Serendipity while travelling?

I made 3 lovely friends at the BBC in London while waiting to see a taping of a British TV show I watch (Two Pints of Lager). Got to meet my fav actress from the show (Sheridan Smith) since these new friends are avid fans and have known her for years.

I kept in touch with them and when I went back to London last Nov, we got together a few times. We went to see Rocky Horror on stage in Windsor one night, another night we walked around Covent Garden and met up with Sheridan again at her rehearsals for Legally Blonde the Musical outside The Savoy, and had "pub grub" in Camden and went Christmas shopping on Oxford St and Leceister Sq.

I travel alone, so these friends I made really made my trip even more special than I expected! I had my days for my "tourism" and spent the evenings as a local with built in "mates". I am looking forward to seeing them again this year! We still chat on Facebook regularly.

I've had a lot. A couple that come to mind:

Stumbling (not literally) across an IRA pub in Limerick while looking for live traditional music. I had a great conversation with an IRA officer shortly after the peace agreement.

My daughter celebrated her 7th birthday in Vernazza. Everywhere we had been in Italy people would always say "Bella Bambina!" so she was having a great time being treated like a princess. On her birthday, her mom and I watched from across the square as she struck up a conversation with a couple of senior Italian women. Our daughter spoke no Italian (other than Io Fame!) and the ladies spoke no English. Somehow she was able to communicate to them that it was her birthday. Before they left the women bought her some chocolate eggs (with the toy inside, illegal in the US) as a birthday present.

My wife (fiancee at the time) and I had a bit too much to drink one night in Bruges. After a snack of fries, the atmosphere of the nearly deserted Grote Markt on a cold evening swept us away, and we started slow dancing. A few years later, we saw a similar scene from the movie "In Bruges", and we wondered if this is a fairly common experience... well, with the exception of somebody landing on the pavement with a big splat.

In Warsaw we had some business at the University. As we were leaving we came across the Biology department choir having a rehearsal and stopped for a listen. Even though we were about 10-15 years older than them, we were invited to their end-of-year BBQ/picnic dinner and sat with a wonderful bunch of young people who shared their beautiful food with us. We were there for a few hours and really enjoyed listening to their hopes and dreams upon graduation for their futures. This happened only a few days after they joined the EU so it was a special time in Poland anyway. We had several other experiences of the warmth and hospitality of the Polish that trip.

After visiting the National Gallery in London, my wife and I walked across the street to St Martin-in-the-Fields church where we planned to have lunch in the cafe-in-the-crypt. We glanced at the sign showing the evening concerts for that week and discovered that some of our favorite choral and instrumental works were scheduled on two different evenings. We went to both concerts and had a marvelous time.

At the choir concert we struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to us. She turned out to be the mother of one of the men in the choir.

The encores at the choir concert weren't listed in the program, but one of them was so striking that we decided we wanted to find a recording of it. After we got home we sent an e-mail to the choir and got the name of the song and its composer. We located a CD that included the song by doing a Google search, bought it, and were blown away by every song on the CD. Three years later we were back in London and we checked to see if the choir that made the recording was performing anywhere nearby. Sure enough, they were on the program for the annual International Music Festival in Bath. You can guess where we went.

After visiting the Musee du Luxembourg in Paris, we were walking on the street outside the wall of the Jardin du Luxembourg when we came upon a series of photographs on display on the fence above the wall. They were from all over the world and were taken by members of Photographers without Borders. A very moving series.

We planned a visit to a particular pub in Ennis, Ireland, because of its reputation for hosting good traditional Irish music sessions. When we got there the place was packed (standing room only) with football (soccer) fans watching a match on TV between an Irish team and an Italian team. The Irish team won on a last-minute goal and the place exploded! Then some local musicians walked in and the music started. The crowd was nearly as enthusiastic for them as it was for the game.

Janis:

What a great topic! If you travel enough and are generally an upbeat person you have lots of these moments.

Our favorite is our first trip to Italy in 2004. We land in Milan - our rental car is waiting for us - the family piles in and away we go on our way to Stresa.

