out time there. When we left Italy to head to our next assignment, New Mexico, my family and I stopped off in LA to visit my mom. During our visit we went to Universal Studios and while sitting in the stands for the stunt show, someone yells out "Brush" from behind me. It ends up being our neighbors from Italy.
Mark was a coworker back in the late 80's with me at Clark Air Base Philippines. Six years later we end up working together again in New Mexico. In 2015, 19 years later, we end up in Italy at the same time. Rome, Florence & Venice, while on vacation.

My husband and I are from Michigan, US and went on our first trip abroad in spring on 2015. We visited several countries including London, Paris, Bruges, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

While sitting on a bench overlooking Stonehenge, I got to talking with an elderly woman sitting next to me; also an American. After some small talk, we figured out that she currently lives in the same suburb of Detroit that I grew up in, and where my dad currently lives.

Same trip, but in Paris - we were in a bar (the Rush Bar) owned by an Irish ex-pat and were sharing drinks and stories with him and a friend. After some small talk, found out that he moved from the same small suburb near Detroit to Paris 2 years prior.

So two people from the same town that I grew up in, where my dad currently lives, and a mere 10 miles from my current home. So crazy!!

A friend of mine told me that many years ago he was on a train in East Germany on his way to Berlin when he struck up a conversation with a man on the seat across from him who also happened to be an American. He doesn't remember how my name came up in the conversation, but both of them knew me but they didn't know each other and did not live near each other. It is a small world.

Good one Tom!

I've run into people I know while traveling throughout California and once on Portland, Oregon. My husband always claims that I see people I know wherever we go. But the clincher was in Rome in 2010. We had just arrived from California that day, and we decided to just keep moving until our walking tour later in the afternoon. We were traveling by metro to Termini to purchase the train tickets we would need in a few days. It was our first time in Rome and we were a little nervous about the pickpockets we had heard so much about. My husband was behind me as I stepped off the train. A man reached over and grabbed my upper arm. My husband was getting ready to punch him, when the man said my name. I had worked with him for years. His office was directly across the hall from mine and we could talk to each other without leaving our chairs. I had transferred to another location a couple of years before the trip. He didn't know I was going to be there and visa versa. What are the odds that we would be on the same train! We lived in the same neighborhood for 20 years and I never ran into him at home.

We were transiting the rail station at La Spezia, on our way to the CT, and ran smack into a friend of one of our son's, from our hometown. He was heading the other way and it was just great to bump into someone we knew as we're trying to find our way in a strange country. A passerby offered to take a photo, and I texted that right away to our kids...look who we found! A nice moment.

I think I've written about this before, but it was years ago. It's a good one, so I'll tell it again.

In 1982 on our first trip to Europe, we took a day trip from London to Cardiff. At a sports store, my husband got into a long conversation with the sales woman about his Welsh ancestors and Welsh rugby teams.

Two years later, my husband was volunteering with his rugby team to escort a visiting Welsh choir around Pittsburgh. He was sitting on a bus when he heard a voice behind him that sounded familiar. It was the woman from the sports store and she remembered him!

They exchanged addresses and corresponded for many years after that. One of our favorite Christmas tree decorations is a little Welsh hat that she gave him.

My mother's late father-in-law made something of a name for himself in model trains. He sold and collected trains, and also dealt in parts.

On the BOE tour in 2010 there were a couple of women traveling together who lived just north of Seattle. At dinner in Stechelberg one night, Judy mentioned that her husband was a model train enthusiast. It turned out that her husband knew Mom's father-in-law and, in fact, both Judy and her husband had been to Mom's house to view the train collection.

Such a funny and wonderful world!

In Munich one summer's day with my husband and sister, I suddenly heard my name being called. "Norma! Hey, Norma!" It was the voice of a young guy who lived with us when he was a medical student at McGill. One and only time I have met anyone I know in my travels. We were speechless but felt very worldly.

I was traveling with a Spanish friend, visiting Astorga, Spain. While we were in the bishop's palace, I heard English being spoken, and I asked the woman where she was from. She said, "Arizona, in the States", but she also said she grew up in Wisconsin. Her friend (from Philadelphia) came around the corner, and asked where I was from. When I told her, she said her daughter married someone from Bloomington, and they have lived in the Bloomington area a couple of different times! In fact, they live in the Bloomington area right now.

