The world is really a small place

[Bob from L.A. !]

About 5 weeks ago, just before I left California, I was mentioning to my neighbor that I was going to be in Switzerland during my time away, hiking the Via Francigena.
During this conversation she said in passing, some 60 years ago she lived in Lausanne and had attended a private all girls Catholic boarding high school.
She provided me the name of the school and kiddingly said. "I haven't been there in 55 year's". If you see it, take a photo and email it to me".
Today, a rest day for me in Lausanne, I got up late and walked to wash my laundry.
As I was walking, about a block away from where I am staying I walked by this gated school and there it was, the school my neighbor had attended some 60 years ago.
Needless to say I was shocked at stumbling upon this location without even looking for it.

 

[Bradypus]

I walked for nearly three weeks on Shikoku before seeing another non-Japanese person. Waiting at a temple stamp office for my book to be filled-in someone behind me said "You don't look very Japanese". I turned around to find a man about my own age - my first European contact in Japan - who turned out to be from Haverfordwest which is a small town about 40 miles from my home in Wales!

 

[mspath]

One stormy night late January 2009 in Trinidad de Arre at the Marist fathers' albergue I was writing in the common room a blog post on happenstance, chance encounter and camino serendipity.

At the very moment that I defined the word 'serendipity' another pilgrim knocked at the door. Happily speaking Italian he was welcomed by two Spanish pilgrims. The Italian entered the common room, turned to say 'buona sera' to me and then enthusiastically shouted 'Margaret'! Imagine my delight upon realizing that he was Mario whom I had last seen during breakfast at Burguete the year before in 2008!! Another fortuitous chance encounter indeed.

We and a French pilgrim, Polo, had met on the little train going to St Jean Pied de Port and together walked up the Valcarlos route to Roncesvalles. As Mario and I nostalgically recollected those 'good old times' we tentatively promised to meet again "next year on the camino". ...Although our paths have never re-crossed, one never knows !

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

I think Walt Disney described it best when he coined the phrase; "It's a small world after all".

 

[trecile]

I think Walt Disney described it best when he coined the phrase; "It's a small world after all".

Thanks for giving me that earworm.

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Sorry @trecile - LOL!!!

 

[wisepilgrim]

I once had a conversation with a fellow backpacker in the Oviedo bus station. Fast forward several years to when I’m waiting for a friend to arrive at La Guardia airport.

As the passengers are leaving the secure area to find their friend and family, I spot the same fellow walking toward me. He recognize me too and we greeted each other by name.

But to make the world even smaller get this: he was walking alongside the person I was picking up, talking to her. She was very confused that I knew his name. But not half as confused as the woman and child that were standing next to me and with whom I had been chatting with for 30 minutes.

It turns out they were his family, and my friend that was next to him, well she sat next to him on the flight.

This kind of thing happens to me frightening often, but I keep on talking to strangers.

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

@wisepilgrim - Great story. (See Walt was right?) LOL!

 

[CWBuff]

Needless to say I was shocked at stumbling upon this location without even looking for it.

View attachment 148800

Camino Provides - "IT" stumbled upon YOU!

 

[CWBuff]

My wife flew into SdC to meet me on the Plaza when I walked in there. Spending majority of the day there (not so much waiting for me - we knew my ETA roughly obviously - but just looking at all the Pilgrims arriving...she kind of really got into it) she started chatting up to a couple who were also from US.

Fast-reverse back 31 days while I am waiting to check-in at Orisson 3 young (19-20 yo) pilgrims on their way to Bourda and who naively thought that they can stop at Orisson and order "whatever they want" (you know - Corned Beef Special, hold the mayo with extra lettuce.... LOL).... As most of us know - that didn't exactly flied (flew?) very well with Mme Carole - I had to pull one of the guys (Josh) to the side and sort of explain what is what...
We then bumped into each other on a daily basis for the next 8-9 days until Sansol at which point we 'lost' each other.

Fast forward back to the day of my arrival into SdC - coming upon the Santiago de Compostela monument when we all just got into the city proper - I spotted a group of pilgrims taking pictures and yelled out to them so they can take mine. Imagine the surprise when we saw each other - yes it was those 3! And so amidst of swapping the stories of our "individual" Caminos we 4 happily walked onto Plaza Obradoiro... where I was warmly greeted by my wife and Josh - by his parents... I guess you can figure it out, right?!
One of the truly funny things is that at some point my wife did quip to Josh's Mom - "wouldn't it be funny if my husband knew your son" which of course got dismissed by both of them as 'nearly impossible....

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

At the Boston airport on our way to Barcelona Peg and I and a traveling companion chatted a while with a couple who were going to stay with friends elsewhere in Catalonia. A week or so later we went to visit Dalí's home and garden in Cadaqués. We went in early October without a reservation and did get the tickets for the garden tour but of course the house will not fit so many people and reservations should be made several days in advance. We stopped at the ticket office several times in the hopes that there was a cancellation. That didn't happen. In the garden though we met the couple that we chatted with at the Boston airport and we chatted again. The wife's leg was hurting and they decided to skip the house tour. They gave Peg and our travelling companion their house tour tickets for later in the afternoon (I took a walk in the area).

We loved the garden; you can see pictures of it online. Peg says that the house wasn't particularly Dalíesque and more like a typical upper class Spanish house but if you are going so far anyway you may as well see it.

 

[Rex]

I think Walt Disney described it best when he coined the phrase; "It's a small world after all".

But that song is one of the worst "Ear Worms" of all time... you can't stop hearing it. :>)

 

[Rex]

PS -- I see that Trecile agrees with my musical "taste" or "distaste", but I love your story and your friend back home will be very happy to hear that you now know from whence she came.
Keep on truckin' and be well.
Buon Cammino!

 

[lt56ny]

Thanks for giving me that earworm.

Not just an earworm but a vivid memory. When My older daughter was 4, Grandma took everyone to Disneyland. Her mom had a pamphlet or something that had a description of the rides that she read to my girl the night before. When we got there, Daddy's girl grabbed me and said I want to ride It's a small world. Well we ended up riding it at least 5 times. It was painful for me but having her on my lap laughing and hugging me and looking at me at the end of each ride with those baby blue eyes asking if we can go again.
Not got to go on Space Mountain or some of the other big people rides but I remember her love and love it. I can't say the same for the ride. But without the ride maybe there is no memory. EIiher way that song drove me batty.

 

[Sugaree]

PS -- I see that Trecile agrees with my musical "taste" or "distaste", but I love your story and your friend back home will be very happy to hear that you now know from whence she came.
Keep on truckin' and be well.
Buon Cammino!

I'd rather have Truckin' as my earworm anyday!

 

[CWBuff]

Not got to go on Space Mountain or some of the other big people rides but I remember her love and love it. I can't say the same for the ride. But without the ride maybe there is no memory. EIiher way that song drove me batty.

1. I think @trecile will happily march forth on del Norte singing Its a Small World from now on (after all)
2. @lt56ny - can you even for a brief moment imagine if you went on Space mountain and they were piping Its a Small World there as well? IN THE DARK!?!?!?!?

 

[Bob P]

I was standing in the square at Santiago looking around for where to go and this guy walked up and asked me if I needed any help (in a Texan drawl). I said I was lookin' for a good dinner spot and he recognized my accent (also from Texas) and he asked where I was from. I said south of Houston, he said that a lot of ground, I mean where?! As we started grilling on each other ( as Texans will do) it turned out he grew up on the street I now live on, about 200 yards from my gate! His sister went to high school with my wife.
It's a small world!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I was standing in the square at Santiago looking around for where to go and this guy walked up and asked me if I needed any help (in a Texan drawl). I said I was lookin' for a good dinner spot and he recognized my accent (also from Texas) and he asked where I was from. I said south of Houston, he said that a lot of ground, I mean where?! As we started grilling on each other ( as Texans will do) it turned out he grew up on the street I now live on, about 200 yards from my gate! His sister went to high school with my wife.
It's a small world!

Two weeks ago I was walking from Muxia back to Santiago and had stopped for a coffee. When I walked back inside to pay, a man asked me if I was American as he'd heard me talking. I sid yes, and he then said he was from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I told him I lived there, too, in a nearby suburb for seven years while growing up. We got to chatting and although he was ten years younger, he'd lived on my same street and we'd attended the same schools.
It's a small world after all!

 

[CWBuff]

And we all sing "Oh well if ever was therever...."
...Oops ...
Wrong song

 

[Sue127]

Not a çamino encounter but still bizarre.
Many years ago we travelled fron France to meet our soon to be daughter-in-law's parents in Australia. We went on a holiday together and in the vast expanse of Kakadu National Park we were walking when a voice called out 'Té, is that you?' (our daughter-in-law). This young lady had been at school with Té, in Belgium!

 

[Darleen Taylor]

In 2016 I was walking the Camino Frances and found a pink 'cooling' scarf on the ground not too far outside Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Every village we passed through, I flashed the scarf and asked if anyone had lost it, but no luck. We were on the long...and very hot...stretch going into Belorado when we passed two women and they spotted the scarf. I was so happy that I had found the owner.
Several days later, we left Hornillos before sunup, and as the sun was rising, I wanted to take a picture. I then realized (when I couldn't see clearly through my camera) that I had forgotten my glasses on the end of my bed at the albergue in Hornillos. I started the hour-long walk back, and about 15 minutes later, a gentleman on a bicycle stops me and asks me if I was the woman who had forgotten her glasses. He offered to ride back on his bike and look for them. I gave him the details of where I left them, but continued back toward Hornillos just in case. About a half hour later he returns with my glasses!!!! Believe it or not, he was the husband of the woman whose scarf I had found several days earlier!!!! Small, small world...and as the saying goes. The camino provides.

 

[kellyzraghavan]

I was in the Madrid airport waiting for the call to board to Santiago. I noticed several pilgrim-like folks there as well: Germans with their leather boots and Americans in Altras. One couple turned out to be from San Diego, where I had just relocated to in 2022. When the woman of the pair went to the bathroom, I asked her partner: “what did she say her name was?” He said “Leticia” and I asked “Letty Matibag?!” It turned out that we had played on the same softball team in San Diego 50 years before and hadn’t seen each other since then. They went on to hike the Camino Frances and I the Norte. We WhatsApp’d back and forth over the ensuing weeks. They arrived in Santiago the day before I did, and she took a video of me walking into the square. It’s a small

 

[Rex]

Just finished with the VF in Rome on May 19th. Now reminiscing about that exhilarating journey... and planning my next Camino. How do you spell Camino Addict?!!
Due to happy circumstance, on my way home to the USA, I took a side trip to Berlin to meet my wife (a retired classical musician) and witness a special Berlin Philharmonic concert.
As we were queued up at Brandenburg Airport to board our flight back to Seattle, the passengers arriving in Berlin were coming up the jetway toward us. Imagine our surprise when two old musician friends of my wife walked off the plane. They were there for a Bach choral festival and we had not crossed paths for over 30 years. What a delight; an all too short visit and a reminder that we live on a small planet where wonderful serendipity happens! Buen Camino!

 

[Kiwi-family]

I met a kiwi couple on the Camino Francés a couple of weeks ago. Nothing unusual in that. The wife is deaf and even though they live at the opposite end of the country to me I mentioned that my neighbour is deaf.
When I gave her name, the wife described her perfectly! When the kiwi couple visits our city later this year we are all having dinner together at my place!