I promptly get lost (funny in itself because it was the only time during our four week trip that I got lost).

My wife is studying the map. I am getting anxious - I stop twice for directions - and as near as I can tell I am basically heading the right way.

However, I had studied the route and the map carefully beforehand and I am not recognizing any of the place names on the road that we are on.

Suddenly - we are along the lake! My wife informs me that it is the correct lake (Maggiore) but we are on the opposite side from Stresa.

Just then we arrive in a village - a ferry is at the dock - we quickly buy a ticket - pull onto the ferry and get a beautiful ferry ride to Stresa to start our wonderful journey.

A terrific memory for the whole family.

I agree -- great topic!

We've had several lucky experiences, but my favorite took place in Rome, spring of 2005. After enjoying the vino a bit too much the night before, we overslept and, by the time we got to the Coliseum (our planned start for the day,) the lines were outrageous. For some reason, we scrapped all our plans and ended up going to Vatican City. Not being particularly religious, we hadn't paid a whole lot of attention the the current situation there, but knew that Pope John Paul had passed away and the process of selecting a new pope had begun.

What I didn't realize was that we entered St. Peters (after touring the Vatican Museum and wandering about the area for awhile) right as the cardinals were going up to vote ... we were in the church when the black smoke appeared and the bells started ringing! Even better, because we were sort of in the way, security guards arrived and escorted us to a gated area directly in front of the church, where we were able to stay until the new pope made his first appearance. It was an amazing historical experience!

There are some lovely stories here!
Mine happened in the US. I was in Texas back in the 1970's (I think- might have been the early 80's) and while looking for a cold beer, we stumbled into a bar called 'Whisky River' - only to find it wwas owned by Willie Nelson. That night Eric Clapton was also there and he jammed with whichever band was playing. It was a great night.

While on our way to visit Olympia, Greece, our bus got stuck in traffic. We all got off the bus and got to see the Olympic torch for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics traveling along, and we saw it passed on to the next torch truck. It was really neat!

This is more of an after trip story. Many years ago my husband and I took a day trip to Cardiff from London. In a sporting goods store, my husband struck up a conversation with the sales woman, pulling out his family tree and telling her about his family and talking about rugby, which he played at the time. She was lovely. Two years later, my husband's rugby club was playing host to a touring Welsh choir, and he volunteered to take them on the incline to the top of Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh. When they were on the incline, he recognized a familiar voice. He turned around, and yes -- it was the sales woman from the sporting goods store. (Her husband was in the choir.) She remembered him, and they had a wonderful conversation. They exchanged Christmas cards and gifts for many years after that.

We were in Ireland in Oct of 2006, and were unable to find a vacant B&B in Kilkenny due to a world championship ploughing championship nearby. We diverted south and west toward Kinsale, stopping in the small town of Dungarvin for the night. We ended up in a B&B above one of the local pubs, and after dinner we settled into the pub for an evening of what we were told would be typical trad Iris music. Three older men started perfoming, and a local man sang one balad from up at the bar. About 15 minutes later, a group of about 18 younger men, probably 30-40 age range all walked in. They were from Cork City, and were on a golf outing. One by one, they walked up to the place where the 3-man band was, and sang some of the most beautiful Irish ballads that you could ever want to hear. A local gentleman, sitting by me, said he had been coming to this pub every Friday night for 23 years, and he had never heard anything like it. Needless to say, the music in all the other pubs the following 10 nights in Ireland was anti-climatic!

I was with another couple lost in Venice and trying to find a particular restaurant. We were studying our map and guide book trying to figure out what little bridge we might be on, when a very elderly Venetian, carrying his sack of groceries, stopped and asked us where we were going. He spoke no English, and we spoke virtually no Italian, but by pointing at the map and restaurant in the book, he seemed to get our drift. He waved for us to follow him, so we did. He wound us through all the very back alleys of Venice, all the while jabbering away in rapid-fire Italian. I finally figured out he was asking where we were from, and when I told him Stati Uniti, he waved his hands in the air and said "Aye, Bush!" (it was 2004). But he continued his jovial banter until we suddenly found ourselves placed right in front of the door of the restaurant. He waved, gave a warm and polite smile, wished us well, and went on his way. I have no idea how far out of his way he went to put us in the right spot, but I will never forget the really nice gesture. Some day I hope to be that nice local helping a visitor in the same way!