I also have many to tell, but this is the most recent. While on a RS tour in Croatia ... a small seaside town of Hvar, we were having a lovely seafood lunch with other travelers. The restaurant was up and on a side lane off the main drag. Out of nowhere a couple turns the corner and sees us and exclaimed "I know you"... well, this couple was on a cruise ship that happened to stop at the same town, same time as we were there. We knew these people from a 14 day river cruise we had both taken earlier this year.
On that river cruise thru Germany, I happened to stop and have a lovely glass of Rhine River Valley wine with some local people who asked where I was from and responded they knew someone from Michigan... well, the person lives about 15 miles away from me and I do have friends who know her. Again the world is small if you enjoy traveling....

Love this thread.....two summers ago we were returning home through Zagreb after a month long trip. There was a woman my age 3 people ahead of us and she was very well dressed. I pointed her out to my daughter (my husband was a few people behind us) and said I wished I could look that pulled together while traveling. About 10 minutes later in the lounge area I hear a woman calling my husband's name. Yep, it was her, an old friend we hadn't seen in a quite few years. yes it is a small world!

Last month I was in a restaurant in Berlin and got talking to an older German woman there. It turned out that her son lived and worked in London, that his home was only a few miles from where I live, and that whenever she visited him, the final leg of her journey from the airport was a bus trip that took her past the end of the street where I live.

My wife and I were visiting Shakespeare's Globe in London. For those who have never been, the reserved seats are in rows of maybe five seats across. We arrive and start chatting with the American couple next to us and the inevitable "where are you from" question comes up. We say, "Seattle" and they say "Seattle." Then comes the true confession time. (For those of you not from the area, people will say Seattle, even if they mean one of the million little towns up to 100 miles away, because most folks know Seattle but wouldn't know, Duvall, for example.) We say, "Actually, we're in Mountlake Terrace." They laugh and say they're from Lake Forest Park. MLT and LFT are two neighboring suburbs, both about 15 miles north of Seattle. We're laughing about coming halfway around the world and meeting essentially next door neighbors, when up walks the fifth for our row. I was a smart alec and said with a wink, "Sorry, this row is for Washington residents only." He laughs. He lived in Bothell (another adjoining suburb) while he attended the University of Washington.

I had friend in college in 1971 who took a Russian History class. The teacher told the class that the only way they would get an "A" in the class would be to send a postcard from Russia to him. Later that year, she booked a camping trip thru Russia. In the 70's it was difficult for an American to travel in Russia so there were very few Americans. When she got to the campground outside of Moscow, she saw her professor camping there and asked him if he would now give her an "A".

We rented a DIY barge in France a few years ago. We pulled up at a lock on the River Baise and another boat was waiting. We were both flying small American flags. We hollered over, "where are you from?" They answered Colorado. We asked, "Where in Colorado?" Centennial, they said. "Where in Centennial?" we asked. "Dry Creek & Holly," they answered ... which is 6 blocks away from our house!

At a tiny restaurant in Slovenia, we happened to meet a lady that was part of a RS tour we all took a couple of years before. And then there's the second hand account to me of a couple we know from our small town enjoying the freedom of swimming on a beach in Maui without the encumbrance of suits. Unexpectedly, another couple from town arrives to do the same. :)

Great stories!

My first one, 1980-something: I (Stew's wife, Vicki) was in Vienna on my nervous own, meeting a friend at a concert, she'd reserved the tickets. We'd arranged this weeks earlier, via those flimsy airmail letters, remember those? I'm in the lobby, she isn't, almost showtime, I'm trying to fractured-German-ly ask the frowning dowagers at the ticket table to let me in, this is my friend's name, when a business-suited man stops & says, "Can I help," & tells the dowagers to let me in (who was that guy?). Friend's still not there, but I'm seated, & onstage comes the soprano - my friend's friend, & the pianist - my suited guy! But then comes the humble young page-turner - looks like someone I know (I know NObody in Vienna, aside from absent friend). I stare. No, he IS someone I know. Who is he??? Several minutes of doubtlessly gorgeous music pass, I'm going thru the alphabet, Abe, Bill, Chris... when lightbulb says, "Russ!" When I was a music grad student at UCSD, he was an undergrad, & then came to study with Mr. Suit at the Vienna Conservatory. Intermission, my friend arrives, we get backstage to say hello, & later all go out for strudel. I'm floored.

Years later in the woods outside the Lascaux caves in France, my shoulder's tapped, it's another San Diego pianist. I'm floored.

