offlady

I met a group of people from my hometown while traveling in Hong Kong! My co-worker's mom, two of my classmate's parents, a photographer for our local newspaper, who were all traveling together as a group. What a shock that was!

highbay

First trip to Paris with 2 girlfriends, our first day there, we are walking down the Champes Elysee and I ran into a guy I graduated high school with. I knew that he had graduated from Harvard and was working as an MD, but did not realize he was teaching medicine at the university in Paris!!!
What a small world.

LoveItaly

Not quite the same story - but - my husband and I were out of state. Had been invited to a reception in our honor (by a family member who was in the military). We were new to the area, in a rental car. We did have the address and directions to the reception. But, we later learned, the direction were not correct. So we slowed down on the road, looking for street signs etc. and also our map. Think speed limit was 35 mph and we had momentarily slowed down to about 25 mph as there was no where along the street to pull over. Along came a car behind us, the driver blasted us with his horn, swerved around us, going over double line, going at twice the posted speed and giving us the "finger". "Oh my" we thought. When we arrived at the reception, after we were greeted by our relative the very first person we were introduced to was the "gentleman" we had seen on the road. A very high rating officer. Too funny!!! We of course said nothing about the incident but his face was red for the entire time and oh boy, did he stay out of our way. Still laugh about it now.

Reefmonkey

I live in Houston. I was in Manhattan on business for 1 night. I was walking around on Broadway and 42nd, trying in vain to find a decent restaurant. I heard "Mark?" I turned around and there was my brother's girlfriend coming up from a subway exit. It was so random because she says she never takes that stop, but she needed to stop by the bank that night after work. We went and had a great meal at Hell's Kitchen

missypie

So often that I expect it.
1. After the bar exam, I was in the dressing room at Laura Ashley in London and heard a familiar voice coming out of the next dressing room. It was one of my best friends from law school.
2. We ran into one of our church pastors at the Seattle airport.
3. At Disneyland, we rushed to Space Mountain at rope drop, and were one of the first families in line...right behind us was a family from our church in Texas. The same day we saw a family that we knew from my daughter's soccer team.

teacherD

Not exactly what the original question asked but 4 yrs. ago my husband and I finally planned our first trip to Europe together. We were going on a tour and were leaving from JFK airport. As we walked up to the airline desk to check-in there were only 4 people ahead of us talking to the clerk. When they turned to leave we realized we knew them from church and found out that they were on the exact same tour! We laughed over the fact that we each had paid for a car (they took a van) to the airport and could have carpooled if we had known!

Jacqueline1212

Always, wherever we go - skiing in UT, CO; on the beach in Maui; in FL; on the plane; in an airport at a stopover. Really weird although people in my town travel alot and often to similar places. Haven't decided if I like it or not!!

jlaughs

My post also doesn't exactly answer the original question, but relates to what a small world it is. When my ex-husband and I were on our honeymoon, we went to a luau one night. Across the table from us was a family from OH (ex was originally from OH, me from So CA). Ex made a joke asking if they knew so-and-so (as if they would know this exact one person out of the entire state). Funny thing was, they did! And it wasn't even a good friend of my ex's - he just pulled a name out the hat and threw out the name of an old boyfriend of one of his sisters. Weird.

Not long after that, coming out of a restroom at Dodger Stadium, my mom almost literally ran into a woman she'd been in the Poston (AZ) relocation camp with 40 years earlier.

Small world.

travlr

Ran into my COUSIN in St. Mark's square in Venice, Italy. He is from IL and I am from MO. Neither of us knew the other was going there. My husband spotted him in the middle of hundreds of people and of course pigeons!! We were all shocked to say the least!

miguelgcuadra

Two guys from same gym at work out in Miami, Fl., in the line to The Sistine Chappel.. I did not want to give the wrong impression that I was cruising them..they said same. Funny when we were closer and we all say at same time..Miami!!!

vcl

Got to chatting with a fellow American in a restaurant on the Plaza Major in Madrid and learned he was dating one of my husband's workmates.

TripleSecDelay

(1) Half a lifetime ago, at a junction of backpacking hiking trails 3 days deep into Tuolumne (adjacent to Yosemite), a young man my age was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, whittling away a stick with a knife. He was the best friend of my girlfriend's brother. His group was hiking out and my group was hiking in. Neither of us knew in advance the other would be there, and was the first human outside our 5-man group we encountered.

(2) At an all-day concert in California with 20,000+ people in attendance, I had seen zero familiar faces for the six hours I was there until I heard my name being called. I turned around and saw the smiling face of a schoolmate from 7th / 8th grades that I had not seen for 17 years.

(3) At 19 years of age, on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles to meet up with some girls we knew, my friend's neighbor boarded the plane at our stopover in Denver. Luckily, the neighbor was over 25 and had a high-limit CC that allowed us to rent the Porsche 944 we had reserved over the phone. We didn't know a thing about renting cars at that age. That car should tell you what year it was . . .

1Travelfan

Many years ago and after living in Shreveport LA for several years and then transferring to Dallas, TX, my family was at Disneyworld and lo and behold, we met the family who lived across the street from us in Shreveport while we were waiting in line. The kids were about 6 or 7 years older and were very awkward at meeting again--but totally unexpected.
Another time, my husband was in Houston on business, walked into a restaurant by random close to his hotel, sat down, and had his name called by his nephew and wife who were stopping there on their way on vacation. They spent dinner together, catching up on family news before they both went their separate ways.

Fodorite018

We were in San Diego for a memorial service and all of our family were having drinks at the Hotel Del Coronado. All of a sudden my dh jumped out of his chair and a man walking by with his wife jumped...and both men said to each other "hey, I know you!". Turned out to be a fraternity brother that we had not seen in many years! Then found out they lived near us in Seattle and were on our same flight home that night.

repete

I was going out halibut fishing near Homer, AK, and a friend asked if I'd take a visitor of his along.

Turns out we'd lived a block apart in a tiny Minnesota town (2,000 people) and played together when we were 5 -- 35 years earlier.

Littleseamus

My Dad was on business in Bogota, Columbia and was in the elevator when an American got on. My Dad asked where he was from and he said a small town in Massachusetts,"you've never heard of it.." When he said the town was Fall River, my dad laughed as he was born there! In fact, my ancestors were ones who emmigrated there from Ireland in 1840!

fivestar

Well, this is sort of running into someone I thought I knew. We arrived at Maui Airport and as we were going to collect our luggage I saw this woman named Beverly that I knew and hadn't seen in quite a while. I shouted Beverly it's so good to see you again and I proceeded to throw my arms around her for a big hug. My husband was behind me. I hear him say loudly "fivestar that is not Beverly". Here I am accosting this poor woman who has this look on her face like I am an alien and it's not Beverly. I wanted to find a hole to crawl into. I have never been so embarrased in my life. I apologized profusely and had to slink over to the luggage carosel (sp) to collect my luggage. My husband still laughs over that to this day.

LoveItaly

fivestar, that is a real funny story!
How embarrasing.

Cornelius15

in Seattle during the month of Jan
at the Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport Got a nice big hug too.

PONCHOTJ

Yes, in Aswan, Egypt I ran into my cousins' cousin while riding a camel to a Nubian village. I had no idea she was going to be in Egypt since I had not seen her in a few years. It was funny because she was with another group of people and all of a sudden she was next to me riding a camel also. After Aswan we met again for dinner in Cairo, but this time it was planned.