Chance Encounters

Special Bonus - Introducing: Civilian or Spy

When a Russian-born American citizen named Ilya Beloozerov is gunned down by the FBI in 2024, the authorities refuse to say why they’d killed him. CNN’s Isabelle Chapman

Great Escapes: The Sisters Who Got Stuck in a Scottish Castle

Great Escapes is a series about how sometimes travel doesn't go as planned, and how those moments often lead to the best stories. From a daring rescue atop the highest mo

Great Escapes: She Was a Broke Teenager Stranded in a Strange Town. Then Two Nuns Saved the Day

Great Escapes is a series about how sometimes travel doesn't go as planned, and how those moments often lead to the best stories. From a daring rescue atop the highest mo

Great Escapes: The Man Who Saved Two Strangers’ Lives on a Mountain

 Great Escapes is a series about how sometimes travel doesn't go as planned, and how those moments often lead to the best stories. From a daring rescue atop the highest m

English Channel: The Summer Spark That Never Ended

American Kerri Cunningham fell for Brit Dirk Stevens when they met as teenagers on vacation. They were each other’s first love but lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic

Pittsburgh: Our Five-Minute Airplane Chat Led to Lasting Love

Hunter Smith was working the gate, John Lihas was working the flight. The two had a five-minute conversation that set in motion an unexpected travel love story that’s sti

London: Standby Airplane Tickets Changed Our Lives

American Southerner Vickie Moretz didn’t know what “standby” meant when she booked a cheap flight to London in 1982. Just before takeoff, she was rushed onboard and seate

Mazatlán: The Summer I Ran Away with a Yacht Captain

Bob Parsons was an American yacht captain. Beverly Carriveau was a Canadian librarian. One summer in Mazatlán, Mexico, a “thunderbolt" passed between them, and their live

Yellowstone: We Bonded Over Ice Cream, Then Eloped

American hiker Andrew McGowan and Taiwanese student Shallen Yu spent one glorious day together eating ice cream, stargazing and bonding over peach cobbler in Yellowstone

Rome: We Fell in Love at the Trevi Fountain

American Catherine Tondelli won a trip to Rome, Italy in the summer of 1999. On her first night, she threw three coins in the city's Trevi Fountain and came to face-to-fa

"I'll take a chance, hop on the back of his motorcycle."

When Rachel Décoste traveled to West Africa’s Republic of Benin in 2018, she was anticipating a life-changing trip. Then she jumped on the back of Benin local Honoré Orog

“After that night we were instantly like best friends.”

Adopted from South Korea to the US as a baby, Linsay DeBates returned to her birth country for the first time in 2000, aged 19. By chance, she met fellow American Doug Gi

 “I found the guy I'm going to marry on a trail.”

Trish Salazar and Aaron Toro connected instantly while trekking in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. Within days, they were committed to a long-distance relationship and

 "We went out skinny-dipping that night."

Canadian student Bianca Gignac only had a few days left in Italy when she crossed paths with Italian local Alessandro Morelli in the beautiful Cinque Terre region. Here's

" We started flirting in Mongolia. We kissed in Siberia, somewhere on the train."

Frenchwoman Marie-Claire Martineau and American traveler Elaine Comerford were thrown together by fate on board the Trans-Siberian Railway in the summer of 1991. Here's h

“Just a brief second can change things in a wonderful way in life."

Italian traveler Cristina Farina arrived in London in the summer of 1984, only to be stood up by a man she met on an airplane. But then Cristina started chatting with Ame

Introducing: Chance Encounters

The unexpected connections you make while traveling can change your life: from romance that sparks at 30,000 feet to unlikely friendships that begin on the road. Chance E