Yes, I flew all the way from Sydney to Paris to celebrate New Years Eve with somebody special for only 4 hours. And yes, I decided that it would be better to celebrate New Years Eve in Paris instead of in an apartment at the harbor of Sydney next to the harbor bridge!
It was a couple of days before NYE in 2010 and I was sitting in Western Australia and it was raining. It actually was raining for almost three weeks. The road trip we had planned was canceled after two days because of blocked roads on the way to Broome. We tried to make the best out of it and pretty much succeeded having a great time. Then I flew to Sydney and felt the urge of seeing somebody special. I’ve always been a big friend of spontaneous decisions and in this case I spontaneously called my airline, changed my flight and the next day after I arrived in Sydney I was up in the air again flying all the way to Europe.
I’m going camping… there is no reception!
She thought I was in the bush camping with mates, in reality I texted her from 40.000 feet somewhere over the Indian Ocean. It was a very long flight. I had to fly from Sydney to Amsterdam, take the TGV to Paris and then fight myself through the crowds of Paris. By that time all I wanted was to book a hotel in Paris because I was so exhausted!
I luckily found out where she was, pretending I was somebody else, I called her friend just to make sure it was them… and then I approached her, my heart beating crazy…
It was worth to see the expression on her face
She turned around, and there I was, wasn’t I supposed to be in Australia? Her face was telling hundred stories at the same time, so confused!
I brought a bottle of champagne and together we celebrated NYE in Paris.
NYE in Paris…
…is so so! We were celebrating at the Eiffel Tower but to our disappointment, there were no fireworks. Apparently there hey haven’t had fireworks in Paris since 2000 and instead the Eiffel Tower just starts blinking at midnight.
We wandered around the city and went into a club. 30 € entrance per Person and nothing included was a little painful for my credit card but I was too tired to think about it!
Two hours later I was sitting in a bus, leaving Paris again!
It was a crazy long journey only to spend New Years Eve with a beloved. We had a great start into the new year but still broke up that year. Back then it was worth it and I think I would always do it again…
Love has inspired me to do MANY crazy things! I need to write a book. I LOVE that you did this!!!!!!!
Love makes us blind sometimes… I don’t regret this at all even though it didn’t work out between us!
ahhh what we do for love, sorry to hear it didn’t work out, but glad to hear you can look back on this in a positive light.
That is some SERIOUS romance.
yeah… it was pretty crazy!
Gutted it didn’t work out for you, but that is what we do for love sometimes!
I gave up my sweet apartment in Vancouver, put in a request for a leave of absence with my job, got a whole whack of crazy vaccinations, got a visa for Brazil and was ready to pack up and move there for my Brazilian lover. Unfortunately all hell broke loose and somehow I ended up in Germany instead! You just never know where love, or losing it will lead you! 😉
Wow that is some serious change of plans… sometimes you just gotta go with it!
this is just wonderful. how come it didnt work out? any girl must be lucky to have you
It’s ok it didn’t work out… thanks for the kind words 🙂
love makes us do crazy things that others don’t understand. i did the same thing but not for 30 hours lol and things didn’t work out as well . its great to look it in positive way
Back then it felt like the right thing to do and under the same circumstances I would do it again and again… Sorry it didn’t work out for you either!
I love this story!!! Awwwwww… You should do more personal posts!
Thank you Abby… your comments mean a lot to me! Will try to make more personal posts in the future!! 🙂
I love this story! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Katharine!!
Ahhh, I love a story that involves both crazy spontaneity and unbelievable romance! Shame you couldn’t have stayed a bit longer, but I bet it was worth it just for the look on her face.
This is so crazy! I thought I’d done a fair amount of travel for both love and friendship but never anything like this.
Wow! This is pretty spontaneous, good for you!
Well we know how my trip to the USA has worked out… 😉 you crazy homeboy…
Shit happens mate, when one door closes a new one opens 😉
Wow I have never had anyone cross the world for me.
I really don’t think it’s too late to send her a bill for half the cost of the flight. 🙂
Haha maybe… 🙂
Wow. Kudos to you , that is something most people would not do…
I’m friendly with the spontaneous decisions. Hats off to you. 🙂
wow! so romantic!!
Now that is incredible!
Things you do for that special person 😉
It’s funny, you flew out of Australia and I did the opposite.
I traveled over a day to Brisbane to meet whom I thought was the one but it truly wasn’t. In the end I had a fab time in the land down under.
Thanks for sharing, now we know what it means to literally cross oceans for someone!
All the best,
Kay 😉
I’m too selfish (and old) to do something like this 🙂
This is the sweetest gesture ever! I once quit my job at Conde Nast in NYC and moved 3,000 miles to a city where I knew no one for my now-husband. Does that count? =)
That is such a wonderful story and the perfect surprise. There’s no one better to bring in the New Year with than someone you love. And, the blinking Eiffel Tower blows. What’s that about? Lol!
Well, you were certainly determined!
A girl would be foolish to not fall for something like this. Too cute!
Thanks Elle… 🙂
Beautiful… that was something that I would do… 🙂 Never had to, but love the spontaneity . Too bad it didn’t work out, but I am sure is a story to remember for both of you.
Great story!
The craziest thing I’ve done…
When I first met my husband, he was due to go travelling for a year in two weeks time. He made it five months before moving back to Oz to be with me. But we didn’t stay long, in fact, when he was overseas we planned to move together to the UK after having only dated for two weeks!
Crazy!
But he’s my husband now, so follow your heart 😉
Thats a great story! 🙂
I started dating that someone special a week before our college graduation. A couple months later he moved to India for a fellowship.
What crazy thing did I do? After a few months of long distance I quit my job and moved to India to move in with this guy I’d only been dating for a few months…
but fast forward 5 years and several countries later, we are still together, and taking that leap was the best decision I ever made!
Awww that’s beautiful! Tell that stories to other girls and you will be on track for swooning women all over the world! 😀 what a great story you have to tell.