teacherD

My husband and I planned our first trip to Switzerland and N. Italy with a tour company leaving from JFK airport. When we arrived (quite early) for the flight there were only 4 people in the line ahead of us. It turned out that we recognized them from our church (although previously we did not know each others' names.) We laughed that we had both hired a van to get to JFK and could have come together from NJ. Ended up with a great trip together and a new friendship!

Retired_teacher

Actually my husband and I have experienced several.....

Most recently, we were on the South Rim Drive heading out to Hermits Rest at the Grand Canyon. It was early and not too many other folks were out and about that chilly December morning. We stopped at every pull off and walked out on the path to take in the view, often followed by two other couples who were traveling together in a van. After awhile, we offered up friendly bits of conversation at each stop to the effect of which group was stalking the other, where we planned to go for lunch when we finished, etc. Upon reaching Hermits Rest, one of the men in the other group asked my husband if he would take their groups' picture and my husband complied. As my husband usually gets asked to do the picture taking (see next paragraph below) I asked the gentleman why he selected my husband to do the picture taking. His replied that my husband's Mid-west accent reminded him of home. Really, where did you grow up I questioned.... followed by his answer of IL. I grew up in the Quad Cities my husband replied, to which the other gentleman responded that he grew up in a little town about a half hour away. At that point I decided to add my two cents, indicating that I had also grown up in that area in a little town 30 miles to the east, giving its name. The gentleman then froze, looked very closely at me, and then asked, "Class of ' 65? That's right.... we had graduated from HS together, two out of a class of 177! So we then had our picture taken before a sudden cloud burst broke up our impromptu HS reunion.

Second story..... About ten years ago we spent a week in July touring Nova Scotia. About the second day out we ran into a young couple, obviously newlyweds, who came up to us and asked my husband to take their picture. The next day we again ran into this couple and the groom again requested that my husband take a photo of them at an overlook. The following day we met them again at another location and again my husband was asked by the young man to take their picture. This event was repeated at least twice more during the week before I finally spoke up and question the newlyweds when they again approached us....... "Why do you keep asking my husband to take your picture, I don't get it?" I went on to explain that my husband was a runner and could easily have taken off with their camera whereas my own appearance would indicate that I'd only be good for a hundred yards, tops! The kid then explained that he must have singled DH out as he resembled his father, but the couple was clueless to the fact that they had asked DH to do take their picture at least five times previous over the past few days........ Ah, such is love!

mersingary

My wife and I were in Albuquerque New Mexico for the Balloon Fiesta a few years ago . We were in Old Town and stopped at an outdoor cantina for lunch, but there were no tables available. Suddenly, someone said "Hey Maryland..you guys can sit here at my table". The man was sitting by himself and I said "How did you know we are from Maryland?" He said he noticed the "Chessie Racing" cap I was wearing for the Volvo Ocean race and figured that anyone wearing a hat for the Cheasapeake must be from Maryland as he was too.His wife was in town for a seminar and he was killing time waiting for her.They were leaving on Sunday to go back home.
We had a nice lunch with him and thanked him for sharing the table with us and said good-bye.
Fast forward to Tuesday. My wife and I flew home to BWI airport. After retreating our luggage,we boarded the shuttle to the off-site parking lot. When we were seated, someone said "How was the Baloon Fiesta?" It was our lunch mate from New Mexico. He had flown home on Sunday and was coming back from a business trip to Nashville!!!!

Retired_teacher

Third event....
About twenty years ago DH and I took our two teenaged daughters to the East coast on vacation. When in Boston, enroute to tour the US Constitution, the 15 year old decided that she must use the 'facilities' before touring the ship, so we split.... I went with her to the rest rooms while my husband and the 19 year old went on to hold a place in line. After using the facilities, my younger daughter and I approached the lengthy waiting line looking for the rest of our family. After spotting DH & DD near the front of the line, we hurried to join up with them, but were stopped by a couple we knew from our hometown who indicated that they were so-o-o-o glad to see us. They went on to say that they had spotted DH ahead in the line, but didn't recognize the person he was with. After leaving them, I quickly saw the scene just ahead through their eyes. There stood DH with a tall shapely blond who was hanging all over him..... trying to convince her father that we needed to stop at Harvard Square that evening. At my suggestion, DH and oldest daughter left the line to go back and greet our fellow townies and put an end to what could have become a very ugly rumor about town.

FauxSteMarie

How did I forget this one?

After returning on from an elderhostel trip to my home in Virginia, I had some correspondence with one of my fellow voyagers who lives in Seattle. When she visited her son in the DC area, she phoned me, but we never did get together.

Fast forward:

Last February I was on a flight out to San Diego to take a class. I chatted with the young man next to me. We were talking about our travels. I described a trip to Chile I had recently taken with elderhostel. He asked me some questions and then said, "I think you know my mother."

