podcast
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 Encounters, the podcast companion to the hit column on CNN.com from Francesca Street, chronicles incredible real-life stories of unforgettable travel connections.
“Just a brief second can change things in a wonderful way in life."
Chance Encounters
Feb 10, 2025
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 American stranger Matt Reineke in London’s Trafalgar Square, changing the course of their lives forever.
Read Cristina & Matt's story on CNN.com
Episode Transcript
Francesca Street
00:00:00
Picture this: you're on an airplane and a captivating stranger comes and sits down right next to you. Cristina Farina grew up in Florence, Italy, watching romantic movies, dreaming about living out her own cinematic love story. When Cristina was 18, in the year 1984, she found herself sitting next to a handsome guy on an airplane. She figured her dreams were about to come true. After all, is there anything more romantic than the prospect of finding love at 30,000 feet?
Cristina Farina
00:00:42
He was sitting next to me on the plane and he said, This is my first time in London. And I said, This is my second time in London.
Francesca Street
00:00:49
She spent the entire flight from Florence chatting with this intriguing stranger.
Cristina Farina
00:00:53
And he said, So why don't we meet tomorrow? We'll go have a coffee. And we'll had some time together.
Francesca Street
00:00:58
This romantic rendezvous was set for 11 a.m. the next day. The two strangers hadn't exchanged numbers or addresses, in those days, there were no cell phones, and that was no email. So the plan was simply a promise to meet in Trafalgar Square, one of London's most famous public spaces.
Cristina Farina
00:01:25
By 11, I was there.
Francesca Street
00:01:28
Cristina arrived a few minutes early, full of excitement and anticipation.
Cristina Farina
00:01:36
This was August 27th, 1984. And, you know, I was kind of waiting for 5 to 10 minutes. And this guy never showed up. So I was there waiting. And while I was waiting, I saw this guy sitting in between those two lions at Trafalgar Square.
Francesca Street
00:02:03
'And that's where this love story and this series really begins. I'm Francesca Street, CNN travel journalist, and this is Chance Encounters, a podcast about the incredible connections we make while traveling. Every week, I share with you a candid conversation I've had with people who first connected while traveling. On this show, you'll hear real life stories about how travel can lead to lasting love, decades-spanning friendship, and ultimately change your life forever. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Between those famous lines that she's at the center of one of London's most recognizable landmarks.
Matt Reinecke
00:02:51
I was 20 years old and I was traveling in Europe with my parents.
Francesca Street
00:02:56
'Matt Reinecke was a 20-year-old guy from California. When he wasn't studying at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he could usually be found at a Grateful Dead concert. That day in 1984, Matt was listening to a Walkman playing the Grateful Dead, of course, and he was reading William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Matt could not have looked more like the main character from a movie if he tried.
Francesca Street
00:03:28
Do you recall your first impressions of each other?
Cristina Farina
00:03:30
'In that moment, he kind of caught my eye, my attention, because he was good looking. Long hair, kind of a hippie-ish look. I liked him immediately when I saw him leaning against in that wall on Trafalgar Square, I thought, he's really cool.
Matt Reinecke
00:03:51
I just remember I thought she was cute. I was traveling and a cute girl sat down next to me and that was enough for me.
Cristina Farina
00:04:05
We kind of just started talking to each other, but it was really, English was hard for me to understand. You know, American especially. So I couldn't really understand what he was telling me, but I was kind of pretending I understood.
Matt Reinecke
00:04:20
Well, first of all, we had the drink in that place on the same street where my parents were sitting at a different place.
Cristina Farina
00:04:26
Exactly.
00:04:26
And then after that, we went to Covent Garden.
Cristina Farina
00:04:28
And then he kissed me. I had never met anyone like him. So weird. So, I don't know. It was so different.
Matt Reinecke
00:04:43
And then the next day, we really just kind of kissed and talked all day in the park. Yeah, I think we probably kissed more than talking.
Francesca Street
00:04:56
After just 24 hours, Cristina and Matt were smitten, but just as quickly as had fallen for each other, they were forced apart. Matt had to leave London to continue his European travels with his parents, so he reluctantly said goodbye to Cristina.
Cristina Farina
00:05:16
He give me a note. And he's on this note. He said, Don't open it now, open it when you get back to your room. So I opened up when I got back to my room and the note said, I can't bear the thought of never seeing you again. Somewhere, somehow I knew I was going to see him again. In Italian we say Colpo di fulmine. How do you say?
Matt Reinecke
00:05:39
Lightning strikes.
Cristina Farina
00:05:42
Yeah, love at first sight.
Francesca Street
00:05:46
Although Cristina & Matt came from different worlds and lived in different countries, Christina felt they were meant to be. And she was determined to keep Matt in her life. More on that after the break.
Francesca Street
00:06:08
'This is Chance Encounters, I'm Francesca Street. After a whirlwind 24 hours together in London, Matt and Christina returned to their real lives. Matt headed back to college in California while Cristina finished up her studies in London and then returned to Italy. Cristina started sending Matt long letters, and the two enjoyed the occasional trans-Atlantic phone call. And then in the summer of 1986, Matt planned a trip to Greece. And he told Cristina...
Cristina Farina
00:06:37
I'll stop by and say hi to you. So he came.
Matt Reinecke
00:06:40
I never made it to Greece.
Cristina Farina
00:06:42
He never made it to Greece. He stayed at home with me and my parents there for the next three months of the summer.
Matt Reinecke
00:06:48
Sleeping in her brother's room.
