Who hasn’t had a romance while traveling? I think a lot of us have met at least one person abroad who we fell in love with or at least had passion for!
When I travel it is the last thing on my mind (actually in my daily life as well) to meet someone, since I am always so busy hiking, traveling around, photographing… But for some reason I always meet guys while traveling. Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean I have a romance with all of them (Imagine that!). On the contrary, most of the time you just run into someone, they start talking to you and then you part ways. In my home country Belgium guys never start speaking to me, so I actually really enjoy these little encounters. I always admire those guys’ guts to take the initiative to talk to me!
In Madeira I had a special encounter though. Very unexpected and very cinematic as well I have to say… So let’s start with telling you my most romantic travel story!
DISCLAIMER: I will not use his real name or publish photos with him in them, because I still respect and care for this guy very much. But I really wanted to share my story! So I will call him François in this story because he is French. 🙂
My most romantic travel story
In between two mountain tops
On the first day of my Madeira trip I drove, cursing out loud, to the top of Pico do Arieiro. The car rental office had given me a BMW as an upgrade and I just couldn’t get used to the car. This in combination with super steep roads led to a very tense ride to the top. The car often stopped and for some reason I had difficulty with starting it again on the steep roads, which normally isn’t a problem at all. So after about an hour I finally arrived at the top.
Now the next challenge came! This was the first time I would do such a mountain hike on my own. I had read that hiking in Madeira, and especially this hike, isn’t for the faint hearted. I suffered from vertigo so I didn’t know if I would be able to finish the hike and reach the other top Pico do Ruivo.
I took my backpack, checked if I took everything one last time and started the hike. I was so impressed with all the views that after a while I didn’t even have vertigo anymore. I was in constant admiration and awe looking at all the magnificent views surrounding me. I felt so bad ass doing this hike on my own with my fear of heights! Nothing could stop me anymore!
I only encountered a few people on my way. Always greeting each other while passing. After a while a tall guy wearing a hat and sunglasses was approaching me. So I said good morning and I think I was the one asking him whether he was on his own as well (could be the other way around as well, I don’t know anymore). So we started talking for a while, I found out he was French and I mentioned that driving there was some serious business. I told him about my drive with the BMW and that I hated that car so much! After an entertaining conversation we parted ways and both continued our walk in opposite directions.
At that time I just continued to focus on my hike. I hadn’t seen his face so I didn’t really think much about the conversation, except that it was fun. The rest of the day I was filming and taking hundreds of photos while hiking and in the late afternoon I arrived back at the car.
The note
Now I didn’t rent a GPS and back then I wasn’t used to use my phone as a GPS either, so I just drove back down, thinking I would be able to find my way back to the apartment I rented. Of course I didn’t and I ended up in the center of Funchal. So I parked my car to ask someone for directions. I stepped out of the car, asked an old lady for directions and when I turned around to the car I noticed a paper between the windshield wipers. What??? I already got fined??? I parked there for only 2 minutes!!
I took the paper and saw that it wasn’t a fine, but a note from the guy I had met on the mountain. Apparently this note was there the whole time, I just hadn’t noticed before! The note had his phone number on it and the message that he was in Madeira for a few days and suggested to go out for drinks or dinner. Was he lucky that the note hadn’t flown away while driving down!
I took the note and drove back to the apartment. Unfortunately I already had plans that night with a girl I had met on the plane, so I sent him a Whatsapp asking if the next evening would be ok. Which was fine!
Looking for a parking spot
The next evening he arrived on time and picked me up in front of the hotel. I stepped into the car feeling a little stressed, because I didn’t really know what to expect. But once I saw his face for the first time, the stress started to disappear. He had these brown smiling eyes with a boyish sparkle in them and a friendly smile. He was super relaxed and very talkative, so after 10 minutes in the car it already felt as if I knew him for a very long time.
We talked, we laughed and… looked for a parking spot. Which was horribly difficult to find. We parked somewhere outside the center of Funchal to try to find a restaurant, but no luck. But at least I had the chance to check now to see what he was like. He was tall, had an athletic build and a cool walk. We talked the whole time and when he revealed what his job was, I totally understood why I felt so comfortable and safe with him and why he was built like that. Now I can’t tell you what his profession was. Because then I would have to kill you (that’s what he told me :D). But let’s say it is very serious, adventurous, difficult and daring. His passion was skydiving. So I guess I won’t need to tell you that I was like “Finally an adventurous guy!” (Most guys I meet aren’t adventurous or venturous at all)
Dinner
We returned to the car and drove further into the center of Funchal until we found a public parking garage. Great! Now we surely would find a place to eat in the old town of Funchal! Only a few streets from the parking garage we found a restaurant with a cozy terrace.
