Is it a Small World?
Are your bags (and boards) packed? You, your friends, those around you out east are all thinking the same things; planning for winter travel now that the weather and daylight have downshifted. So, when you bump into someone while traveling, is it necessarily a surprise?
Why is it we seem to run into people we know when we are away? Is the Universe that small? Is it true serendipity? Or is it that we run in the same circles and not only does like attract like, like also likes the same places to go. Domestic or abroad.
Are you on the same school calendars? Seek travel on holidays? Are avoiding or wanting similar weather patterns? Or likely visiting places during their ‘season’ finding parallel experiences? And why do we get so excited when we cross paths with someone we know?
Some point to the contrast effect. Far from home, our brains are juxtaposing someone in the predictable day-to-day surroundings we know with the stark contrast of seeing them out of context. The brain is working hard anyway on processing the novel elements of an unfamiliar environment, so our emotional response automatically is more intense. Suddenly, it’s your friend from yoga class! You immediately feel a rush of calm, even joy seeing someone you know somewhere else; our expectations are caught off guard.
Even if you love traveling, it is draining, like speaking another language all day, so an instant anchor from home feels ‘safe’ putting us in some kind of comfort zone. It feels as if the odds are so low that we credit ‘magic’ when it could just be a matter of math and a numbers game that we bump into an acquaintance. Your social circles likely favor similar airlines, destinations, activities; you all read that article featuring the best (you name it), and your schedules may be similar to determine when or where you travel. And since our brains are on high alert when we are away, everything is novel, and we are much more likely to spot a face in an unknown place than at home.
We are also likely to remember the time we were across the world and ran into that local artist on a boat in the middle of nowhere, while forgetting about the thousands of strangers we passed during the rest of our travels. The older we are and more dynamic our lives, the numbers prove that it’s more likely to encounter someone we know while traveling. The dopamine hit resulting from the shock and deviation from the ‘predictable’ feels like (false) fate, but the adrenaline just signals the surprise, not a cosmic intervention. We are not safer in this new place just because we see a person out of context, but it is fun, and it is likely, especially if you are a surfer on the east end. Happy travels!