Summer of 67, everyone I knew seemed to be traveling. I walked out of the Anne Frank hostel in Amsterdam to be greeted by a guy who worked a camp counselor with me the previous summer. On a vapretto (sp?)in Venice,one of my two traveling companions ran into a high school friend and on a London bus, we ran into another high school classmate. Also, that summer, we decided to go "off the beaten track" and ate at what we thought was an off-beat restaurant in Zurich. (We have since learned there is no such thing, as "off the beaten track." Anyway, I heard someone across the room say to me, "Weren't you in Mr. Mallory's calculus class last semester?" Yes, she was right. And all those coincidences were within a seven week trip one summer. The following year, while buying tickets for the Mexican Folorico in Mexico City, I ran into a guy from a French class. I always regret not asking him for the book he borrowed from me. I have not seen him since. !

On our first trip to Italy a few years ago- on our first evening in Rome, we had just left dinner (at Orso 80) and were strolling through Piazza Navonna when my daughter (10 years old at the time) went running with arms wide open to hug a girl who was a classmate from NYC. So, happened she was with her family on vacation, too. The same trip, while in Florence eating at Quattro Lioni, we had a waiter who was originally from the Dominican Republic. He had lived in NYC in a Domincan neighborhood where I also worked.

I always said that the world is a small place after all and not matter where you go you may find someone that you know or is from your state or country.

Years ago when we lived in Taipei, we met quite few people that came from my DH hometown.
This was sure a surprise meeting again at the other end of the world someone from Texas.

Also in 2001 I was at the Orsay with my son and grandaughter, when suddenly Steven turned around with a surprised look in his face and told me..Look who is here mother..It was Senator Bensen from Texas..he was in Paris for few days..
The senator was quite gracious , we talked for awhile , afterward he wanted to have a picture with my son..

Ahhh, risab. You reminded me of an incident during my recent trip to Venice. One night at dinner, my daughters and I had a wonderful ( and very obviously Italian) server who was so attentive. At one point, we complimented him on his English. He laughed and said he was born and raised in Texas, where one of said daughters lived.

On a Panama Canal Cruise a few years ago we meet a couple from LA. Last summer, we were in LA on Vacation driving down Hollywood Blvd, when the car in front of us rear ended the car in front of it. They pulled over to let everyone pass, was surprized to see Joe from our cruise get out of the first car.

A number of yrs. ago I was at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. As I was leaving one of the shops, I ran into a dr. from our small CA town of 5,000 souls. Small world indeed!!

Sitting by the pool at a small hotel on Mykonos, and the family next to us were from a neighboring suburb here in Pgh., and we knew some people in common.

In a Kmart buying flips-flops, I casually said hello to my next door neighbor as she walked by me in the store. Then with a startle it hit us both that we had not run into each other in our Arizona hometown, but on the island of Kauai!

I'm from Calgary. Many years ago, I ran into a former teacher of mine on the beach in Honolulu. The weirdest one though, was 2 yrs ago when I had a 6 hr layover at Schipol airport, en routle to KL, I ran into a former co worker, who was on his way to Abu Dhabi.

A little different twist, but I saw my doctor today for prescriptions for my airsick patch and some Ambien for the flight. He asked if we'd been back to Ireland, and told me about his trip last month. He left to write out the RX and came back with his laptop to show me the pics of his trip. One picture was of Lisbeth Mulcahey's shop in Dingle. He proudly showed me the shot of the scarf he bought his wife that was made on the loom in the picture. It was the very same scarf my husband got me for Christmas at Lisbeth's shop when we were in Dingle in October!

mom and I are from a very small town in FL. We were walking around the Linderhof and mom had been commenting all day that the little pink flowers that were blooming were "rain lillies". She overheard another elderly lady saying the same thing - turns out this lady is from the small town next door to our small town and yes they knew each other! Neither knew the other was going to Europe - we were living over there at the time and the other lady was taking her first trip abroad...!!

A few years ago, our family was having drinks at the Hotel Del Coronado after a memorial service. Making lemonade out of lemons, in a way. Anyway, we are sitting there chatting with extended family when all of a sudden my dh leaps up to a couple passing by and that man and my dh both shout "hey, I know you!". Turns out it was a fraternity brother that we had not seen in almost 20 years. So they joined us for drinks for a while. Found out they lived near us in Seattle, and were flying home that evening, just like us. Fast forward to that evening in the airport. My SIL was in a gift store near the gate and literally ran into our friend. Turned out we were on the same flight home!