More years later, Stewart & I are in China, fall into conversation with another American at the rail of our Yangtze River ship, we live
maybe a mile apart in San Diego. I'm floored but getting used to this.

Thanks for the great stories. I've enjoyed reading them.

Between taking the bar and starting my first "real" job I took my first trip to Europe (just Britain really). In York I heard my name and ignored it (there are many many Jennys). But it turned out to be a fellow law student from our class of just 100 students. He was traveling with another student from our class.

A few years ago I sold a painting on line and got to hand deliver it to a buyer in London as we were going just as I would have been mailing it. We got a couple beers out of it.

I love this thread! Small world indeed!
I love to hike when I'm in Europe. I was on the top of a mountain trail in Norway with no one for miles...it was a beautiful day so I sat down to enjoy the view and eat my lunch. After a while I heard voices coming up the trail, turned around, and over the rise appeared some neighbors who live just a couple doors away from my parents' home where I grew up. We just stared at each other, taking that "I'm seeing you out of context...give me a minute" moment, and just couldn't believe it! I hadn't seen them for years. Crazy.

February1979...
Husband and I had just spent two weeks in Hawaii. Our last three nights we were spending at the Kalaha Hilton. On our second day we hear Ohare is being hit by the storm of the century, and Ohare is shutting down. Sounds great, we get to stay a few more days. Well this is not going to work out, the Hawaiian Open starts play the day we were leaving and the Kahala is booked we have to vacate our rooms.
End up on the island of Molokai. Ohare is closed for for four days.
Sitting at dinner one night, talking about our town, guy at the table next to us is from our area. He's a plant geneticist,
And does his research on the island.
We enjoy a pleasant evening talking.

Fast foreword 17 years. Preparing for our daughters wedding. At the reheresal dinner our daughters future mother-in-law introduces us to her husband who has been out of town for several months, he looks soo familiar!
Yep, he's our geneticist from Hawaii.

My husband and I have had several. Here are a few:

• In Scotland, we stayed at one of Rick's recommended very small B&Bs. During breakfast, we discovered that all 6 guests were from within 20 miles of each other in Colorado (we're from Longmont, second couple from Louisville, third couple from Lafayette). Two days later, we stayed at another of Rick's recommended B&Bs in another town, and there was the couple from Lafayette.

• In one of Rick's recommended B&Bs in Ireland, my husband, who is originally from a very small town in northeastern Louisiana (Tallulah), struck up a conversation with a fellow Southerner. Turned out the guy was from the next itty bitty town over, and they knew some people in common. They recounted one particularly memorable high school football game in a neighboring town. "Yeah, I really got hit hard in that game by the center," the guy said. "Knocked me out completely." My husband replied, "I was the center."

• Last month, we were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. I grew up in NYC and during our lunch break in the museum cafeteria I was idly wondering if I had gone to high school (over 45 years ago) with anyone who was eating there. No, of course not (and who would recognize them after all those years?). After lunch, we went up to the rooftop to see the skyline views and I heard someone call, "Susan". Like an idiot, I turned around (Susan is such a common name) and there was a guy I used to work with 25 years ago here in Longmont, Colorado. I said that it was a 1 in 8 million chance. He said, "Not really, here's Tom, who we used to work with. That's a 2 in 8 million chance."

I was on a plane returning from Israel to New York when I got into a conversation with the man seated next to me. After talking we discovered we grew up in the same town, went to the same high school and he lived 3 houses down from where my sister currently lives.

About 2 years after I retired from my Bay Area job and returned home to Israel, I took my first trip to Italy (yeah, when I asked my friends for sightseeing/itinerary advice, they all looked at me in amazement and said "you haven't been yet!!??!!"). Anyway, back to Florence where I was stuck in a line at the Academia (with a reservation) because of an "Italian strike" (a 2-hour unannounced closure for "staff meetings") and I started chatting with the couple next to me. We ended up spending several hours together that day and he knew some of the people I worked with and filled me in on the latest gossip. When I got home, I shared the dirt with some of my former co-workers who couldn't believe I got more details on a couple of mysterious staff changes in Italy than they had managed to find out.

