In December 2024 I arrived in Sydney prepared for an journey. A good friend was getting married in Australia and I had initially booked the journey with my ex, however when he dropped out after our breakup I made a decision to go forward. I used to be contemplating quitting my job and shifting again to the Netherlands so, regardless that I didn’t know what my future would seem like, I used to be prepared for a vacation. I deliberate per week with associates in Sydney and Newcastle, per week with a good friend travelling up the east coast and a closing week by myself.
On New Yr’s Eve I’d been at an all-day boat get together on Sydney Harbour when a good friend mentioned she was off to satisfy an outdated flame of hers at a fireworks occasion in Bondi. I bear in mind her telling me he had a pleasant single brother known as Ben and exhibiting me a photograph: he had a moustache, was sporting a tank prime and didn’t seem like my kind in any respect. I informed her I wasn’t . I simply wished to stick with associates.
When my good friend’s taxi arrived she pulled me in together with her – and thank goodness she did as a result of, once I met Ben in individual, he regarded utterly completely different to the man within the images – tall and good-looking with an enormous smile. He instantly made me chortle. We kissed inside 10 minutes of claiming hey, which was about half an hour earlier than midnight.
Ben had been sick with meals poisoning and hadn’t been in significantly excessive spirits till we arrived however mentioned he instantly forgot about all of that. There was simply this immediate connection and we each felt as if we had nothing to lose. We lived too far aside to ever see one another once more.
The next day Ben and his brother invited my good friend and me to a music pageant. We fearful it could be awkward at first however Ben and I picked up the place we’d left off. We had been like little youngsters working between phases. The following morning I needed to depart for the marriage in Newcastle. I bear in mind kissing Ben goodbye on the ferry terminal in Manly, questioning if I’d ever see this man once more however understanding I undoubtedly wished to. We began texting right away and I used to be so distracted I ended up lacking my connecting prepare.
Later within the journey I acquired an ear an infection simply earlier than a five-day scuba diving expedition on the Nice Barrier Reef. I cancelled – and one thing inside me was completely satisfied to, understanding that it could give me 5 days and not using a plan. Ben was competing in a triathlon in Nelson Bay and he requested if I wished to come back watch him drown, which felt like a enjoyable method to hang around. It turned out to be an oblique invitation to stick with his aunt and uncle for the weekend. I booked a flight instantly.
At this level I noticed the entire thing as a little bit of enjoyable – a vacation romance, nothing severe. Being so removed from dwelling gave me a form of “why not” mentality. We each knew long-distance between London and Sydney would by no means work so we simply determined to take pleasure in one another’s firm for so long as we had it.
Over the subsequent couple of days we frolicked along with his aunt and uncle, slept in a tent on the seaside and competed in a mini-triathlon collectively. I bear in mind travelling again to Sydney with Ben holding my hand the entire method again. He didn’t wish to let me go and I felt the identical method. He booked flights to Melbourne with me for the Australian Open that week, and I ended up delaying my return flight so we might have an additional day collectively.
Leaving one another at Melbourne airport was after we determined to see if possibly we might make long-distance work in spite of everything. We agreed to satisfy in Scotland six weeks later, calling one another day by day within the meantime. I met all of Ben’s household and associates on that journey to Scotland and, after 4 days, he requested me to be his girlfriend. This time after we went our separate methods it wasn’t simply goodbye till the subsequent journey; it was goodbye till we moved in collectively. It wasn’t in my character to do issues like this however it simply felt proper and my family and friends might see that. They informed me to take a leap of religion and see what occurred.
Ben and I reunited eight weeks later at Sydney airport and this time I used to be holding greater than only a vacation bag.
It seems that my first impressions of Ben had been proper; we talked continuous that New Yr’s Eve and, to be trustworthy, we’ve by no means actually stopped. He’s nonetheless that enjoyable and charismatic man who makes me really feel snug.
For now Australia is our dwelling however we plan to maneuver again to Europe collectively in the long run. Whether or not that’s England, Scotland or the Netherlands stays to be seen – that’s for determining later down the road. All I do know is that we’ll discover our dwelling collectively.
Inform us the second you knew
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