1/100000000000000000+ chance

[uregobland]

I'd like to share an amazing story about an amazing coincidence, me and my friend had a few years ago.


I'm from Europe, in september 2008 I went on holiday to the United States with four people, friends and family of mine. Our good friend Vincent planned a tour with a recreational vehicle, we hired for a month, through five states of the westside of America. So basically every day we were somewhere else. Whether it was in Colorado or in Nevada, in the mountains or in the desert, every evening we ate our barbecue dinner in a different setting. Truly a vacation of my life, as you can imagine.


But I'll get to the point.


One evening, we were finishing another great road trip for the day, arriving on a campground somewhere in Arizona. Since it's 2,5 years ago and we were somewhere else practically everyday, I can't remember the exact location.
We found out there was an information centre with a laundry room. As we had plenty of laundry, Vincent and I decided to went there, it was about a 20 minutes walk. When we arrived and put our laundry in the washing machine, we visited the information centre's shop to kill some time.
After that, we went back to the laundry centre to check on our laundry. We found out we still had 10 minutes to wait, so Vincent grabbed an old newspaper somebody left behind to read. The last few minutes we waited outside, sitting on a bench.


And then it happened.


A man on a bicycle arrived at the information centre. Vincent noticed him and said to me “I know this guy!” Of course I said to Vincent “Yeah right!”. Then Vincent said “you don't believe me?” and shouts “Hey Mark!”at the man on the bicycle. Suddenly, this man turns around and started to wave, with a little suprise on his face, and said “Hi!”. And he approaches us. I thought WTF? Vincent knows him?! Could there be more of a coincidence? The answer is yes. Much more. Mark walked to us and we all greet while I re-attaching my jaw to my face.


Then the bizarre part.


Vincent shows a newspaper article to Mark and me. On this article we saw Mark on a bicycle in pennsylvania, starting an east-to-west tour on a bicycle through America. So he decided to cycle from eastside to the westside of America, took his daily break at the information centre at a campground in Arizona. In the mean time, we were on vacation driving everyday, from location to location, in a vast five states area of America. Only to arrive at the exact location and time, where Mark is going to take a brake. But what makes it such an unbelievable coincidence is that Vincent saw Mark with his story in a OLD newspaper, just before he arrived and recognize him. Yep. WTF 2.0.

I think even the chance of winning all the lotery's in the world is way more likely then this.Yet it did happened, it is a TRUE strory. Though I can imagine its hard to believe. Heck, I know it's true but even I'm still flabbergasted about it when I think of it. That's the reason I put this story online. To share it with you. No agenda, no meaning. Just a hell of a coincidence, BIG TIME.

Sorry for the long story, thanks for reading!

Edit: Remember, if Vincent and I arrived just 5 minutes earlier at the information centre, none of this would have happened.

[Laserschwert]

When I was still in school I went on vacation to Munich with my parents with their caravan. And I was more than a little suprised to see my (absolutely hated) English teacher on the neighbor pitch. I'd preferred winning the lottery.

[GuruGuru214]

I once had a friend who lived across the street. At some point, he and his family packed up and moved to Kansas. So imagine my surprise a few years later when my family was on vacation at Yellowstone National Park and we ran into them in the gift shop.

[Martin McFly]

My family and I were vacationing in Italy and it was just a few days before we were leaving. We had just finished eating a nearby restaurant and decided to walk around a bit as opposed to going straight back to the hotel.

We walked around for maybe an hour before deciding it was time to return to the hotel. Imagine our surprise when a limo pulled up in front of the restaurant we were passing and Elton John stepped out and passed right in front of us. It was only for a few moments since he was clearly meeting someone for dinner inside but it was a pretty amazing experience.

If we had walked around for just a minute longer or had we gone back to the hotel earlier, we would have never seen him.

Quite the coincidence.

[All-thumbs]

I love weird coincidences like that. I remember when I went on vacation out of town one time, I ran into my old english teacher. I was surprised to see her busting a move on a table in a random bar. It was funny because my friend and I only went in there to use the phone to call a cab back to our hotel.

[Origami]

I have had this happened to me on 4 vacations.
I am from the Netherlands too.

1) I was 13 and joined a friend and his parents to a camping site in France. Coincidentally a friend from class was there too.(okay coincidence not that super big)
2) I was in Turkey and coincidentally checked in the same hotels out of 1000s as close friends.
3) I was in Turkey again and met people from my class on a random middle of nowhere festival
4) I was in Morocco. I am turkish and turkish people rarely go to Morocco. So I was on this beach in Morocco and suddenly in front of me was another turkish friend.

[uregobland]

Nice stories guys! Do you believe these kind of coincidences have some sort of a meaning, or that it's just what it is: a coincidence?

While I think it's "just" a coincidence, sometimes they are amazing nonetheless.

[Origami]

^
It's just a coincidence. Statistically it's not unlikely that you would meet someone you know on the other side of the world. We all know quite a large number of people even though we are not always aware of that. Also....people tend to befriend people with whom they share common interests. So there is an higher chance of wanting to visit the same country as someone in you circle of people. I can already imagine what people I could bump into in NY that I am friends with here in The Netherlands.

[TomPravetz]

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.

[uregobland]

Originally Posted by Origami

^
It's just a coincidence. Statistically it's not unlikely that you would meet someone you know on the other side of the world. We all know quite a large number of people even though we are not always aware of that. Also....people tend to befriend people with whom they share common interests. So there is an higher chance of wanting to visit the same country as someone in you circle of people. I can already imagine what people I could bump into in NY that I am friends with here in The Netherlands.

I agree completely. But seeing a person (not a friend or relative) in a old newspaper on the other side of the world, just before he arrived at your exact location is just bizarre. That's the funny thing about some coincidences, how big are the odds? I think in my case it's impossible to calculate. Groetjes trouwens!

[GuybrushWilco]

That's an interesting story uregobland . That's very strange that you would be there when he shows up, and happen to have read the news paper just prior to that. Did he seem like a nice person? I hope you enjoyed your visit to my country .

[uregobland]

Originally Posted by GuybrushWilco

That's an interesting story uregobland . That's very strange that you would be there when he shows up, and happen to have read the news paper just prior to that. Did he seem like a nice person? I hope you enjoyed your visit to my country .

Yeah, he was a nice person. We only talked about a few minutes, but from what I can tell he was a dedicated man in terms of personal challenge, and of course he too was amazed.

I love your country, was my second time in the States. But certainly not the last! Really love the vast variety of landscapes, it's beautiful!