Cristina Farina
00:06:50
It was kind of a dream. It was kind of a movie type of thing.
Francesca Street
00:06:54
But while Christina felt like she was finally living out her cinematic love story, her parents were a bit more apprehensive about the whole thing.
Matt Reinecke
00:07:03
I arrived with hair down to here, that wasn't very popular in Italy.
Cristina Farina
00:07:07
We didn't speak a word of Italian, and he did try. I mean, he did try really hard because after three months that was in Italy, he was able to understand at least 50% of what my parents were saying.
Francesca Street
00:07:21
'Matt eventually won over Cristina's family, and those three months in her parents home led to more one-on-one time for Matt and Cristina.
Cristina Farina
00:07:30
You know, I wanted to go and spend my life with him, but I was only like, what, 20, 21 at the time? So, you know, I was very young, but I was very convinced that he was for me.
Francesca Street
00:07:44
'Matt returned to California to continue his studies and eventually he began a career in finance. In time, Cristina joined him in the U.S. And then in 1991, just like any love story in the movies, there was a little drama. A letter from U.S. Immigration said Cristina's time in the U.S. had run out and she had just two weeks to leave the country. So semi-spontaneously, Cristina and Matt got married. First, they had a small ceremony at City Hall, and several months later they enjoyed a big celebration in a beautiful church in Cristina's hometown in Italy.
Matt Reinecke
00:08:21
It was a wonderful time of our lives. Your mid to late 20s, we're in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods of San Francisco.
Francesca Street
00:08:29
Married life in San Francisco was fun and busy, but after a few years, the couple started considering making a change.
Cristina Farina
00:08:36
We decided to take a year off and travel around the world.
Matt Reinecke
00:08:39
So we traveled for about 6 or 7 months.
Cristina Farina
00:08:41
And then back to Italy. Then we started our life and our, you know,.
Matt Reinecke
00:08:46
Italian life.
Cristina Farina
00:08:47
Italian life, Yes.
Francesca Street
00:08:49
This new chapter in Italy took Matt and Cristina first to Milan, where they welcomed their son Davide in 1997. And then they headed to Turin, where their daughter, Francesca, was born in 2003. Great name choice, by the way.
Francesca Street
00:09:07
After years of big city life, Matt and Cristina were ready for another change of pace, including Matt the banker becoming Matt the baker.
Matt Reinecke
00:09:21
We opened up in an American bakery in Florence. There was a time when we were the popular place to have brunch in Florence. I was the bagel king of Italy for a while. I think I've made somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 bages. Who would have ever thought that I'd lived my life in Italy? I should have been living on the beaches of California or in the fog of San Francisco. I'm the one who moved to Italy for 30 years.
Cristina Farina
00:09:57
That's true.
Matt Reinecke
00:09:57
And you're the one that made it possible. If you would have given up, nothing would have happened. But if I wouldn't have been willing to jump into Italy and sink or swim in Italy, I would have stayed home. But then when you're 60, and you look back and you say if we would have stayed in the United States, we would have made much more money. But you know, it's like, who cares? But if you think, I never would have had the importance of a family like in Italy. Her parents come over every Sunday. We're always together. Even when we don't want to. But we're just happy to be with them all the time. You know, it's just, the family has just become something where it was secondary in my life beforehand. Then it became primary living here.
Francesca Street
00:10:46
For Matt and Cristina, it's surreal but special to reflect on that first fateful meeting in Trafalgar Square, over 40 years ago. The couple have returned to London a few times with their kids, taking them to the spot by the lions where they first started talking, and while they were there, they found themselves reflecting on how that chance encounter, that one life changing moment, altered the course of their lives forever.
Cristina Farina
00:10:46
My daughter told me that your story is my ideal long story. You know, it's I wish I would find someone that will love me as much as you love that. And I always tell my children, if you really want to achieve something in your life, don't give up too fast. If you like something, go and grab it.
Matt Reinecke
00:11:08
We were even saying this just the other day to our daughter. You like the boy? Just go say, let's go have a coffee. Just go for it. It's weird how just a brief second can change things in a wonderful way in life.
Francesca Street
00:11:29
Thank you to Cristina Farina and Matt Reinecke for sharing their chance encounter. Next week on Chance Encounters.
Elaine Comerford
00:11:39
'I remember I was sitting in the back of the bus. Marie-Claire got on the bus and. This is somebody that I might like to talk to.
'Marie-Claire Martineau
00:11:48
I don't remember when the first time I noticed you, but maybe a little later. Maybe in the showers in Mongolia.
Francesca Street
00:12:00
'This is Chance Encounters, reported, hosted, and written by me, Francesca Street. Dan Bloom is our showrunner and co-writer. Sofía Sánchez and Kyra Dahring are the producers. Dan Dzula is our Technical Director and we had audio support from Matt Dempsey. Haley Thomas is Senior Producer for Development. Steve Lickteig is Executive Producer of CNN Audio. For more Chance Encounters, check out cnn.com/travel. CNN travel's Global Editor is Barry Neild. Special thanks to producers Lori Galaretta, Felicia Patinkin, Graelyn Brashear, Grace Walker and Jesse Remedios. Jamus Andrest created the artwork for this show. We had support from Alex Manasseri, Robert Matters, Jon Dianora, Nichole Pesaru, Leni Steinhardt, Lisa Namerow, David Allan and the team at CNN Travel. Wendy Brundige is CNN Digital's SVP of Content Strategy. Chance Encounters is a CNN Audio production. Thank you for listening.
