What are the Odds?

Icelanders are über friendly. The population of Iceland is smallish. The odds are in their favor. On this trip, there were many coincidences involving the people we met and it all began in the United States...

Our flight was delayed in Newark, so that meant hours of chillin' and chatting with fellow fliers at the departure gate. The lady behind me overheard me talking about the Blue Lagoon and she turned around and introduced herself as Lara, a native Icelander now living in Connecticut. She was a woman in her young 60's, incredibly friendly, pretty, and in great shape (of course she was, we all know the Icelandic gene pool is ridiculous). -- She's pictured above giving us travel advice -- We get to talking and tell her that we are members of the National Philharmonic Chorale and it turns out that our concert is at Langholtskirkja, the church she attended when she lived in Iceland. Coincidence #1.

By and by, everyone in our immediate seating area was BFF as we waited for our plane, including a guy about my age. We include him in our conversation and find out that he was moving to Iceland! Lara asked more questions about where he was going to live (Reykjavík) and somehow she figures out that she knows his grandfather! Since Iceland's population isn't too large, it makes sense that something like that could happen- but to be on the same flight? Now that's just crazy awesome. Coincidence #2.

We also made American friends at the gate, the Hyman family from St. Louis, Missouri. Randall Hyman is a photographer who fell in love with an Icelandic woman when he was younger (hence his love for the country). He speaks Icelandic (!) and visits often. His wife is a travel writer for magazines like AAA (quite the travel duo!) and accompanying them on this trip was their daughter who also spoke some Icelandic. They were headed north to Akureyri to take pictures and write. Turns out, that of all the hotels in Reykjavík, they were staying our hotel- the Hotel Plaza. It was fun running into them in the lobby and at at breakfast! Coincidence #3.

What a great way to instantly connect with other Iceland lovers!

Only in Iceland. (For surrious.)