Where shall we begin?
Our story is a classic one of boy in America reads about girl in Asia on the internet, happens to turn up in the same city as girl in Europe, confesses interest and is rebuffed, then two years later comes to stay as a friend and proposes six months later.
Okay, maybe not that classic.
We met in March 2016, in Rome. And although a dating app was involved, it wasn’t quite that millennial. At the time, Brian was 4 months into travelling the world, living out of a small suitcase. I had been doing so (albeit with a long settled period in Taiwan) for the past two years, and had started a vegan travel blog.
Naturally, when Brian was researching vegan food in Asia, he read vegan travel blogs - and that’s when Plant-Powered Nomad turned up (don’t bother looking for it, it’s broken, long story). Is it too cheesy to say it was love at the first read of this sarcastic blog from a strange British vegan? Probably, but it wasn’t far off.
I remained blissfully unaware of Brian’s existence, and continued travelling. Until the day we were both in Rome together. Waiting for a table at a restaurant with her friend, I downloaded Tinder to have a giggle at Italian men, and then went to eat and forgot about the app.
Brian, meanwhile, recognised me on Tinder from my blog, and sent an email. A good, old-fashioned email. It’s almost a Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks film at this point, right?
We met up for vegan food, and wandering the city. I was going through some personal things, and was firmly not interested in a relationship. Not after a month of daily messages, either (Brian checked.)
We fell out of contact, except for the occasional hello. I moved to Russia, Brian went to the Caribbean. Years passed.
In 2017, I got back in touch. For the first time in a while, both of us were single at the same time. We were also both working on marketing businesses at this point, so would Skype and work together, all day, every day. Indicative of something more, you might think? I was still in denial, and was firmly convinced Brian was just a friend. For some reason, though, I asked what Brian’s Christmas plans were. Because friends invite their single male friends (who are also in love with them) for Christmas all the time. Obviously.
After a few days in Portugal together at a conference, Brian made it quite clear what his intentions were, and told me he wanted to marry me. Not as out of the blue as it sounds written down, but still a bit of a shock - considering he was still firmly ‘just a friend’.
That Christmas, though, everything changed. Magic of Christmas? Coming to senses? Stopping saying no just to be stubborn? Call it what you will, being together has been a decision we’ve never doubted or looked back on.
Since that Christmas, we’ve travelled round America together for a month, road tripped Scotland with our dog Mymble (originally mine, but Brian is a more-than-worthy step-dog-dad), and moved to Amsterdam together to start a life here. We’ve also, it goes without saying, become officially engaged - in July 2018 - and planned a wedding. Mymble was a key part of the proposal.