Dinner was good! The food and wine was delicious, The conversation was even better. We could talk about anything and we both had the weird habit to eat with a fork in the right hand and a knife in the left. Even though my French isn’t perfect, we were able to talk for hours. Unfortunately François told me it was already his last night. So he had decided to spend it in the car in the mountains to be able to see the stars. Like I wrote before; he was adventurous. I told him my plans for the next morning, which was an early morning hike to the 25 Fontes and Risco waterfall.
I also asked him how he knew on which car he had to place that note? Seemed that I was the only BMW on the parking lot! When I wanted to know what he would’ve done if there were more than one, he answered that he would’ve written the note multiple times and placed it under the windshield wipers of all the BMW’s! Which I thought was hilarious! 😀
A closed gate
Dinner went by too fast and when we returned a few hours later to the parking garage, we stood in front of a closed gate! Now what! We had to laugh about this though! I told him, worst case scenario, we could take the bus to my hotel and he could spend the night in my apartment, since I had two beds. But he seemed to ignore what I proposed.
After a few minutes a car arrived with a local couple inside. They needed to enter the garage and had an access card! So I ran up to them and explained our car was stuck inside the garage! The elderly couple helped us getting the car and leave the garage!
The return to the hotel
The drive back to my apartment/hotel went too fast. We kept talking and I asked again if he was sure he wanted to sleep in the cold on the top of that mountain, because I had an extra bed available. But again, he didn’t really react to this, so I stopped asking, thinking he probably wasn’t interested at all.
He got me startled at one point when he took his ring with the initials of his job and asked if I wanted to marry him. Of course this was a joke, but it felt like a test or something. I reacted cool on it though, laughing and inspecting the ring.
The clumsy goodbye
By the time we arrived at my apartment building I was crazy nervous. I was overthinking it, but since he didn’t respond to my offer to stay at my room instead of in a car on a mountain, (I didn’t mean it like a booty call. I just didn’t want the evening to end) I had made up my mind. I wouldn’t make a fool of myself, just say goodbye and get out of the car.
So that’s what we did. We said goodbye stuff like, “See you on Facebook”. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and couldn’t get out of that car fast enough. I think I turned one more time to wave, seeing him leaving and then I walked up to the entrance with tears burning behind my eyes.
What the hell was happening with my head? Let me tell you what was happening; I was furious with the universe. Finally letting me meet a guy I really liked and before I knew it, the universe took him away again. Because that is what always happened to me. Most guys I ever really liked in my life, were guys living abroad. So that night I cried my eyes out. Thinking I had missed a chance, feeling stupid for feeling this way and thinking I was being over dramatic and way too romantic again. After all, it was clear this guy actually wasn’t interested so why would I bother? He didn’t even send me message anymore…
The next morning
The next morning I woke up at 6.00 am to leave for my walk to 25 Fontes. I secretly hoped he would be there on the parking lot waiting for me, since he knew where I was going. But when I arrived I was the only one there. I blocked out the feelings of disappointment and decided to make it another beautiful day chasing waterfalls. I hiked up the 25 Fontes and the Risco waterfall and I returned back to the hotel in the late afternoon.
Confessions
I sent a message to François (actually this name doesn’t fit him at all, but I want to keep him anonymous and it was the best I could come up with! :D) to wish him a safe trip back home and then we started messaging back and forth. It turned out he felt the same way about the previous night. And he said we were both stupid to not be clearer with each other. He was like “Why did you run away?”, I was like “You ignored my question to spend the night at my room 3 times!”. Apparently I had missed his signals completely (Like I always do, because I really suck at it). So yep, we were both idiots.
Then he told me he had passed my hotel the next morning, but that he thought it would be best not to bother me! Seriously! So we both had been thinking to see each other the next morning! And now he was boarding the plane!
3 months of messaging
From then on it was clear we liked each other,.. A LOT! We messaged almost every day, telling what we were doing, about our lives… He even mentioned he considered visiting me in Belgium! When he said that I was so happy! But I was also thinking “would he really?”. Because I had met other guys in the past who had told me the same and they never ever came here to see me! So I really tried hard to stay cautious, but I couldn’t because my heart kept jumping every time I received a message from him. (Silly right?)
The other guy
In the meantime something very unexpected happened. I met a guy here in Belgium. Actually he was someone I knew from my childhood. He was the older brother of my best friend during elementary school. We met again at some kind of school reunion to celebrate the pension of our favorite teacher. He started talking to me, but I also knew he had a little son and a partner.
The next day I had received an e-mail from him (I think he got my e-mail address from my former school friend) asking if I would liked to have drinks with him. I answered if his partner thought that was OK. He replied that they were separated. So I said OK. After all there was nothing wrong with having drinks with someone.