I did. It was the woman from Seattle.

pollyvw

This is my friend's story:

"Inga" is German, married to an American she met while he was living in Germany. They now live in Wash DC burbs. One day 20, 30 years after immigrating she was walking with one of her new neighbors and they began exchanging stories as to how they came to be where they were at that time. Suddenly, the neighbor exclaimed "OH! You are THAT Inga!"

When 'Inga' had left Germany this neighbor had replaced her at her job and according to her everyone kept telling her that "Inga did it this way."

TahitiTams

I was at the front desk checking in at the Acapulco Princess Hotel and they were extremely busy and the front desk person was asking housekeeping on the phone if my room was ready and asking if the former guest had checked out and they said this strange last name, that I knew as my family's insurance man and I thought I would ask the staff if the persons first name was 'Hal' and they said yes, and he was in my room and moving to another room.
This huge hotel in Acapulco and the front desk threw his name out and I caught it and it was our family's insurance guy since I was a baby!

TrvlMaven

Husband and I rented a cabana in Zihua and finally decided to dine in town one evening. Sitting at a sidewalk cafe, DH's former boss (from SF) and his wife passed by. They had been retired for several years sailing their boat along the Mexican coast and anchored in the bay that morning. We spent the next day with them onboard.

POWERPUFF71

I was in Walt Disney World, Florida with my family. I knew a coworker was arriving mid week. We were staying at different hotels and made no plans to meet up. While getting seated on a ride in the Magic Kingdom I heard my name. It was my coworker with his family. And the ride............"It's a small World" of course.

starrsville

About to pick up a friend flying into LAX, I stopped at a nearby gas station to fill up the rental car. A gentlemen gives me gentle warnings about being alone in the area late at night at a gas station. A brief exchange of sentences reveals he's the brother of my mother's best friend from our hometown.

My seatmate on the Art Dune's Tour last month lives in my little mountain town and has a home on the lake.

More examples. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot to me.

karameli

I was running for a train in NYC, and literally sprinted through the doors as they were closing and threw myself into the nearest seat. Looked at the person sitting next to me -- it was a friend from kindergarten. Guess we'd both decided to migrate north!

ggreen

For some reason, these things seem to happen to me a lot! Here are a few of the biggest ones, in roughly chronological order...

- I spent my junior year of college in Paris, France. Towards the end of the year, my friend and I met two guys in a cafe on Place St. Michel, had a nice time hanging out but parted ways once our coffees were finished. The next summer back Stateside, two guys show up at the restaurant where I was working in my college town, friends of the owners. It took a while for me to figure out why they seemed so familiar, and then we realized we'd met in that Parisian cafe! My girlfriend was working just up the street, so we all regrouped and had a good laugh over the coincidence.

- My boyfriend and I went on vacation in the southwest, renting a car out of Albuquerque and stopping whenever/wherever we were inspired. Exiting the visitor center at Wapatki Ruins, a woman was approaching who I knew that I knew from three years earlier in that same restaurant in my college town. After some hesitation, I blurted out "have you ever been to Saratoga?", to which she replied "oh nooo!". We exchanged contact information, and became good friends for a while when we were both living in NYC.

- On that same trip, we ended the vacation visiting friends in Santa Fe. Walking down a quiet back street, my BF and I recognized a British pop band we like that we had just seen play in NYC. After the previous success at blurting out questions, I said something to them - and was rewarded with tickets to the show they were putting on that night!

- I used to run into a guy I knew from college all over the place, and in the oddest situations. The best of these was after he had moved from NYC to LA. I was on a train from NYC to Boston. Before owning a cell phone (and back when there was always a 15-minute wait at New Haven while they switched the engine from electric to diesel), I would call ahead and let my family know whether or not the train was on time. I was impatiently waiting for the guy in front of me to finish using the phone when I realized he was talking about Hong Kong, where I was about to visit for the first time. When he turned to leave the booth at the end of his call, I recognized my friend, on a break from a business trip. He gave me his coworker's name in Hong Kong which was a great resource, and then I spent a weekend with him in LA on my way back!

- This one is more North America related than actually occurring in NA... Having landed early in the morning at Charles de Gaulle airport, my mother and I were blearily following the signs for the RER terminal. An Asian woman about my age was also looking around, and we asked if we could help her. The three of us got to talking on the train, and it turns out she was one year ahead of me throughout grammar school in the tiny Boston suburb where I grew up!

All of these revived memories have made me determined to reconnect with these people. Also, how amazing would it be if a Fodorite reading the posts on this thread realized they're one of the connections mentioned?! I think that would be a *big* coincidence!

panecott

While at a hotel in PA for my niece's law school graduation a few years ago, I saw a sign in the lobby with the list of events going on in various rooms in the hotel.
One of the names was uncommon and the same as that of a friend whom we hadn't seen in years. We decided to check it out and sure enough he was there with his family celebrating his son's law school graduation.