How I met the Love of my Life on a Topdeck

The end of 2016, dragging out to the start of 2017 was a rough one. It was messy and I made mistakes, and didn’t really know who I was anymore. I just ended my close to 6 year relationship, from the start of high school. We had a joint savings account together which we decided to split. After we went to the bank to close the account I walked straight into a travel agency (Student Flights), and booked two tours in Europe with Topdeck Travel. It was literally one of the most spontaneous things I’ve ever done. I didn’t even think about it. Ally my Travel Agent showed me two tours that matched together perfectly, and that was that. Booked. I was probably the easiest client ever, agreeing to anything. So I was heading to Europe by myself, at the end of April 2017! Starting with a tour in England and travelling around, and ending in Amsterdam. Then on the last day of the tour I would catch a flight to Athens, and start a Greek Island Hopper tour. Having some not so great “dating” experiences leading up to my tour, and things still being complicated with my ex. I decided that I was sworn off guys. I was doing this trip for me and I wasn’t ready to date again. I still had a couple months to prepare before the trip, and I had written a list of what I was looking for in a guy. I don’t know why I wrote it. I just didn’t know what I was after, and I wanted to see what qualities would make me happy. I started reading books on Law of Attraction and I thought that one day I’d find someone like this (but not anytime soon, I was doing this trip and moving for me). I tucked the list away and starting packing my things. As I’d made the decision to move, to the Gold Coast from Melbourne, after my trip. It’s something I’d wanted to do for about four years, and I’d thought I’d put it off long enough. So that’s the backstory… I left for England and wouldn’t be back in Australia for close to 6 weeks. I had a few days by myself in London city to explore. I was so jet lagged when I got in taking 28hours to get there. A $90AU taxi ride to the hostel, a shower, and a cry, I went to bed early. I then got up at 4.30am and explored London. Around midday I went back to charge my phone and ended up meeting this guy in my hostel room and we decided we were both alone, so we would walk around together. We took photos for each other, walked miles, had dinner and decided we’d book a day tour, and were heading to Stonehenge the next day. Later that night we got back to the hostel and I sat down to count my money, and he decided he’d make a move. Let’s get this out there, I’m quite an awkward person with this stuff, and hate saying no (fear of disappointing/shutting down people). He kinda cornered me on the bed and ran his hands along my legs. I couldn’t look at him, and I slowly morphed my body out of his arms and ran to the bathroom. Starting brushing my teeth for something to do. Let’s just say, he wasn’t very happy and things were real awkward from there. So I did the tour with him the next day and tried to be by myself as much as possible, etc. So after that incident I’d 100% decided that, I was telling every single person on the Europe tour that I had a boyfriend. So that I would be left alone romantically.