Over the years, I've had a few experiences similar to those others have shared. The best was on my mother's first visit to Israel to see me, when we met her first cousin while browsing the art galleries in Jaffa. The oddest was at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I was with a couple of friends having a cuppa at the small and crowded cafeteria, when I heard someone speaking Hebrew. She was obviously looking for a place and I told her we were finished and about to leave. Of course we got into what we call a Jewish geography quiz. They were expats living in Irvine CA. That plus their first names triggered a memory that very close friends of mine, who happen to be from Australia, had very close friends I had never met who had the same names as these two Israelis and lived in Irvine and the wife was a realtor. So I asked this stranger if she worked in real estate - she thought I was a psychic. My friends took a photo of the 3 of us that I emailed to my friends back in Israel who couldn't figure out how we'd hooked up.

Recently took an RS tour. There were 27 tour members. Four of us from the same university. One fellow graduate and her husband worked at the school. Another had the same major as me and we were there two years apart. We spent time reminiscing about the people we knew in common.

And there was one couple from our biggest rival school.

We lived in a tiny town in NW New Jersey. Until we moved there we had never heard of it. In October 2009, my wife and I were staying at the Pension Mayringerlehen in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, owned and run by a wonderful couple, Sabine and Johann. We were sitting outside talking with Sabine when a car with to women pulled in. Sabine said to us, these people are also from New Jersey. Turns out one was from our town and the other from the next town over. The one from our town's son was our dentist in town.

I took German in HS (1962), but never needed to use it until my company sent me to Germany in 1987, where, despite the 25 year gap, I found I could almost communicate. I so enjoyed the time in Germany and the challenge of using another language that I immediately started planning another trip on my own and signed up for an adult education beginning German language course. In the class was a female travel agent and her husband who were trying to learn a little German before a planned trip.

I took that trip on my own some months later, including a day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. As I was walking down the street I vaguely noticed, but didn't pay much attention to a couple sitting at a table at a cafe. As I passed I heard a voice say, "I know you. You're from Denver." I turned to see the travel agent and her husband sitting at the cafe, enjoying a tall glass of beer.

A friend and I were sitting in the breakfast room of a hotel in Oslo. We had a roadmap out and were talking about the route we would take to get to Andalsnes. An American couple at the next table struck up a conversation with us. They had just completed a driving tour through Norway with their son. A few minutes later, their son walked in. He was one of my work colleagues.

I've only twice run into people I know unexpectedly when traveling. But, both times were on the trips farthest from home! Once was in Australia, on a bus going around Ayer's Rock Resort, and once was in Thailand, at the Author's Room in the Oriental Hotel. And as an added detail, both were nurses I knew from the same hospital!

Ok, I have two.

I am on a solo trip in China. I meet up with four travelers from the UK. I knew I recognized him from somewhere and he recognized me not knowing sure from where. After several days, we figured it out, he was working at a hostel I visited five years before. in San Diego, California.

The Better one.

I am from metro Atlanta. During high school summer break, I am four hours south of Atlanta at a mall and run into a classmate. A few years later, I am in Boston at a conference and run into him again, walking down the street. I did now know he was in Boston. I ran into him in Paris while walking down the street, while on a two month backpacking trip through Europe after college. I ran into him again at the Salt Lake City Olympics walking down the street. I ran into him four times!

Wade

I have more than one but this comes to mind. I was touring the Tower of London with my mom. She talks to everyone and this was no different. She started talking to some people from Oregon, she mentions that we live in Washington state. One of the ladies says, "I know, I met your son in Olympia" (I was in the Washington legislature then). Turns out we did meet and had lunch together. I chaired Financial Institutions at the time and one of my best friends chaired Energy. This lady was visiting Olympia because she worked for an Oregon energy company. She was mainly there to meet with my friend or I probably would have remembered her without having to think about it.

Small world.

My story is that I got stuck on the ride once and had that bleeping song drilled into my skull for about 30 minutes non-stop. I'd rather be water-boarded.

I have had several "run into people you know" experiences but the most far-flung is Rome. My wife and I were at Termini to catch the Leonardo Express so she could fly home. I heard my name being called out from behind; it was a former colleague and his wife. They were also heading home from a trip to Italy. So my wife hung out with them at the airport since they were on the same flight.

This story happened in the US not in Europe tho...... june 30, 1995 was my last day of work at CITGO petroleum in Tulsa,ok. I decide to quit my corporation busy life to stay home with my young children. The next day, we all headed off to El Segundo, CA to visit our good friends for a week or so. We all went with our kids in tow to Disneyland. We were standing in line at a ride "Small world after all" and I saw a co-work from Citgo standing in the line. To this day, my 25 year says, I can't go anywhere without running into somebody I know.