What is the most far-flung & unlikely place in the world you have run into a friend?
Aug 7, 2007, 12:24 am
#106
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
3 cases come to mind:
1) running the NYC marathon in 2002, I saw a guy I knew in high school and while it's a big city and you probably know someone, he was the one who got me into running and I had been trying to get in touch with him but had no success for a long time. He called out to me as I was at mile 18 and I guess what they say is true... after slowing down and trotting over to say hi, I started running again and man, did my legs freeze up for a moment there. I "hit the wall," which happens around this point for many long distance runners, and the next couple miles were tough.
2) my then girlfriend, now wife and I drove across country once camping everywhere we could. We brought skis with us and ended up at A Basin, Colorado in July. The ski area was open and of the 10 people we saw, my first girlfriend from way back in school was standing there with her work collegue and they were on a business trip. That year we seemed to run into her everywhere and it was weird. Nevertheless, it was around this time my now wife and I decided to get married
3) We used to take big group ski trips a lot every winter while also going skiing at a resort near home. The groups were planned by us as a group of friends and one year we decided to go to Europe. On my first ski trip to Switzerland years ago, we drove up to a certain restaunt one evening only to find it had closed, but the drive thru the mountains was nice on the crisp spring evening, and so we did not mind. However, upon arriving, we ran into 6 people we knew from the ski area we all go to back in VT and had no idea they were even in the country. 3 days later in Chamonix, Fr, I was skiing on a steep slope and saw parts of what looked like someone's spilled wallet on the snow. I stopped to get the cards and one other friend from the same ski area was standing there trying to collect what had fallen out of his open jacket pocket. Turns out, without realizing it, a whole network of 30 people who all know one another from the same VT ski area ended up in both Switz and FR on the same 10 period but we all had no idea until we ran into everyone. It was pretty cool in the end but man, those bar tabs were huge!
oh there was one more...
front row of a pink floyd concert years and years ago... ran into a high school buddy who knew me before he figured I would ever try any illegal drugs. But now I really cannot remember any of the details beyond that moment.
1) running the NYC marathon in 2002, I saw a guy I knew in high school and while it's a big city and you probably know someone, he was the one who got me into running and I had been trying to get in touch with him but had no success for a long time. He called out to me as I was at mile 18 and I guess what they say is true... after slowing down and trotting over to say hi, I started running again and man, did my legs freeze up for a moment there. I "hit the wall," which happens around this point for many long distance runners, and the next couple miles were tough.
2) my then girlfriend, now wife and I drove across country once camping everywhere we could. We brought skis with us and ended up at A Basin, Colorado in July. The ski area was open and of the 10 people we saw, my first girlfriend from way back in school was standing there with her work collegue and they were on a business trip. That year we seemed to run into her everywhere and it was weird. Nevertheless, it was around this time my now wife and I decided to get married
3) We used to take big group ski trips a lot every winter while also going skiing at a resort near home. The groups were planned by us as a group of friends and one year we decided to go to Europe. On my first ski trip to Switzerland years ago, we drove up to a certain restaunt one evening only to find it had closed, but the drive thru the mountains was nice on the crisp spring evening, and so we did not mind. However, upon arriving, we ran into 6 people we knew from the ski area we all go to back in VT and had no idea they were even in the country. 3 days later in Chamonix, Fr, I was skiing on a steep slope and saw parts of what looked like someone's spilled wallet on the snow. I stopped to get the cards and one other friend from the same ski area was standing there trying to collect what had fallen out of his open jacket pocket. Turns out, without realizing it, a whole network of 30 people who all know one another from the same VT ski area ended up in both Switz and FR on the same 10 period but we all had no idea until we ran into everyone. It was pretty cool in the end but man, those bar tabs were huge!
oh there was one more...
front row of a pink floyd concert years and years ago... ran into a high school buddy who knew me before he figured I would ever try any illegal drugs. But now I really cannot remember any of the details beyond that moment.
Aug 7, 2007, 5:37 am
#107
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MM, SQ KrisFlyer, SPG/Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,231
On this trip, while having coffee and reading the SCMP while waiting for friends to arrive for yum cha at the UCC Coffee Shop at Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, this guy with a buzz cut (and who I thought had no idea of personal space) decides to sit at my table and stare at me.
Turns out that it was a friend from back in SFO who happened to spot me at the cafe while he was on his way to lunch as well.
Totally random, especially since I made this trip very quietly and didn't tell a lot of people about it.
Also on this trip, I ran into thai_kiwi at a computer mall in BKK. Very random again! Asia isn't that small after all!
Turns out that it was a friend from back in SFO who happened to spot me at the cafe while he was on his way to lunch as well.
Totally random, especially since I made this trip very quietly and didn't tell a lot of people about it.
Also on this trip, I ran into thai_kiwi at a computer mall in BKK. Very random again! Asia isn't that small after all!
Aug 14, 2007, 6:55 pm
#108
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: IND or 36,000 Feet
Programs: DL DM Charter Reserve 2MM, MAR PLAT, Choice DIA
Posts: 25
A CO Flight from IAH-PDX, the lead flight attendant was a girl I went to high school. I saw her again a month later changing flights in EWR.