Love this thread! My serendipitous moment also involves Poland’s entrance into the EU. I had been staying in a little town just outside of Krakow and had wanted to go into Krakow itself for the big celebration, but I knew it would be crazy crowded so I resigned myself to missing this historic event. However, I figured it would be safe to go into town the day before to do some shopping. As I made my way to the town square I was delighted to find a choir rehearsing “Ode to Joy” in preparation for the following day. The choir master was apparently a perfectionist because the choir sang what I consider to be all the best parts over and over. I stood there with tears streaming down my face. It was a gorgeous day with the central Cloth Hall gleaming in the brilliant sunlight as the spectacular backdrop for all this glorious music. I had fallen in love with Poland during my stay there, and was thrilled to be able to witness at least the rehearsal for its historic day.

I love this thread too!

The most precious incident of serendipity in my travels happened many moons ago.
As is traditional in Europe, a group of us, friends and schoolmates, headed out for a month or so of travel after highschool graduation.

Our destination was the Greek Islands, specifically Rhodes.
After a harrowing three day plus drive from Austria through then Yugoslavia into Greece towards Thessaloniki (from where we wanted to catch the ferry into the islands), two of my friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend, got into a terrible fight, and he, a young German, along because of her, took off with his car, leaving SIX of us behind with just one car.

Near Thessaloniki we were exhausted, grubby, hungry and cranky. We got lost to boot, having strayed off the highway. Around midnight, we came through a little village and spied a tiny taverna, where at this late hour, men still were sitting outside drinking, smoking and playing dominos. We stopped and asked the proprietor if we could rent a few rooms for the night, we couldn't drive another kilometer, so tired were we.
None of us spoke Greek beyond a few phrases, and none of the men spoke German, English, French or anything else but Greek.
After much gesturing and input from the patrons, a stately Greek matron appeared, led us into a room, with a huge double bed, a few type of field beds on rolls, and a ROOSTER (yes, a real one!) strutting about. Thankfully she took the rooster with her after she had handed us a stack of freshly washed and ironed towels!

We slept a sleep of the dead, all piled into that one room, until dawn, when the rooster in the room next to us decided it was time to rise and shine.
We were fed a heavenly breakfast by 'Mama' and her mother, an ancient, tiny little woman, all dressed in black. The rooster, now perched on an ancient radio in the 'salon', watched us mistrustfully the entire time.
to be continued . .

When we looked outside, we could see that Mama and Grandma had washed our clothes (which we had just dropped before falling into bed), they were cheerfully drying in the Aegean breeze on a line outside.

Well, when we were fully awake, better to judge the situation, it dawned on us that this was not a B&B at all, there were no rooms to rent! This wonderful Greek family had taken pity on us and simply put us up for the night in their marital bedroom!
By midmorning practically the entire village had gathered at the taverna, to get a good look at the crazy Austrian kids who had traveled to their village six in a small car.

We ended up staying another night before heading out, drinking, laughing and eating with the patrons and villagers.
It is by far one of my most treasured travel memories, talk about serendipity!

Some nice stories from everyone. I posted the following last year on a thread about cemeteries but for us it falls into the serendipity moments while traveling.

