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This Thanksgiving weekend CNN Travel roundup brings you stories of love, family, and friendship from around the world. Keep your dinner napkins with you in case they get torn.
British woman Charlotte Phillips knows a thing or two about plot twists, having edited trailers for films such as the 2006 romantic comedy “The Holiday.”
What she never expected was to become the protagonist of a real-life love story that begins thousands of miles from home in an Indian hospital.
In 2009, while Charlotte was visiting her mother, her mother, with a twinkle in her eye, introduced her to a young American patient named Amy B. Shah.
Although Amy had never considered a relationship with a woman, she quickly developed a bond with Charlotte and asked her out to dinner. During their date, they talked and laughed for hours and their friendship grew even stronger.
“I remember she was showing me something on her phone as we were sitting on the hospital steps, and I remember wanting to kiss her,” says Amy.
Here’s what happened next.
It was the night before Thanksgiving in 1980, and a snowstorm was raging in Missouri.
When 18-year-old John Morris’ car spun off the road, the down-to-earth or “naive” teenager sought the only shelter available. It was a clapboard farmhouse set back from the road.
Since no one was home, he tried calling the towing company (no answer) and washed the dishes as a good deed to the unknown host.
John was trying to settle down for the night and was contemplating whether he could feed himself with the food in the fridge when he heard a voice on the other side of the front door.
Meeting him with the owners turned out to be an amazing night for all of them.
Mayumi Maruyama grew up in a suburban home on the outskirts of Detroit. Her father was a man of few words, but always knew how to make people laugh and was always there for Mayumi and her sister. There were no school events that he missed.
Then, when Mayumi was 12 years old, her father passed away.
“For more than 20 years, I quietly accepted the weight of his death,” she writes in this thoughtful memoir. “What saved me was his love for the camera.”
His photo albums have taken her on a journey around the world, from her childhood in Michigan to her father’s birthplace of Japan and his life in Indiana, Turkey and India. she says: “By walking his path, I came to know him and myself.”
In the summer of 2013, American hiker Andrew McGowan and Taiwanese student Sharen Yu spent a wonderful day eating ice cream, stargazing, and bonding over peach cobbler in Yellowstone National Park. They were determined to stick together despite adversity.
Two years later, over the objections of Sharen’s parents, they eloped to the foothills of Utah, where Andrew grew up. They were facing family problems, but the words of the fortune teller helped bring everyone on the same path.
CNN Travel’s “Chance Encounters” podcast currently has 12 episodes, including this one, available on Audio Hub. A companion to Francesca Street’s hit columns, this column shares incredible true stories about the amazing connections we have with travel.
Tony Shalhoub finds fortune for less than $7 in Tokyo
Actor Tony Shalhoub, host of the CNN original series “Tony Shalhoub Breaking Bread,” is on a mission to find the world’s best and most amazing foods for under $10.
In Tokyo, I tried taiyaki, a specialty of Japanese street food stalls. This sweet is inspired by the red sea bream, which is a lucky charm in Japan.
This American couple created a spreadsheet of countries they could move to by scoring things like hiking and weather.
They set their sights on southern Europe.
This Japanese-Irish polyglot achieved worldwide fame by speaking dozens of languages.
His spontaneous street interviews are both a personal challenge and a chance to connect.
How a 60-mile sixth grade field trip turned into a life-changing encounter.
It all started with a lunch box.
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