It turned out we could really talk for hours with each other. I wasn’t feeling the same attraction as with François, but we did connect. So we went out a couple of times and at a certain goodbye moment we shared one little kiss. Which was a very bad short kiss and as soon as it happened, I got confused and wasn’t sure if this was what I wanted. I was torn between the feeling that this could be a lot easier, since this was someone who lived only a few kilometers away. But I seemed to feel more for someone I had only met one night in Madeira!
I come to Belgium!
I felt so guilty after what happened, even though I was still single. I couldn’t help feeling bad about it. Right after that epiphany François sent me a message to communicate the dates he would come to Belgium. I was feeling so happy and excited about the fact that he was coming to see me, but I also felt guilty and so confused about the other one…
Now what? Of course I was too honest and I confessed what happened to François. Even though I didn’t really have to, since we weren’t really together and it wasn’t a big deal. He felt so bad about it. Apparently he really did like me. How could I keep doubting that? Well, probably because I am this insecure stupid girl, that is why!
Let’s meet in Amsterdam
In the meantime I stopped dating the Belgian guy. Too much fuss… I kept reassuring François that I really wanted to see him again, so we made a deal. His flight to Brussels made a transfer in Amsterdam, so we would meet in Amsterdam instead of Belgium. If I really wanted to see him, I had to come over. So I booked a train to Amsterdam without any hesitation!
The weeks passed by and then it was time to get on the train!
Beautiful days in Amsterdam
The train ride from Antwerp to Amsterdam seemed to be the longest train ride ever. It couldn’t go fast enough! And so many questions were racing through my head. Would he still like me? Would he still look the same? Would we be able to be together for 3 days? After all we didn’t really know each other. On the other hand it felt as if I knew him for years…
All those doubts disappeared in a second once I saw him back at the train station. He met me with those smiling eyes and a hug and I knew the next few days would be great!
And they were… we had the best time. I am not going into details, but we stayed in the same room. We biked around the city’s canals. We enjoyed the sun at the park, had drinks, went to a lot of restaurants and we talked about so many things. But I also felt a bit sad during those days, because even though we considered ourselves being together now, I knew it wouldn’t be easy and that I wouldn’t be able to see him very much due to his job and current private situation. So I knew I was getting myself into a lot of heartache trouble!
A sad goodbye
The moment of goodbye at the train station was one of the most difficult moments of my life. I kept the tears burning behind my eyes, refused to cry while he stood in front of me. I could see it was difficult for him too. I wasn’t able to say much. We just kept hugging and kissing. And then the train departed and took away someone I was really starting to adore… It felt as if my heart got ripped out. (I am telling you, I don’t fall in love easily, but when I do it is intense…)
I crashed for a second, put on my sunglasses so no one could see my tears and got out of the train station as fast as possible. I still had a half day in Amsterdam and tried to focus on exploring and taking photos.
We tried…
The good intentions were there. We messaged almost every day. I went on a trip to Slovenia, he had to to study and do exams in the South of France for his job… At a certain point it became difficult for me and I asked him if he thought we could meet again. Because there was no point in continuing a relationship with someone I could never see and get to know better. He said he wanted to keep trying, He didn’t want to let go. Which made me feel better, because it showed he still cared and it made me think he would make an effort to see me again.
But then he got the news he had to go abroad for his job for 3 months, departing in January. So a month later I told him that I wanted to see him before he departed on that mission. Again I stated that we couldn’t stay together, if we weren’t able to see each other. So he took the time to think and a day or a few days later he let me know that indeed it was better to let me go. He wanted me to be happy. It was impossible to see each other due to circumstances. He didn’t want me to keep waiting. I deserved better.
And that was the end…
Broken hearted
It may seem stupid, but I was devastated and felt really sad for a very long time. Even now I still get teary eyed thinking about it. Which is weird considering I actually only saw him for a few days during those 6 months and it happened three years ago.
In the meantime I am still single living in Belgium. I didn’t meet anyone else ever since. He currently lives on a tropical island on the other side of the world for work. I am so jealous about that! We don’t really have much contact. Sometimes we check each other’s social media or send a short message.
I can only say I am grateful for those beautiful days together and for meeting him. Because he truly is a wonderful guy and I wish him all the best in the world. I have no bad feelings towards him whatsoever and I still have a lot of respect and care for him. Thanks to him I finally went skydiving and he also taught me about an app, which is now my favorite to plan all my trips.
I don’t regret anything and I keep believing that one day I will meet someone who will truly love me and stay. Even though sometimes it is hard to keep the faith!
I wish you all lots of love,
Joëlle
xoxo
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