roadeyes

Twice. Once my wife had just graduated from college and was touring southern France with her girfriend. They were at a topless beach and decided to take their own tops off. Of course, a group of about five frat brothers from her college came by at that very moment. They all knew each other very well. My wife just gave up and carried on a conversation with these guys while topless.

Second time, my wife and I went to the catacombs outside Rome. We went to the area where there was a priest waiting to conduct a tour in English. We were early, so we stated chatting. Turns out, this priest was formerly assigned to the Don Bosco Seminary in our town. He lived 1 mile away from our house for many years. He had even been inside our house visiting a previous owner. He proceeded to recall exact descriptions of each room in the house.

Weird.

Tuxedocat

My husband is actually the one that has this happen to him all the time. Once at the Grand Canyon at an overlook whih comfortably held maybe 5 people, my husband was looking out at the scene when someone called his name and he turned around to find one of my lose friends from college. Another time, he was in front of the Spanish steps in Rome when a couple we know from home were shocked to see him. The funniest thing that happened was when my husband and I were sitting at the bar in a St. John U.S.V.I. restaurant enjoying the live band when a woman laughed loudly next to me. I thought it sounded just like a friend's laugh from home whom I hadn't seen in awhile. I turned to find her sitting on the barstool next to me. This led to one of the funniest and most fun evenings in long memory.

kamahinaohoku

I moved to Melbourne, Australia from my home in a small town in New Jersey in 1974. Upon arrival in the Melbourne Airport, I was going through customs and spotted a woman holding a shopping bag from a small specialty shop in my hometown in NJ. I managed to speak to her and found out we were not on the same plane, and also that she went to NJ to visit her friend in my town a few times a year...and that she loved the shopping in the Florence Shop. How odd to be halfway round the world and find a small piece of home.

sweetnis

I ran into someone I knew and I was lying topless on a beach in Spain. I remember lying there and hearing this little girl run down the beach yelling "daddy, daddy" and I thought "that's strange I hear someone speaking English", so I look up and there's Bill. Fortunately, he looked away and pretended he did not see me but I know better.

cchaseatl

Twenty years ago, when I was on my first trip abroad-at all of 18 years old--I was with my tour group in tiny Rothenburg, Germany. We were passing a store, when out walked a boy I had dated in high school 2 years earlier. He was stationed in the Army but we had not kept in touch. As a follow-up I just recently had my 20 year high school reunion and guess who I ran into again? That same boy--funny how fate works-

Poohgirl

OK, I know this is stretching it, but here goes. This did not happen to me but it revolved around me. I live in Minnesota, and my parents moved to New Mexico. One day my dad was at a gas station gasing up his car, and he noticed the guy next to him had Minnesota license plates. That wasn't something he saw every day, but he didn't say anything. On closer look, Dad noticed that the dealership listed on the back of this man's car was in the city where I live. My dad struck up a conversation with this guy, telling him that he used to live in Minnesota and that his daughters still live in (name of city). This man looked my dad up and down and said "Does one of them work at (my place of employment)?" My dad said "Yes, actually they both do." The man said "Is one of them named Susan?" (That's my name in the real world.) My dad's jaw dropped, and he said, "Uhhhh....yes....." It turned out that the guy with Minnesota license plates went to the same gym as I did, and since we were often on the exercise bikes at the same time we had often talked. I asked him how he figured this out and he told me that we looked exactly alike. I knew there was a strong resemblence between my dad and me, but this was hilarious.

dcdilettante

Only when I'm avoiding them!

Years ago I moved away from DC. I was dating someone at the time. Let's call him Mr. Banned-to-the-Nice-Guy-Corner (BTTNGC). In my confusion about how to let him down easy, I ended up leaving him hanging. Piss poor, I know.

So. A short while later, I'm visiting NYC and run into a friend who insists that I come back to DC, just for that night, for a party she's throwing. Still feeling guilty, I agree but on the sole condition that we not venture out in public because I just k-n-o-w that I'll run into BTTNGC.

You know, of course, that my friend laughed at me all the way back to DC.

You also know what happens next, right? We get to her secluded, residential neighborhood. I open the car door. Step out, and...

BAM! Nearly collide with Mr. BTTNGC.

Yup. Taking care of a friend's dog. Many, many miles from home.

There's a lesson to be learned somewhere in there, but I'm choosing to ignore it... Heh.

dee0307

Several times for my family:

My ex and I were in the Navy stationed in Japan and he went down to Tokyo to play in a softball tournament and ran into a high school classmate playing on an opposing team.

He ran into another high school classmate from Alabama sitting at the table next to us on a cruise in Florida.

Even the children: We lived in London for three years and then he took a job with customs in El Paso, Texas. I was walking the children to school and we crossed paths with a little girl coming out of her house-the girls looked at and greeted each other immediately! This was not a Navy town where it's likely to meet up again with people you know, just a coincidental move!

But it never happens to me!

cheapalice

Once, while stationed in Germany, I came across an elementary school teacher from VA. The really weird time was on an Army-sponsored bus tour a winery when I was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco in '85. I was about the last one on the bus. Before getting on, this elderly gentleman asked my name. When he heard my last name (Rood), he said he had to think about it! Needless to say, the only seat left was in front of this unusual man. He then starts asking if my dad had been an Army brat, gone to G'town, etc. It was weird. Turns out he'd gone to college w/ my dad 40 YEARS EARLIER in Washington, D.C. He'd gotten a calling to become a priest, went to a seminary in CA, and never saw my father again. Forty years and 3000 miles later, he runs into me. An ex-sister-in-law says that there are only 150 people in the world, the rest is done with smoke and mirrors.

1maroc

I currently live in Morocco and was touring the cathedral in Malaga, Spain last July. I looked up to see neighbors from our Houston, Texas neighborhood where we also maintain a home. They just happened to also be touring the cathedral at the same time. I also ran into a couple of ladies from Midland, Texas that I knew while touring V & A Museum in London in September.

jillc1

betty ford this past w/e at the NY Philharmonic- Vail, Colorado

emd

Betty Ford, God bless her. She did so much good when she came into the light w/her addiction problems. I read an article recently about how her daughter Susan has taken over alot of her duties on the board at her Center.

rubytwo

I was in Mbabane, Swaziland at Mkyhaya Game Reserve. The Game Park director talked to us at dinner about a great zoo he had visited the week before in the US..one we would not have heard of: Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa, FL. I was speechless..I live about half a mile from Lowery Park Zoo.

jillc1

agree- I would have loved to have spoken with her but just was not appropriate at the time. I was excited that I recognized her. I once had the Fords limo drive by me on I70- In Vailthere are not too many black stretch limo's that say "PRESIDENT" She looked beautiful- I think she might be 90 ish?

cruizergirl

I have had a couple funny run-ins. Years ago - when I was not quite 21 and was sitting in a bar in New Orleans, my PARENTS walked in. They lived in Florida and I lived in Ohio. Whew....that was wierd.

Recently my Hubby and I were on a ship sailing from Miami to Barcelona - the first night, we ran into a couple that we know from our local hangout (again a bar hmmm) but neither of us knew the other was going on that trip!

Then - several years ago i ran into RICK STEVES in Venice - I had a copy of his Italy book with me and he signed it!!! I don't know him - but it was pretty exciting.