Another CO flight in seat 1B, got up to use the restroom, the guy in 2B calls my name, it was a guy i went to college with and had not seen in years.
Another CO flight in seat 1B, got up to use the restroom, the guy in 2B calls my name, it was a guy i went to college with and had not seen in years.
Aug 14, 2007, 7:07 pm
#109
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
Well, this happened once to someone and it kinda fits this thread:
I didn't think about my lady
I know that sounds kind of mean
But me and my old lady
Have fallen into the same old dull routine
So I wrote to the paper
Took out a personal ad
And though I'm nobody's poet
I thought it wasn't half bad
"Yes I like Pina Coladas
And getting caught in the rain
I'm not much into health food
I am into champagne
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon
And cut through all this red-tape
At a bar called O'Malley's
Where we'll plan our escape."
So I waited with high hopes
And she walked in the place
I knew her smile in an instant
I knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely lady
And she said, "Oh it's you."
Then we laughed for a moment
And I said, "I never knew."
As you can see, they re-met each other, as unlikely as that would seem!
I had to.
MM
I didn't think about my lady
I know that sounds kind of mean
But me and my old lady
Have fallen into the same old dull routine
So I wrote to the paper
Took out a personal ad
And though I'm nobody's poet
I thought it wasn't half bad
"Yes I like Pina Coladas
And getting caught in the rain
I'm not much into health food
I am into champagne
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon
And cut through all this red-tape
At a bar called O'Malley's
Where we'll plan our escape."
So I waited with high hopes
And she walked in the place
I knew her smile in an instant
I knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely lady
And she said, "Oh it's you."
Then we laughed for a moment
And I said, "I never knew."
As you can see, they re-met each other, as unlikely as that would seem!
I had to.
MM
Aug 17, 2007, 1:09 pm
#111
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: XNA
Programs: UA 1P, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plt
Posts: 281
Two stories immediately come to mind.
1. Family vacation to Mexico City in 1977. For some reason we decided to go see a bullfight. Sitting in the areana, watching the bull fight, all of the sudden my father taps me on the shoulder and asks me if the group of people two rows down from us look familiar. I take a gander and say "yep, but I can't place them." My father takes out a business card, taps one of them one the shoulder and hands them the card. They all turn around and nearly fall out of their seats in a moment of "oh my God." Turns out, they were our former next door neighbors who had moved to Orlando two years earlier.
2. While doing a study abroad gig in CPH, I decide to go to DUB for part of spring break. I'm strolling outside of Trinity College about 11:30 pm (after the pubs had closed), mildly buzzed, with a heavy coat and full beard. Far from my usual college look in the States. All of the sudden, I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn around and I'm about to punch the offender, when I hear "hey are you Golftravelr???" As it turns out, it was a dear classmate of mine from college in the States who was studying in France. Needless to say, over the course of the next few days, many many Guiness were consumed.
Coincidentally, during episode #2 above, my classmate and I are in a pub and she had called home while in DUB and learned that Vanderbilt had won the NCAA basketball championship that evening. In one of those weird twists of fate, we were in a pub, having a few pints and heard some American accents. We go over to say hello, and it turns out that the four guys we introduced ourselves to all went to Vandy and had no idea that Vandy had won. Needless to say, when we informed them of the news, a serious party insued!
3. On a flight from LGA-MCI, I end up sitting next to my 6th grade teacher. Now that was weird to say the least!!
1. Family vacation to Mexico City in 1977. For some reason we decided to go see a bullfight. Sitting in the areana, watching the bull fight, all of the sudden my father taps me on the shoulder and asks me if the group of people two rows down from us look familiar. I take a gander and say "yep, but I can't place them." My father takes out a business card, taps one of them one the shoulder and hands them the card. They all turn around and nearly fall out of their seats in a moment of "oh my God." Turns out, they were our former next door neighbors who had moved to Orlando two years earlier.
2. While doing a study abroad gig in CPH, I decide to go to DUB for part of spring break. I'm strolling outside of Trinity College about 11:30 pm (after the pubs had closed), mildly buzzed, with a heavy coat and full beard. Far from my usual college look in the States. All of the sudden, I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn around and I'm about to punch the offender, when I hear "hey are you Golftravelr???" As it turns out, it was a dear classmate of mine from college in the States who was studying in France. Needless to say, over the course of the next few days, many many Guiness were consumed.
Coincidentally, during episode #2 above, my classmate and I are in a pub and she had called home while in DUB and learned that Vanderbilt had won the NCAA basketball championship that evening. In one of those weird twists of fate, we were in a pub, having a few pints and heard some American accents. We go over to say hello, and it turns out that the four guys we introduced ourselves to all went to Vandy and had no idea that Vandy had won. Needless to say, when we informed them of the news, a serious party insued!
3. On a flight from LGA-MCI, I end up sitting next to my 6th grade teacher. Now that was weird to say the least!!