Happy Valentine’s Day! In the spirit of the day, we thought it’d be great to have a look at one of the rarer jewels that can blossom from travel – love! Happily, our friends at Topdeck travel have let us in on a few stories that will warm the cockles of your heart.
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Our favourite story is that of Yvonne and John, who met on a Topdeck trip in 1984. They met in Copenhagen about a third of the way into the tour, after which Yvonne had the misfortune to break her leg in Helsinki. Rather than end the trip there, she discharged herself from hospital to continue the trip to Moscow and several Eastern bloc countries. John ended up pushing Yvonne around the streets in a wheelchair and in spite of being in a cast from hip to toes, she finished the tour. After exchanging contact details – no email in those days – and after recuperation, Yvonne met John again for a tour of Europe with some friends in a VW Kombi van. They both ended up in Australia and today, 33 years later, their son works for Topdeck.
Under the radar and over the moon!
Sometimes you just can’t deny true love. Eoin and Kendell both joined Topdeck in 2013, Eoin as a driver and Kendall as a trip leader. In spite of a rule forbidding relationships with each other, the inevitable happened on their Topdeck training trip in London.
“I would sit with Kendell into the early hours outside our hostel rooms as we studied for the days ahead and by the time we got to Florence the fact that we couldn’t escape the watchful eyes of the trainers meant that the tension between us was incredible” Eoin recounts.
Kendall adds “we quickly found ourselves drawn to each other and couldn’t ignore the feelings we were both having. We finally had our first kiss in Florence – such a beautiful and romantic city!”
With much dodging and help from sympathetic friends, their relationship survived and flourished. Exactly a year after their first kiss, Eoin proposed to Kendall at the beautiful Cliffs of Moher in Ireland and they married in March 2016.
There are many more stories in similar vein, but we couldn’t fit them all in. Here at Economy Traveller, we believe that travel is an essential life experience. The younger you get the travel bug, the more enriched your life will be. Who needs more proof with stories like these! Topdeck is a great way to get into it for travellers aged between 18 and 30-something, so go get in the mood today!
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