Fun thread! I've had quite a few also, seems like I'm always running into friends/colleagues on planes. Here are some of the more random/memorable stories about planes, trains & familiar names:

-Boarding a flight in ATL, after the BP scanner flashed my name the man behind me in line asks, "is <Weezer> your maiden name?" I wasn't married at the time & said, it's my only name (technically it still is). He's married to my cousin though I had never met him prior.

-During a college trip abroad, boarded the Tube in London & ran into a friend who lived 2 houses down from me in Savannah.

-Seated at the next table from a couple in a hotel restaurant in Ireland, from their conversation they were obviously from ATL. The tables were very close, I interjected that I also lived in ATL, then introductions were made. My parents were with me & she recognized our name. Turns out she grew up down the street from us in SAV & had gone to school w my brother.

-Visiting the Great Wall in China with a friend, I stopped to take pictures & she continued ahead. A couple asked her to take their picture & noting their Southern accent she asked where they were from. They were from the same town in Miss. & the husband's business partner was one of my friend's parents' best friends. Being good Southerners, the wife called my friend's parents when they got home to introduce herself, say she had met their lovely daughter & to pass along their thanks for the beautiful photo she had taken.

-Another 6-degrees encounter related to same friend from Miss. recently. Chatted w a man on an ATL-BZN flight, found out he's from the Miss. coast & good friends w same friend's brother. Take that, Kevin Bacon!

If you asked my husband, he'd say we can't go anywhere without me running into a relative, friend, or someone w mutual friends. I just remind him my heritage is Irish, we've never met a stranger.