Last spring after we moved back to OR, our son had a school group project to work on. So i took him to a classmates home. The mother and I talked for a bit when she all of a sudden said she knew me. I said no, we were new here and I did not know anyone. Well, she insisted ,and it turned out we are sorority sisters. I have no idea how she remembered me after all these years either!

15 years or so ago, four of us were sitting in a hotel lounge in Sarlat (Dordogne) waiting for out table. We were myself, my wife, and some friends from Scotland (also husband/wife), ready to celebrate Scots wife's 4-oh, dearie me.

Background - this was the Scottish couple's first visit to France in years; they normally holidayed in a flat in a tiny hill village in Italy, where a friend of theirs from Scotland had married an Italian man and were living. Their friends stayed in the top flat of three flats in the building in Italy - ground, middle (our friends), top (their friends.) But this is France.

Another couple sit down next to us, also waiting for dinner. They are Americans.

Okay, where are you all from? Turns out they live three doors from my parents in California. Wow, small world.

Where are you traveling in Europe, we ask them. Well, Dordogne this week (duh), then we're off to Italy to visit our son, who's playing pro baseball (yes) for an Italian team, trying to get ready to try out for the Majors in the US next year.

Oh really, how interesting, we reply. Where in Italy?

They name the city in which he plays. But he lives in the nearby (very, very, small) village. The one our Scottish friends frequent.

Alerted, our almost-40-something friend (she who is about to be toasted and, ultimately, toast) asks "Do you know where he lives in the village?"

Sure, of course they do. The give the address. It's the bottom flat of the three.

We were taking our kids on a trip through Washington DC and were standing outside the Smithsonian Museum when we turn around and friends from our scout troop were exiting the museum.

Another trip, this time we were in line to go to the top of the Empire State Buildng in NYC and about 5 people in front of us was a couple with their son from the next block from our small town.

DH and I (before kids) were taking a weekend on Nantucket going uphill when coming downhill is a classmate of his from college. The same thing happened in an obscure town in Ohio (different classmate).

Ran into some mothers from my son's school at the top of a mountain in NH.

Last summer we spent a week of our month-long holiday in the Czech Republic, specifically in a small town in SW Bohemia, Jindrichuv Hradec. It's a wonderful little town, but well off the beaten path for overseas tourists. I'd gone there only because of a music workshop at the local fine arts school

A day or two after we returned home, we were walking down our street and met a young woman, Cynthia, who was housesitting long-term for an absent neighbor of ours. We knew Cynthia fairly well, having dog-sat for her when she herself travelled, and taken a few walks in a nearby park with her.

Anyway, she asked about our trip: "So where did you go?"

"Oh, England, Germany, Czech Republic."

"Interesting. I used to live in in Czechia -- couple of years there, in fact. Did some teaching."

"In Prague?"

"No, in some great little town you probably haven't heard of...Jindrichuv Hradec. They have a pretty good school of fine arts..."

Knock us over with a feather.

Fritzrl

Not a travel post but in a way it is. My to be SIL came here from Italy. Daughter and he were going to get married. He needed an immigration attorney and asked me to chose one for him. I pulled out the SF phone book and chose an attorney that indicated he spoke European languages.

Appointment made, appointment went well and we were quite pleased with the attorney.

My stepson and family arrived from out of state and stepson started asking questions about the immigration attorney (as stepson is an attorney also, they are good at asking questions, LOL).

Daughter-in-law starting saying to her husband "pay attention!" We all looked at her with a "what?" look on our faces.

It turned out the immigration attorney had gone all through university with my stepson and even lived on the same floor in the dorm where the resided.

Out of all the immigration lawyers in the Bay Area we thought that was amazing.

Since then my stepson and the immigration attorney have gotten together several times for lunch etc. when my stepson is in the Bay Area.

It is truly a small world!

Two small worlds: (1st) on a sightseeing plane for a brief visit to a tundra in New Zealand, the other tourists on the plane turned out to be from Chicago, too, and happened to live only a few blocks away from us; (2nd) a few months and several thousand miles later, ran into the woman from that couple on the plane ride, at a street corner back home in downtown Chicago!

This Xmas travelled from the UK to New York and at breakfast sat next to 2 ladies from a town 3 miles from us.
Another time we were checking in for a flight in Kos (greek Island) to hear the people in front telling people next to them about a great restaurant, that only turned out to be our favourite Italian at home.