I am sure that many (most) of us here at Wikitree have met some very distant cousins. And if you're lucky you'll even make some friends with other Wikitree members. But, in Wikitreeworld, much of it is virtual. With the exception of some Roots Tech meetings I've only read about in G2G posts, I didn't expect to meet any Wikitreers any time soon.
I've developed a wonderful friendship with Susan Laursen over the past few months. Susan has a huge G2G presence and she is currently rated #3 with 1,245,980 G2G points! She is currently one of the only 8 existing G2G Astronauts.
We were emailing last week I was surprised to learn that she and her husband would be traveling on holiday this week and less than two hours drive from my house. I proposed lunch, they accepted, and today my Wife and son and I drove to Calpe to meet them. And so, today I met a G2G Astronaut!
Calpe is a gorgeous city on the south west coast of Spain in the region of Alicante, in the state (community) of Valencia. Situated at the northern end of Calpe beach is a huge rock mountain that looks something like Gibraltar - the whole coastline is just amazing. Susan and her husband landed a magnificent suite on the 27th floor overlooking the beach - the views are just spectacular!
The five of us met for lunch today at a relaxing restaurant just below their hotel - right on the beach. It was a perfect day, warm and sunny and we just had a wonderful time chatting away. We talked and talked about life and family, Wikitree and vacation, travel, business - all sorts of things. Susan and her husband are just wonderful people. We just had a splendid time chatting and sharing stories and I can't say how pleased I am with my first Wikitree real-life encounter!
I hope we will have a chance to meet again in the future - and I hope I'll have a chance to meet other Wikitreers and that they are as nice as Susan! Not sure if I'll meet an Astronaut again but this was certainly a meeting to remember!
