Finding love whilst travelling isn’t a rare phenomenon, but does it equate to lasting love?
I’m gonna start at September 2016, when I decided to call it quits on my ‘glamorous’ but soul-destroying job of managing the lives of models, public personalities and musicians – a job I came to realise meant that by managing other people’s lives, you in-turn lose your own.
With a small amount of savings and a desire to reclaim my life, I booked flights to Bali and Australia and found myself at Heathrow airport, about to embark on my first ever solo venture to the other side of the world. I was 24, apprehensive, excited, very much single, and had absolutely no expectation of what the next 2 months would bring.
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Well, I’m sure you can guess where this story goes. On December 1st, 2016, I decided to jump 14,000 ft. out of a plane over the Great Barrier Reef. This day also just so happened to be the day I met my now boyfriend. The catch? I was about to travel home, whilst he was just at the start of his adventure.
Despite the bitch of a time difference, not to mention the 10,553 miles that kept us apart, we kept our connection and our relationship grew into something, well, special. But when he came home, would it last?
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Spoiler, this is my little version of a love story. Since being reunited our relationship has moved to a whole new level and it’s fair to say my experience has taught me a fair few lessons about finding love whilst travelling. I do believe that travel can indeed be the answer to finding true, lasting love, but it’s not always as black & white as that.
Just do you
I decided to travel because I was desperate to reclaim my life. I spent the majority of my travels with no real love interests but I was extremely content in meeting new people and just doing me. The confidence and happiness which grew in the time I travelled by myself is what was really valuable to me, and what will help you be in the right place when you finally do meet someone. I believe this time by myself is exactly what I needed to meet my Mr Right.
Don’t have any romantic expectations
Sure, I may sound like a bit of a pessimist here, but even when I met the person I’m now in love with I didn’t get carried away with myself. He was very open about wanting to keep in touch and see each other again when I left Australia, but I’m sure any intelligent girl reading this knows all too well about the ‘chat’. Fortunately, this guy wasn’t all chat and we were both ready for a relationship and willing to put in a lot of work to get over the temporary distance and be where we are today. But this was all a very natural, organic process and one which neither of us really anticipated.
Meeting people when travelling can be a tricky one because you can be in completely different places physically (where you’re both from) and mentally (what you’re looking for) so even if you think you’re falling head over heels, my advice would be to be wary and make sure you’re on the same page and things are attainable before you get too carried away.
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All good things come with time
We spent a fair few months apart, confused and unsure of where we stood, what our relationship was and what the future held for us. Communication and persistence here are key; if it feels right then go with it, but make sure you’re both in it together. We’ve had a fair few hurdles but all good things really do come in time.
Be realistic
Before we were reunited again, there was a slight feeling of ‘what if?’. What if after all of this we’re not actually that compatible? What if our spark has gone? What if he decides to keep that bloody ‘travellers’ nose piercing in? When you’re travelling everything is idyllic and you’re in this world where you have no real stress or responsibility. Alot can change when you’re in the real world together – you see sides to the other person you may have not seen before, you experience new challenges together and you come up against a whole load of new hurdles you may not have thought about or been through when you were tanning yourselves in paradise. This is the part that can make or break you, and this is where you determine if you found lust or lasting love whilst travelling. If it really is love then you overcome these real-life hurdles turn that travel love into true love.