Have you had Proof that it really is a "small world" after all?

[ldubs]

We have had two "small world" encounters. The first happened on a Mexican Riviera cruise where we bumped into one of our daughter's classmates and family. The second was on a SE Asia Princess cruise. I was chatting with the nice couple sitting next to me in the theater while waiting for our excursion to be called. It turned out that not only were we from the same town, we lived no more than about 1500' from each other. In fact, we walked our dogs along their street frequently. What an amazing coincidence that we were on the same cruise and happened to sit next to each other.

 

Small world. :D

[Sancho_proudfoot]

We were enjoying a stop over in Vegas before heading to San Diego to join the cruise. The Rugby world cup was on, but the only place we could find to watch the England match was the Crown and Anchor English pub.

 

When we got there is was heaving with holidaying Brits (like us) At the half time interval we got talking to a guy stood nearby. He was British, hitchhiking his way around the world. He had got in from SF the day before, having made his way from Vancouver via Seattle

 

His accent sounded local to us (at home). Turns out he was not only from the same city, and neighbourhood, but he lived with his Mum in the next street, their front door being less than a hundred yards from ours. He was headed from Phoenix the next day.

 

On a Nile cruise, we were stood up on deck on evening. The ship's are moored alongside one another overnight. A few guests came up onto deck on the adjoining vessel, and one of them was a guy I'd been at school with over 40 years earlier. Hadn't seen him since - or again in fact.

[babs135]

Not actually on a cruise but at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the middle of Australia a gentleman came up to DH and commented on his choice of t-shirt (supporting local UK rugby league club). Turned out we lived only a mile away from each other!

 

Second occasion on a shore excursion we were walking through Raffles Hotel in Singapore when a couple approached us and commented on DH's choice of t-shirt. This time he was wearing his local football (soccer) club shirt. We stopped and had a chat with these expats.

 

It truly is a 'small world'

[sparky-elpaso]

This thread is a great idea.

 

We were having lunch in the buffet on our TA from the Med to Florida and were chatting with the couple at the table next to us. During the usual "where are you from" talk I said we lived in El Paso, TX but were originally from Michigan. The gal asked where and when I said Lansing she said her son was a police officer in East Lansing.

[Crusin6]

In April 1987 I was walking in the straw market in Ocho Rios and was talking to my mom about a friend of mine from work who was from ocho rios and used to lend me his Bob Marley albums

 

I worked with him back in the early 80's and hadn't seen him in years and my mom knew him too from a few corporate picnics she attended

 

 

Well not 2 minutes later, I practically walked right into him and his wife!!!

 

Unfortunately he was in Jamaica to bury his FIL

 

 

It was great to see him nonetheless and hugs and excitement ensued

 

 

It was also quite unnerving to bump into him when out of the blue I was talking about him just a few minutes earlier. Not the first time I've had that sort of experience either where I was talking/thinking about someone and then there they are. So did I will it to happen or did I just feel the vibes of my immediate future?

 

 

There were no premonitions about the following times though...just coincidences ...

 

 

in 2012 in Barcelona...in a metro station....we hear 2 of my kids names being called out...by a classmate of theirs.

 

In Disney world 2009 while waiting to be called for our ressie at the Crystal Palace we hear our around the corner neighbors name being called

 

 

1976 had a lovely guide in St Peters ....1979 visiting there again only this time on our own...walked right into her and it was she that recognized us

 

2015 while cruising with my 2 college dds on the breakaway the couple we were chatting with during our snorkel excursion turns out to be the cousins of a neighbor my kids babysit for...but the real scary part is that this couple lives in the same house that my 5th grade best friend lived in and that I visited often. I actually described their house to them in detail.

 

Still waiting to bump into my high school boyfriend though. Lol. Just to brag about how well my life turned out !!!!!