In 2002, my wife and I stopped in Telfs, Austria for the night. We were winging it and had not planned to stop there but it was late afternoon and we were ready for a good meal and a room. The next morning as we were leaving town we saw a beautiful little church and decided to stop and check it out. This is something we like to do because sometimes those small little churches can be an unknown jewel for its beauty on the inside. After looking around inside we came outside. We enjoy walking around the church cemeteries which are usually well maintained and adorned with beautiful flowers. My wife spotted a cross and headstone that just caught her eye. Beautiful flowers placed on the grave must have been the reason she was particularly drawn to it. After a minute or so an elderly lady came up to us as I was taking a photo of the headstone and cross and she first pointed to the little church and said "Schön". I replied "yes, Schön". She then pointed to the grave sites where my wife was standing and said ""meine mama und mein papa". I thought it was quite a conincidence that of all the grave markers my wife was drawn to it just happened to be the graves of this lady's mother and father. She spoke no english but I got a photo of her and my wife holding hands over her papa and mama's grave. It was a nice moment and she and my wife hugged one another as we departed. She really seemed touched by our interest in the church and her mama and papa's grave site but it was us who was touched and count it as a memorable travel moment. You never know what may stick with you from traveling but for some reason this one did. I often wonder about that lady and whether she is still living. Wish I could get her a copy of that photo standing there with my wife over her parents graves.

My first and only trip to Paris was in 07 with my sister. We got to CDG about midnight because our Easyjet flight from London had been delayed about 2 hours, and was in line to buy a train ticket when they closed on us! Everyone in line was told to go outside and wait for the bus. It was late, we were tired, we started talking w/ another sister team from New Zealand and we all agreed to share a cab to Gare du Nord. 100 euro and one great conversation later, we said goodbyes and got on the metro to our hotel. We struck up a conversation with a French-Algerian girl who impressed us with her ability to speak 4 languages and with this cute young man who asked us where in California we were from because he spent a year in college there. Wouldn't you know it, he went to Cal State Long Beach, the very school my sister and I had graduated from! And he loved hanging out in Huntington Beach which is where we both lived! We got to the transfer station for our next metro train, said our goodbyes and I cursed to high heaven all the stairs I had to deal with (first trip to Europe obviously) with my rolling suitcase when we finally got to our metro stop, got off, again cursed a blue streak at all the steps and finally walked into Hotel Ibis at 2 am. We were greeted by a friendly cheerful hotel clerk, a welcome sight for sure. When I asked him if we could get a room on a higher floor with a view of the Eiffel Tower as I requested (learned this on
Tripadvisor) he said "I'm sorry, it's not available..." long pause and then he flashed us this big grin..."just kidding, here's your key!" This was such a great intro to Paris despite a horrible start. I loved my brief 2 1/2 days there and can't wait to return, with a smaller suitcase, of course!

One of my favorite memories is waiting in line to go to Mass at Notre Dame on 24.05.09 with our favorite travel couple. Standing next to a man dressed in a suit & tie, we chatted in French about what a beautiful day to be going to Mass; he then asked where I was from. (USA) His response? "Ah, I was a small boy but I will remember always 6 June, 1944 and I thank you; we all thank you!" Now that gave me goosebumps. We left the next day for Bayeux to take a tour the following day with Battlebus Tours--what a perfect memory! PS: Thank you ETBD, w/o you this occasion would never have occured!

Tim, I also love the St Martin in the Fields crypt cafeteria and the noon concerts; heard Mozart's Requiem one evening which just gave me goose bumps.

2004 trip to France: while driving from Amboise to Oradur sur Glane on a small back road, I saw a sign for a 12th C. abbey so we stopped. As I opened the door to the church, an elderly couple indicated it was OK for me to enter (noon mass was just ending). The air was filled w/ incense, and a procession of about 10-12 monks w/ cowls up and hands inside their sleeves was crossing the transept. I felt like I was in a medieval time warp. A week later, we stayed at a 15th C. manor house in Normandy whose present owner had grown up in a village sev km further w and s. When he realized we knew about D-Day (we had chosen to be there the first week in June for the festivities), he got in the habit of waiting up for us when we returned from dinner and he shared Calvados and other liquors with us. One night he was so excited because "The Longest Day" was on tv. He was surprised we had seen the movie, and it was a unique experience when he would comment on things that were not the way they happened in his village (he was 14 in June 1944). The morning of June 6, he asked if we would be back by 5:30 because he and mme. wanted us to celebrate the day with them. They had champagne and yummy hors d'oeuvres and thanked us for liberating their country.

My travel buddy and I are convinced we get special travel guardian angels assigned to us.

