What I am about to tell you is absolutely true. First let me start by telling you that my wife’s father was born in England. He and his family came to Canada when he was a young man and then his family migrated to America. Consequently, my wife, has many family members who are English. They come to us as time and work allows and we go to see them as well.

Several years ago, one of my wife’s cousins and his wife decided to go on a long cruise from San Diego, through the South Pacific and to Australia. They came and stayed with us for a few days to get on American time and for a nice visit.

They left on the cruise and had a wonderful time. At some point we were able to see them again or talk on the phone and they related some stories about their trip to us. One of the stories follows.

They met a younger couple while dining over several evenings and found that the couple lived in Manchester England. Some of my wife’s family live there also. The girlfriend, however was originally from Newzealand.

On the trip, this couple left the ship at the first port of call in New Zealand and rented a car to visited some family and friends there. Then they drove up to where the ship was to come into port again to board the ship. When the ship attempted to come into port the sea was too rough to land, a few days later. Their ship sailed on without them left without them. At the next port in Australia, they found their belongings on the dock and were left behind. There cruise was over.  Follow me so far?

So several years later my wife and I went to India. We traveled with a company out of England that does small groups. We were traveling on a bus and going from one city to the next interesting place and learning about our traveling companions along the way.

At one meal we were seated with a man from Manchester and we started up a conversation and I related this story to him. Guess what. This was the same man who had been traveling with my wife’s cousins on their cruise, a few years before.  What do you suppose the odds of that happening are? I guess it is a small world after all.

This is not the first time that this has happened to my wife and I.

Years ago we went on a trip to see the fall colors and visit the Civil War battle fields. We met a very nice couple on the trip from Sacramento, California. We were with another couple that we travel with, you know, my tennis friend and his lovely wife.

So a few years later the four of us go on an Alaskan cruise together.  As we were getting ready to board the ship, I saw a familiar face. My buddy saw the face and recognized it also. We discussed where we had been to together lately. Because we live quite far apart and we hadn’t been together since the trip to the Civil War battle fields, we knew this guy had to be from a trip we had done together. We soon realized that the man we recognized had been on the Civil War battle fields trip with us also, along with his wife.

I suppose you all have stories like these, but they are a little crazy when you think of all the places one can go and the different companies and times of year one might choose. I guess that’s part of the fun of traveling. To see and find the unexpected.