Serendipity. It’s the mother’s milk of happy travels.

It’s that being in the right place at the right time convergence of events that can, as one of my friends put it, “make you feel like the sun is rising in your stomach.”

Oddly enough, these sunrise moments often happen when plans go awry and schedules are rendered meaningless.

Take the case of Mark Gold, head of the California-based environmental organization Heal the Bay. He travels a lot, but always on business, to a conference here, a workshop there, to lobby legislators in Washington D.C.

So it was with special delight and excitement that he and his wife Lisette finally got away without the office calling.

To accomplish this disappearing act, they went all the way to Bora Bora. But getting there and getting back takes time. Considerable time. Only made worse by a day of airline delays while waiting for their flight home.

What to do with all the extra hours?

How about talking with the Londoners, sunburned beet-red, who were also waiting and waiting for their flight home? Then spend the day discovering all the things you have in common and voila, over a decade later you are still the closest of friends.

One of my favorite “perfect place, perfect timing, perfect people” moments came at San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. My husband and I had booked a hotel with plans to take our then 5-year-old daughter to see the park the next day. Usually the family slacker, my intention this time was to get up early, have breakfast and get there before the crowds.

But as anyone who has ever traveled with friends, lovers or family knows, no one ever seems to share the same schedule, agenda or temperament. So while I planned to get there early, my overworked husband and overtired daughter decided to sleep in. Instead of getting to the park at 9, we sauntered in at about 11 a.m., leaving my plans in the dust and the three of us standing in a very long line at the tram that goes around the park.

Just as I got going on a good slow burn the universe laughed and serendipity saved the day.

Because in spite of the 20 people ahead of us, we got bumped to the front of the line when the tram guy yelled out, “Anybody a party of three?” Seems there was only one bench left with room on it and it was just right for us.

So we boarded, sat down and then looked over at our bench mates. There sat a couple in their 50s with their 5-year-old daughter adopted from Bolivia. Amazing.

We were a couple in our 50s with a 5-year-old daughter adopted from China.  (at right, the kids play together)

And like Mark and Lisette in Bora Bora, we knew we’d found that instant connection that can lead to a lifetime of friendship.

So after spending the day getting to know one another, we made sure to stay in touch. Our daughters adore each other. We go on vacation together. And even though they moved to the other end of the country this year, we still talk to them all the time. Because when serendipity introduces you to some of the most special people on the planet, you’d be a fool not to say “Hello.”

Grateful Traveler Tip: When plans go awry and schedules become meaningless, sit back and enjoy yourself. Who knows what the universe has in store? If it’s people who seem like you’ve known them forever when you only met them that day, take their number, get their email and stay in touch.

Then wait for the sunrise in your stomach.

By Jamie Simons for PeterGreenberg.com.

Read more from the Grateful Traveler series.

Check out the post that launched the Grateful Traveler series: An Eskimo Showed Me the Way.

You might also like Grateful Traveler: Life Lessons from Adoption.