So I started the European Getaway tour a couple days later. With the first stop PARIS!! The first day of getting to know everyone was exciting! We had a picnic under the Eiffel Tower, I found two girls to explore Paris at night with and we stayed out till about 2am. I was on a complete high. Paris was so beautiful at night. The second night I had booked into see a Cabaret with the tour, and headed to the bus. It was a rowdy time to be in Paris. Crowds were huge outside of the hostel (due to one of the Candidates staying in our hostel). It was hard to get to the bus, so I started talking to this guy on my tour, who was heading to the bus also. We got on and I sat down, and wasn’t sure if he was going to sit next to me and continue our conversation. But he asked politely, if I wanted him to sit with me and I said yes. It wasn’t that big of a deal I was still getting to know everyone from the tour. I had one of the other guys (Josh), I had met from my hostel the night before the tour, sitting in front of us too. So we all were having one big conversation about exes and what brought us here, etc. So I obviously said I had a boyfriend but we had broken up yada yada, but said we were back together (so they would think I had a boyfriend). I said that we had been together 6 years and the guy next to me (Karl) had said he’d been with his ex for 7 years since high school. Which clearly we had in common. I’d never met a guy who had only been committed to one girl his whole life. Turns out he had split off onto this tour, because he was meant to be travelling with his ex. But seeing as they broke up he thought he’d switch to a different tour group. Then Karl asked me; “Where are you wanting to travel next?” I said “New Zealand and Thailand". He then said “Well, I’m half New Zealander and half Thai”. We both had a laugh about it, but we continued our conversations. Our tour then travelled from Switzerland to Nice. We hadn’t spoken again since Paris. And our tour group headed to a place in Nice called “Wayne’s Bar”. Drink special’s, live bands and tables dancing. I was in for a fun night. Had a couple Long Island’s and danced away with the group. I had one creepy guy in the bar trying to grab me so I ended up scooting further down the table, closest to the band. Then this couple from the tour started heavily making out behind me, so I continued to dance and sing until I turned around. She had a massive blood nose! Pouring everywhere I found some random napkins on top of a speaker, where I was standing on the table and handed them to her. I leant down on the person in front of me so, she could get past me to go to the bathroom. Hugging this random person in front of me, I was a little tipsy. I started to feel around their shoulders and chest (which felt pretty damn good). They looked up at me and turns out it was Karl. I said to him that I was just moving out of the way. But he turned back to this stage and continued dancing letting me hold onto him, not a care in the world. The chick with the blood nose was taking ages to clean herself, so I just continued to hold on and dance away too. Later on he needed to go to an ATM and everyone was clearing out. It was a fairly dangerous night with random incidents going on. I decided it wasn’t safe for him to go by himself. So I went with him and we continued talking. We headed back to the hotel after the ATM, and we just laughed and talked. We got to the hotel and I wished him goodnight.

The next day was to explore Nice and plans to head to Monte Carlo casino that night. I ran into him that morning in our groups. I needed to find somewhere with some vegan food and Karl tagged along too. We sat down and had our breakfast. He had no memory from our conversation last night and the blood nose incident. I thought there was this chick on the tour that fancied him. So I asked him if he would want to get with her. He said “Nah not really my type”. But my experience with guys had taught me that didn’t really matter to most of them. So I said “Yeah but you’re going to hook up with her anyway though right?” “No. I’m really particular in who I’m with. I only go after girl’s I find really special”. The answer really surprised me. Did not think in the slightest, that he was hinting at me. The thought didn’t even enter my head. And I thought maybe he was taking time for himself too, after his breakup. We split off into different friend group’s after breakfast and then later on we headed on a walking tour in Monte Carlo. .