 

 

Also, to this day, 30 years later, I'm still a little spooked about the Jamaica encounter with my former coworker. Scary how I was talking about him and then just walked right into him

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited August 4, 2017 by Crusin6

[sparks1093]

I had a couple of instances in the Navy. The first I was in my barracks common area and a visiting lady and her daughter were waiting for their sailor to come out so we chatted. I mentioned that I had been stationed on the Eisenhower and she said "my nephew was on the Eisenhower, maybe you knew him". I have had people say something similar ("my brother was in the Navy...") so I kind of downplayed it, "well, there were 6300 people onboard so it's a long shot". When she said his name I couldn't believe it but we worked in the same division and I did know him.

 

The second one was in Bermuda. My squadron stood our ready alert there so I was there for at least 3 days every month. They eventually built a McDonalds on base which was a big hit with all of us and one day I was standing in a long line when the guy behind me said "you're from Middlebury, aren't you?". I had gone to school with his brother and he with my sisters so we spent a few minutes catching up on what the families had been up to.

[bean24]

On my first cruise at the blackjack table a man looks familiar, turns out he lives a few miles away from me. I live in NY so there's thousands of people in a few miles. He says he's traveling with friends who live within a mile of me and he'll have to introduce us. That night they are participants in the newlywed game. Their answer for weirdest place for whooopie is a local park that I frequently take me niece and nephew too. I tell them it will never be the same for me. Come home from the cruise, two weeks later the kids insist they want that park, go there and who do I see.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lynncarol]

A number of years ago we were standing waiting for an Alamo rental car shuttle to take us to the port in Miami to begin our cruise. We heard someone calling my husband's name, turned around and it was a USX business associate of his from Brazil whom we had hosted for dinner when he was in Pittsburgh. Turned out he and his wife were taking six clients from Brazil on the same cruise. Onboard, he graciously invited us to join in with his group. Since they were big 'party animals', the cruise ended up being a really fun experience.

[biker@sea]

D. W. mentioned my birthday on F.B.

 

Much to my surprise well wishes came to me from Nourth America, South America, Europe, India, the Philippines , Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean . :*

[AZ Ocean Lover]

We were on an excursion in Aruba a couple years ago with about 100 people. We struck up a conversation with another couple and it turned out he grew up in the same town I did (Portland, OR). They asked where I went to high school and they said they only knew one person from that particular high school. It turned out to be my sisters best friend. We were talking with her brother and sister in law. They both knew my sister quite well and had been to her home for dinner on multiple occasions.

[slidergirl]

Since I was a kid I swear our family ran into either a school classmate's family, or a friend or co-worker of my father's--on Every. Single. Vacation. we ever took.

 

Can't think of what would be the best anecdote of all of them. Because thanks to the thread title I can't get that freaking Disney song out of my head :mad:

 

Try getting stuck in that Disney ride for 30 minutes... (yes, right in front of the hyenas!)

 

My "small world" encounters are usually at an airport. Ran into an old college friend at ORD - both of us doing connections. Ran into an old friend from a sport we were both involved in during connections at PHX. Best "small world": ran into a boss at a nice restaurant (in the next town over) with someone NOT his wife :eek:

[DirtyDawg]

Orlando and Disney World seams to be a good place to run into people. We were sitting at a table have ice cream with the kids when a college buddy and his family walked by. We hadn't seen them in about 5 years as they live in Connecticut. Another time we were in a ride line at Universal and the family right in front of us was the family of the captain on one of our kids' hockey team. We had just seen them days before at a tournament in Canada but never discussed where we were each going on vacation.

 

I ran into one of my best friends at the Dallas airport once. We we both headed back to Toronto and both connections were through Dallas.

 

When people find out we are Canadian, a lot of travelers seam to have a friend of relative who lives in Canada also so they ask us if we know so and so. Well most of the time their friend or relative lives in B.C. or somewhere else in Canada that is thousands of kilometers away from where we live in Ontario. But onetime this very nice German gentleman asked if we knew is cousin who lived in B.C. It turned out his cousin was, and is, a good friend of mine who had been living in Seattle and just recently moved to Vancouver.

