Andy wrote:
>
>> They do seem not to bother with the stamps. On my first European trip we
>> arrived in Paris then hopped on a train and ended up going through
>> Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco and back to France. I had to hold up
>> my passport when I arrived in passport and again on the train going
>> through Switzerland. No one even opened it, not did they bother with
>> Americans, though they were very thorough with the eastern Europeans. On
>> my next trip I arrived in Amsterdam and then on to Copenhagen where the
>> guy glanced at it and stamped it. We later headed down to Germany and
>> France and were asked our citizenship upon arrival in Germany, but they
>> never asked for passports. On the next trip we flew to Hamburg by way
>> of Munich and they did actually look at the passport but did not stamp
>> it. It was stamped last year in Estonia and Sweden.
>
>
> Dave,
>
> I must say, you've been on some grand travels! Good for you!
>
> The world really IS a very small place nowadays! :-)
>

It becomes even more obvious how small it is when you travel thousands
of miles and run into people you know. Not once, but twice I have
boarded a plane in Vancouver and ended up sitting right next to an old
friend from high school. A few years ago my brother and his wife were in
England and ended up talking with a couple they met in a small museum.
They were talking about where they were from.... Canada... Ontario...
Niagara ..... the other couple lived around the corner from me. She had
been one of my classmates at university.


Then there are the small degrees of separation. You may recall the
massacre at Luxor about a decade ago. A friend of mine was in Egypt and
was supposed to go there that day but didn't because he wasn't feeling
well so he went the next day. My son was living in Africa for a while
and used to hang out with some South Africans. One of their party was
not feeling well so they stayed at their hotel and went the next day.
Both my friend and my son's friends postponed their visits to Luxor on
the day of the massacre and went the next day, missing disaster by one day.