We dressed up all spiff. I mean this is one of the richest looking cities! I don’t know how, but after awhile on the walking tour, we found each other again. But man.. he kept asking me soooooo many questions about my “current” boyfriend. I mean sooo many questions. I kept making up stuff about the situation and it didn’t feel right. So I eventually said “Oh my god Karl, I don’t have a boyfriend…” His face was priceless, thinking back on it. He just said “Oh…” I had no idea what he was thinking but, we headed on to Monte Carlo Casino! I’d never gambled before so I let Karl teach me. A girl from the tour (Candice) and I headed to the bathroom, where I then took off my jacket, and headed to a blackjack table that Karl was playing at. He turned a little in his chair and saw me, and eyed me up and down, giving a little double take. It wasn’t subtle at all! But he went back to playing and I leant on the back of his chair. He looked up and smiled. And I started to think maybe he was interested in me. It was very flattering to be looked at like that. But I’m always the worst for guessing that someone likes me, so I was in denial. We ended up sitting together on the bus ride back and I opened up to him about things. Things you wouldn’t really be telling a stranger. I was worried about telling him that I hadn’t gone to a proper uni, and that I worked three jobs and always bounced from job to job. Because he was this intelligent, graduated with honours, stable job kinda guy. But he just said “Wow, you’re such a hard worker. I admire that. You’re really amazing Jess”. And continued to say sweet things and flattering me the rest of the bus ride. Smooth I know. And then I found myself flirting a little with him.. but I stopped myself. How do I know if this guy is actually interested? And I know so little about him. So I hugged him goodnight and I went to bed. Only to my surprise I had a message waiting for me. “Would you like to go for a walk? From Karl.” I had just gotten undressed and it was freezing outside. So I replied “It’s so cold outside! I promise we’ll go for a walk another night”. So I found out obviously later on, that he was speaking to a guy he was sharing a room with (Shiv) and Josh about me. Stressing on the fact that I had said no, and thought I was rejecting him. They were good mates and reassured him “Man, she’s probably just cold”. Thanks guys. The tour bused along to Tuscany next. Where I was quizzed on the bus ride about Karl and whether I liked him. I messaged him a little bit on that bus ride, using the last of my internet. Saw a smile on his face in the window reflection up ahead, every time I sent him a message. Then we got to Tuscany and I had a great deep and meaningful with Ashley my roommate. Karl was messaging me about going on that walk but, we just kept missing each other! The whole tour then went for this huge dinner which was basically an “all you could eat”! Karl’s roommate Shiv sat next to me and started a conversation. “So Jess, what do you think about Karl?” I said “I dunno Shiv, what does he think about me?” It didn’t take him long to blow the whistle.. “Look Jess, he can’t stop going about you..” And as we were in this discussion, the hot topic of a man decides to sit next to me, and we quickly had to change our conversation. It was not subtle, but it seemed to work and pick up another conversation. Then I felt Karl’s hand slide onto my leg, I turned and looked at him. Then turned back and continued with the conversation. I then felt his hand slowly slide off my leg, which without a moment’s hesitation, I turned back around, grabbed his hand and slapped it back on my leg. And continued speaking to Shiv and Candice. The whole group headed then to “a surprise” which ended up, being a disco at the hostel. Which is where I found out Karl is a very touchy person. He brought me a drink, and all of a sudden he kissed me. In front of everyone!! I went bright red after as everyone cheered, I locked eyes with two girls on my tour (Sophie and Sarah), who gave me the subtle “oh damn look”. We ended up leaving and continued to kiss in private. From then on we didn’t spend a night away from each other. We knew we were limited with the days on the tour, so we tried to spend as much time as possible.

The next day we split off together, and ended up getting lost in Florence. We just kissed and talked. And man, was he ticking off some boxes. We got lost for hours and we eventually found our way back. But easily the most romantic, special day of my life. We spent the rest of the tour getting to know each other and being a couple basically. Which came completely natural. But we didn’t want to decide on anything until the end days.

But then, EVERYONE on the tour was full of questions about whether we were going to keep seeing each other afterwards. I didn’t know what he wanted. I didn’t know if I was just a fling. Josh eventually asked me one night “Jess, do you wanna keep seeing him?” “Yeah I do”. He looked at me shocked, but so happily. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you guys, he really likes you”. So then I ended up heading back to the room with him and talking to him about it. I didn’t want him to hear about it from anyone else but me. “Do you want to keep seeing me after the tour ends?” “Yes, I do” “Okay then, I’m glad we got that sorted” “Well let’s check the date then, shall we? May 4th. Make it official”. I ended up getting super sick on the tour and he took really good care of me. One night in Berlin we had a pub crawl and I ended up having to go home sick. Karl continued on and got absolutely white girl wasted, while I fell asleep in his bed. I woke up to something tickling my face early morning, I opened my eyes and Karl was holding this rose. How frickin’ cute? I checked my phone properly the next morning and I had so many drunk texts from him. Then I went to breakfast the next morning, and everyone was asking me how I liked my rose. I said it was lovely wondering how they all knew about it, and they ended up telling me he brought it straight after I went home. Carrying it around with him the entire night. me dying a little inside

