FIRST LOVE *Has a little cry*
Phoebe, 24, is a travel blogger from Nottinghamshire
My first thought when I met Tom was that he was badly dressed. He was wearing a patterned pink T-shirt, and I said, “You’ve never had a girlfriend, have you?” He responded with a joke and that’s when I realised how funny he was. Nothing happened for a while, but we were in the same friendship group, so I saw him a lot. Then, one night, I went to his and everything changed.
Five months later, I flew to Malaysia for a long holiday, but became really ill and had to return home. The day I got back, Tom drove to see me, and from then, we were official.
After we graduated, we worked in different cities. Then Tom got a job in London, where I was living – we were so excited to finally be in the same place. But Tom’s employer delayed his start date for a year, so he decided to travel to Asia and Dubai, while I stayed in the UK. Things returned to normal when he got back, but a few months later, I challenged myself to become the second woman ever to travel to every country. Tom was excited for me, but we had to make a decision. He told me that it was upsetting him too much being together, knowing that I was going away for so long. That was two years ago, and we haven’t seen each other since – until now.
The date was the last time I’ll see Tom before I go away for my around-the-world trip, but I loved hearing about how well he’s doing, and I’ve never not fancied him.
If things were different, we might still be together, but I know Tom did me a favour – I’m so focused on my project now, and I don’t think I would be if he hadn’t made that decision for us.