‘I thought it would all be different once we were back home – but it wasn’t’
Sarah Weaver, 30, lives with her fiancé, Jake, in Folkestone, Kent. The thought of going so far from home and finding someone you have so much in common with used to sound like madness to me, but that's what happened with Jake.
In September 2014, I travelled around Australia for seven weeks with a friend. We were only spending one or two nights in each place so I wasn’t looking for a romance.
I’d had my heart broken a few times back home, which was one of the reasons I booked an extended holiday. I felt like a new person.
Blissful time together
When I first met Jake at a hostel in Brisbane and noticed his West Ham tattoo, I thought, ‘He must be a long way from home.’ We couldn’t stop chatting. The next day we were due to move on but I persuaded my friend to stay longer, and I spent time getting to know Jake. We had a blissful 10 days, having meals in local pubs and checking out the local beaches. We were completely in a holiday romance bubble. But we had to say a tearful goodbye at the airport as Jake was travelling to New Zealand and I was flying home. I thought it was over.
He was a 20-year-old Kent lad and I was a 27-year-old Essex girl. I thought it would all be different once we were back home.
We chatted in text messages but when he returned to the UK six weeks later, he immediately suggested we met up in London. The spark was still there and we started seeing each other every weekend.
In November 2016, he asked me to marry him and I agreed to move to Folkestone.
Before we could get a date in the diary I became pregnant and Harper arrived nine months ago. She’s our proof holiday flings can become real-life love.
Next year we’re getting married and planning a trip back to Australia for a honeymoon to show Harper where Mum and Dad met. I now tell friends to never discount a holiday fling.
‘We met up in London and the spark was still there’