How I met my boyfriend - solo travel became couple travel

The short version: Tinder. The long version: 3 countries, 1 missed flight, 1 boat trip

Instead of How I met your mother, I thought of sharing how I met my boyfriend who I'm now living with in Malta.

And, well since it's Christmas time, it's cheesy enough time to share such an ugly-romantic, personal story. So, let me tell you what happened about a year ago.

Somehow I missed my flight to Finland.

Which is kinda hilarious when I had a lot of time at the airport; we were just sitting there and having some breakfast. I did not even have any luggage to check in.

For absolutely no reason, the gate was closed 50 minutes before the flight leaves.

I got worried and was hoping that Matt didn't leave the airport yet and we could figure something out together.

Luckily I found him, as he had just left the airport - and this sounds crazy, but he got the feeling intuitively that he has to turn around and get back into the airport.

I saw him and we went to info desk to see whether there were any other flights to Finland.

Estimated price to go to Finland at the airport was 900€.

That was definitely no-go for a student. I checked flights on my phone instead, and found one with 45€, but it was 3 days later and from Gran Canaria instead of Tenerife. It was also to Tampere instead of Helsinki, but at this point it didn't really matter.

So I decided to take a ferry with him to Las Palmas instead.

Yolo! (Sorry for using such a teenager word but in this context it's just needed).

So we got to Las Palmas, and I bought the cheap flight to Tampere from there in three days.

I got to spend three more days in Las Palmas seeing his home, wandering in caves, eating tapas, drinking coffee and surfing first time ever!

It was such an awesome continuation to the holiday that I don't even have one single picture from those days.

It was such an adventurous end to my awesome holiday.

At 22nd when heading home, flight was 3 hours late.

I finally got to Tampere but there was no public transport anymore to my brother's place in Tampere and as a poor student I wasn't planning on taxi, especially after all the traveling.

Luckily I had chatted with a nice Finnish couple in plane who sat next to me and I got a ride from them. It was such a nice and needed gesture that I still feel grateful I got it in freezing Finland in the middle of the night.

This little last minute trip to Tampere apparently seemed ideal for Christmas present shopping as well since brother lives nearby IKEA.

At 23rd I still had a chance to buy presents for friends and family: seems like this was planned to be done this way!

So I made it home right before Christmas with Christmas presents and sparkle in my eyes, hoping to meet this guy again.

Relatives were surely teasing me and asking about this guy and my trip, but that didn't even bother me.

After quite some calls I luckily was about to meet him again.

Actually surprisingly soon: he asked if I wanted to join for a cycling trip to Ireland in January.

We spent a great holiday at the end of January in my Erasmus country Ireland (back then I lived in Cork).

We stayed a few night in Dublin and then rented biks to cycle through Wiclow mountains and then back to Dublin.

It was quite an adventurous trip, and much more uphill cycling than I realized beforehand. Anyhow, you could really say we got to know each other in our full-on travel modes.

Later on he visited me in Rovaniemi in February (quite ambitious considering the climate change from Las Palmas).

I also did not realize how difficult it is for a person to walk and cycle the icey streets of Rovaniemi in winter when they're not used to it and don't have proper gear. :D

He looked like a penguin, but with slipping feet all the time - I've made fun of that a few times.

From Rovaniemi we travelled together to Las Palmas.

We found out quickly that we love traveling similar way:

staying active, but not too much planning and nothing too organized and touristy.

Ah, could write another post from the adventures of last spring. There are some pictures from our second trip together to Las Palmas in last February.

After his trip to Lapland and mine to Gran Canaria, I went back home to Rovaniemi to continue my Uni studies and he remained at home.

We both did not want for too long time to keep this as long-distance relationship, or at least we wanted to have some kind of plan when we could live in same country.

I was looking for a job from Las Palmas without success.

Well, then in May I found a job from Malta and moved there alone.

One month later Matt moved in as well. Both of us had never visited Malta before - I naively assumed it would be a bit like Canary Islands, but boy I was wrong.

I know it might seem rushed to move in together with someone you've met just a few times (although everytime in different country/island which I think adds depth to it, haha).

But it felt right and in June 2017 we moved in together in Malta.

And last Christmas I got to spend with him in our home in Malta!

Sometimes it feels like truth is stranger than fiction, and somehow it's difficult to tell quickly when people ask how I met my boyfriend. :D