 

Lots of others too, this world is not just small, it's downright tiny sometimes!

[broadwaybaby123]

Yes I ran into a friend of the family on a different cruise line while in Grand Cayman doing the same itinerary!

 

Sent from my LGL22C using Forums mobile app

[lenquixote66]

One more:

 

On a cruise in 2010 we were traveling with friends .We met a couple on the ship .The husband was born in Beaumont ,Texas .My friends father was born there as well.

The wife was born in Brooklyn,NY and went to the same HS as me at the same time but we never knew each other.

[geoherb]

When I was living in London after graduation, I ran into one of my former college professors from a year and a half before in a pub the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I also made friends with a group of college students from my home state who were studying in London for the fall semester. One shared my first name (which is more unusual than my Cruise Critic one would make you think).

[geoherb]

And on our first cruise together, one of DH's co-workers recognized his voice while we were on the plane to the ship. They were on the same cruise. DH and his co-worker had never met in person but had talked a lot on the phone. He worked in the central accounting department for a bank and she was a manager of a branch.

[nyllrap]

This isn't cruise related, but year ago, my husband and I went to a work sponsored dinner for his job. We were seated at a table with a few other couples. One was an older gentleman, and he asked where I was originally from (a town about 5 hours from where I lived at the dinner). I told him, and he said, "Do you know a dentist named ______?" It was my father.

[jennybenny]

When we last vacationed in Cabo I went to the grocery store right after we arrived. As we were checking out a man and his wife stopped us and asked if we had just been in Cabo. We all laughed. They saw us there!

 

Then on a business trip I bumped into my college roommate, who I still see somewhat regularly on my plane to Miami. We were both headed for work to different Caribbean islands [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CanadaDeb]

During our last cruise, we were in port, taking a pic in front of the port name sign, and a couple who is behind us start to speak Maltese....my husband is also from Malta...I was surprised, given that the population of Malta is approx. 400 000 and that we were one of 5 ships in port, in the Caribbean.

[ellie1145]

On our first cruise, some 20 years ago on Enchantment of the Seas, my husband had to go down to the customer service desk for something, and the young man who dealt with him recognised him as his maths teacher some years previously.

 

So there we were, Brits on an American ship, thousands of miles from home, sailing round the Caribbean and my husband meets one of his British ex-pupils.

 

Small world after all!

[SnowBird Cruzer]

wow, some of these are really amazing. Keep it up!

[Wayfairers]

Back when we were working, DH flew every week for work so got frequent upgrades to first class. One day he was sitting in first class and someone boarding later walked by then said I know you.....turned out it was our niece! Crazy small world.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jocap]

We were on an NCL's excursion in Turkey, and I recognised the accent of our tour guide- yes, from my home town in Yorkshire, and we knew many of the same people.

The strangest encounter was I visited a tiny ruined abbey in the Yorkshire Dales- a remote place which only gets perhaps 2 visitors a day-with a friend named Elspeth. Years later, other friends asked to go with me, as they'd read a historical novel about this tiny site. I'd told them how I'd walked down through the woods and met Elspeth at the bottom, where she'd parked the car.

We walked down through the woods... and there was Elspeth, with whom I'd lost touch, parking her car...

[cruzincurt]

On one cruise we randomly joined a couple in the Lido for lunch due to lack of open seats. Turns out they were from the town I grew up in Pennsylvania and they knew my father.

 

Sent from my B3-A30 using Forums mobile app

[SadieN]

On a trip to NYC we met one of our councilmen at Juniors. We even have the news article to prove it!

 

DD studied in Rome for several years, then comes home to do an internship (very backwards, I know). Hears her co-worker Skyping with someone. Turns out the 'someone' was one of DD's Roman friends.

 

Sailing primarily out of the West Coast we have run into many people: neighbors, children of friends, coworkers, relatives we want to avoid :) ,people we've previously sailed with on other lines but out of SoCal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums