In late 2019, we were embarking a fabulous escape from our ordinary lives and was to be 14 nights on a Transatlantic voyage. We flew to Rome where our Journey would began. We boarded our ship with expectations of exploring new places and meeting people from all over the world. After just a few days on the ship we were sandwiched in an elevator; I cannot really remember where we were headed but it was most likely the ships buffet… I will not lie. Everyone else on the ship must have had the same idea because we were packed like sardines. On elevators, it is an unspoken rule that you face forward and do not look at the faces around you… however, being the curious person I am, I turned my head to the right and thought the person next to me looked like someone I once knew. I did a double take and it was exactly who I thought it was. She looked exactly the same! I called out her name and she recognized me right away. We both laughed at the irony of running into each other in the Mediterranean. We provided some much-needed entertainment for the elevator passengers as we realized we were meeting this way after so long. She was someone that I worked with over 20 years ago and we formed a bond back then and ate lunch together several times per week. She is someone I could always confide in, bounce off ideas and discuss our daily struggles. She always told me the truth. I appreciated that about her and our friendship was something that I was grateful for at the time. I admired her. The company we worked with went through many changes and we later went in separate directions. I had not seen her in over 20 years, but I thought of her often. On the course of our 14-night cruise, we were able to meet up at the Martini Bar to reminisce and catch up. It was such a nice surprise!
We are really looking forward to getting back on the Ocean liners and have more fabulous experiences. More to come on some ideas that we have for making group trips for singles or not so singles to meet people and travel in small groups safely post COVID 19.
You just never know where and when you are going to run into someone from your past, more reason to heed the old saying, “never burn your bridges”! We would love to hear about the times you have run into someone from your past during your travels.