The tour bus headed to Prague and then Amsterdam. Our last stop. We were laying together on the bus where Karl started drawing something on the palm of my hand. I could not make out what it was, he tried again and again. Then it hit me, he was drawing I <3 U. Not sure if he was joking or if he was hinting something. I went awkwardly silent and he said, “I think you guessed it right this time ahaha”. Then we dropped it. We went for our first date in Amsterdam, taking me to this beautiful restaurant called “The Meatless District”, and then went to go see “Guardians of the Galaxy 2”. We had an amazing night. Later on we talked about how we were going to do this, with him going to Japan to live, after the tour, and me going to Greece. We worked out a timeline and I agreed to go to see him in Japan in August. I then worked up the nerve to ask him, about what he traced on my hand. He was like “Oh what? I heart you, yeah that’s nothing” “Karl, come on…” “No I don’t want to scare you off..” “You can’t” “Okay Jess, I’m in love with you” “I love you too”

And that was that. It was his birthday a few days later on the 14th of May. And I went to Greece, and he went to Japan. It was a sad goodbye, full of uncertainty. We were voted “The couple most likely to elope” by our tour mates. Absolute crack up bunch. I had the best time I could on that tour. At least they had faith in us. Then when I was in Greece it hit me. I was always big into numerology. What little I did know. According to my birthday, my lucky numbers were 5,14,23,etc. But I’d aways just used 14 and 5. When was Karl born? The 14th of the 5th! We had freaky coincidences throughout, the whole time of knowing each other. But that was it for me!

We first spent a few weeks long distance while he was travelling Japan and I travelling Greece. Squeezing in as many calls as we could. Then we spent a couple months long distance once I got back to Melbourne and he decided he didn’t want to live in Japan anymore. He was going to head back to New Zealand and we could be long distance from there, as it wasn’t as far away from Australia. He completely changed his plans (two years in Japan), for me. I couldn’t believe it, I kept saying we could do long distance from Japan. But he just told me his priorities had changed. He took a huge chance on me, was a huge romantic gesture for only knowing each other a few weeks. Then we did a couple more months long distance whilst he was in New Zealand and I, in the Gold Coast. But first he came to Melbourne to meet my parents (crazy to explain to them that, I now have a New Zealand boyfriend) and he helped me move my life to the Gold Coast. Taking a four day road trip and getting to know each other more! Learning music tastes, and songs. Which then brought up memories of life. It was a long time to be stuck in the car together. But we did not mind at all. We were absolutely crazy about each other (and still are to this day). I think I smiled the entire time. Then four months into our relationship, he moved from New Zealand, and was living with me here in the Gold Coast.

We didn’t like long distance. I mean we spent every second we could vide chatting each other. So why not be together? A crazy whirlwind relationship, hey? But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Since then we’ve travelled to Sydney, Perth, Heron Island, Bali, New Zealand and Japan together. We are five months off of our two years of being together. And we have the most exciting plans made for next year. Can you believe it?! That off chance that I booked my tour so randomly, and he switched/transferred onto my tour! We both were so blasé’, about ending up on that certain tour trip. It hurts my heart, to think how easily we could have missed meeting each other. But we found our life partners! We can thank both our past relationships for leading us to one another. We can also thank Topdeck, my travel agent, the dates being in line, chance, luck or maybe even fate? Whatever it was, I’m so thankful that everything aligned. Now getting back to my Law of Attraction… I hadn’t even thought about it until I got back from my trip. I found that list I’d written about what I wanted in a guy. No bullshit, Karl ticked off EVERY single one. To a T. And if anything he added stuff to the list I didn’t even know I wanted. Is this real life?!

I’m so incredibly thankful and blessed. I cry on the regular with how lucky I am. I’m so grateful to have found the kindest, sweetest, perfectly suited soul for me. I got everything I wanted out of that tour. I found who I was, made friends, saw more of the world and found love! If you would like to keep up to date with our story you can follow my blog or Instagram. Let’s see how this bad boy turns out!

I hope I made you believe in love, and show that you are worthy of deserving the best. And everything you want. Don’t settle. The best is out there for you. You just gotta stay positive and do what makes you happy. Cheers and much love to the Topdeck Crew! The tour mates for aiding/supporting us together and also Charlotte our tour guide, and CJ our driver. You all helped us achieve this and played your parts well! And much love to Karl for being in the right place and the person that you are. Believe it or not, I’m more in love with you now than ever before.