We got to Leiden early in order to catch the first bus out to Keukenhof gardens, only to find that it would not depart for another hour and a half. Travel buddy said, "Why don't we switch our itinerarey around and go to the Hague first?" We walked to the Peace Palace, but were told by a security guard that we could not go inside at all unless we were with a tour group. "Oh, well," we said, and started to leave, when the guard started talking to me about my camera, and then out of the blue said, "November 22, 1963." After we talked about what we were doing that day, how we heard the news, etc., the guard said there was another option. The first 20 people to show up in the morning could go in and listen to the hearings. We got to go in after all, sat and watched all the justices walk in, and got to listen to two men from Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of whom made a reference to the recent death of Milosavic and what effect it might have on the proceedings.

We went on to the Keukenhof in the afternoon. If the bus had been early enough to to take us there in the morning, we would have missed the chance to sit in on a hearing at the Hague, and we would have been at the gardens in cold and mist, and in the courtroom with wonderful sunshine outside.

Alice

Wisconsin, 4/3/10

When my daughter was 3 months old, my father-in-law invited us to come down for a month to the apt. he was renting in the Peloponese. So, off we went. It was far away from almost everything, but had a nice beach, about 25 houses, a campground and 1 restaurant. We walked down this little donkey path each evening for dinner, sitting on the restaurant porch, watching the water. The girls in this little village were crazy about my daughter and always asked to hold her while we ate. So, she got passed from girl to girl, which I certainly didn't mind. They would come sit with me on the beach during the day time too.

The evening of my birthday, all the girls came up to our table together, each one holding a little bouquet of flowers and they proceded to sing Happy Birthday to me. I think I cried, it was so touching.

One of the girls spoke a bit more English than the other girls and we became penpals for about 4-5 years. My time in Greece was quite special even though we saw nothing of the antiquities in Athens. Buying eggs and tomatoes from the one farm in the village, cackling like a chicken, pointing to red things, practicing my few words of Greek.

I felt like I "saw" Greece, much more than if I had raced around to all the Greek ruins. My experience there, with the people in the town, in the stores, in the restaurants, are what Greece is all about to me.

Jo,
I passed your report on to Greek friends, they love it!

Wonderful all the way around! Thank you for this awesome post :-))

Boy Jo, you really captured the essence of really experiencing a place...it's not the sights, like you said, but the experiences like the ones you described. That's always my "goal" and how I measure if a trip is "good" or not. Loved your post. Thanks.

I walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe late in the evening. Quite a while later, I went down through the tunnel and came out in the dark on one of the 12 streets that spoke outward from the hub of the Arc. I figured I would just find a street heading downhill, which would be going to the Seine, I would see the Eiffel Tower, and make it home. Nope. After walking for way, way too long and realizing that I was totally lost, I spotted a woman standing in front of a restaurant. She spoke no English, but I tried to say and pantomime, "Where is Eiffel Tower?" She motioned for me to stay as she went inside. I stood for awhile--but thinking I misunderstood her, I headed off again on my journey to nowhere. She and a co-worker came running out of the restaurant. She had gotten someone who spoke English. They took me to a bus stop with a map and showed me where I was--nearly opposite of where I needed to be. Ok, I will walk back I said. No, no--they insisted, we will wait with you until the bus comes. Soon the bus arrives and the ladies explain to the driver where I need to go. The driver sets me down next to him, so he can show me where to get off. I wave to the women and we take a pretty long ride back to the tower. Leaving town the next day, I didn't get a chance to properly thank them so recently I used Google Earth to find the restaurant--Chez Ly, 95 Avenue Niel. I will be back in Paris next month and will be returning to have a meal there and say thanks to my rescuers-- and take a few photos. This time I will ride the bus--both ways...

"No matter where I go in the world, traveling renews my faith in humankind, as well as in myself. It's a journey of remembrance back to my original self, the one who is wholly connected to all beings and nature." --Barbara Sansone, "Under the Mango Tree"

I can't remember exactly what we were stressing about (probably an Italian bus) but I remember one of the locals in the little Tuscan village we were staying in telling us, 'Relax. You're in Italy'

I always remember that sage advice and try to practice it even when I'm not in Italy.