Hey All,
Just writing this as a sort of therapy... to cope with the sadness of saying goodbye yesterday night to my SO.
Bit of background. My SO and I met on a diving trip in Egypt (we were part of different groups) and started chatting after. 1 month later she flew to Sudan to start working as a doctor with children for 1 year. I flew out to her departure airport (Venice) to meet her for just 3 hours, holding hands... kissing... and feeling very happy to see her but also very sad to say goodbye already after 3 amazing hours.
We tried to arrange a visit together a couple of times, but problems getting an exit visa from Sudan delayed our plans for a while. In the end we managed to organise a trip to Istanbul. The plan was that she was going to fly in on a night flight from Khartoum to Istanbul last Thursday (15th), leaving at midnight on Wednesday evening and arriving early Thursday morning, me I would fly to Istanbul on Wednesday evening from Paris to pick her up at the airport Thursday morning.
On Tuesday evening we had planned a phone call in the late evening, but she texted me that she wouldn't be able to because her colleague was feeling very bad, missing her boyfriend and that she needed to support her. I told her of course to do so, and even texted a long message to her colleague telling her that I really understood how she felt and to stay strong.
So I was incommunicado Tuesday evening with my SO... then normally she would always text me a "buongiorno amore" early in the morning... but Wednesday morning nothing... Until I got a message a couple of hours later from her. I didn't think anything about it... just happy that I was finally flying out to Istanbul to meet her.
What actually happened was one of the most amazing moments of my life (I'm 41 btw). I arrived in Istanbul Wednesday evening Valentine's day around 9pm local time, and was feeling a bit stressed because at first it seemed that my luggage that I had checked in was lost (with my presents and letters for her).... in the end I managed to get it back and I texted her a short text telling her that I had arrived in Istanbul and was counting down the hours to finally see her again.
I'm rushing out of the arrival gates, walking straight to a vodaphone boot to buy a local sim card, so I could call the hotel that I had arrived, when out of nowhere I get a tap on my shoulder... I turn around and THERE SHE IS!! I can't describe the feeling of that moment... I think we stood there kissing on the side of the vodaphone boot for 30 minutes not moving an inch. It was totally unexpected...
In fact the week before she had asked me if I like surprises or not, and I told her yes... but I had totally forgotten about it and she with the help of her colleagues managed to spring a big surprise on me. She had in fact taken the night flight on Tuesday night, arriving on Wednesday, had already checked us in the hotel, and did some shopping for me. That's why she couldn't call me, and why she was incommunicado, she was on a flight to me.
The next days were amazing, the first night and the day after we didn't see much except the bedroom, but after we had an amazing city trip with a very very honeymoon kind of vibe.
We talked and talked and talked, couldn't not touch each other for the 5 days we met, we danced together in front of the blue mosque, we had a picnic, joked and laughed, had a very funny video call with her parents, where her father warned me that she is like her mother "a little general" and that I need to watch out, talked about our future, living together in Italy... it was amazing.
Then it ended... Sunday arrived, we told each other that we weren't going to think about our departure the whole day, ruining this last day together but the time to say goodbye slowly crept forward.. In the end I almost missed my flight because we couldn't stop hugging, I cried... and we waved goodbye. She going back to Sudan, and me back to Paris.
I've never experienced so many emotions in such a brief time, bot the highs and in the end the low.
On the plane back to Paris I listened to "our playlist" (the songs we send each other via messenger/whatsap during the previous months), but actually I couldn't handle it and had to do something else, watch a movie, because I felt so sad.
I arrived at my hotel in Paris, and send her a goodnight message to tell her I arrived safely, and when I was asleep and she had arrived back in her home in Sudan, she send me a picture in bed wearing a t-shirt of mine. So now we are back to long distance... until we meet again in April or May.
I know this sounds horrible to say because many of you are in LDR with much longer visit intervals or even nevermets, but at this moment, decompressing still from our visit, it seems like a lifetime before I see her again.
Anyway chin up, brave face, and let's get going at this thing called work ;-)
Just writing this as a sort of therapy... to cope with the sadness of saying goodbye yesterday night to my SO.
Bit of background. My SO and I met on a diving trip in Egypt (we were part of different groups) and started chatting after. 1 month later she flew to Sudan to start working as a doctor with children for 1 year. I flew out to her departure airport (Venice) to meet her for just 3 hours, holding hands... kissing... and feeling very happy to see her but also very sad to say goodbye already after 3 amazing hours.
We tried to arrange a visit together a couple of times, but problems getting an exit visa from Sudan delayed our plans for a while. In the end we managed to organise a trip to Istanbul. The plan was that she was going to fly in on a night flight from Khartoum to Istanbul last Thursday (15th), leaving at midnight on Wednesday evening and arriving early Thursday morning, me I would fly to Istanbul on Wednesday evening from Paris to pick her up at the airport Thursday morning.
On Tuesday evening we had planned a phone call in the late evening, but she texted me that she wouldn't be able to because her colleague was feeling very bad, missing her boyfriend and that she needed to support her. I told her of course to do so, and even texted a long message to her colleague telling her that I really understood how she felt and to stay strong.
So I was incommunicado Tuesday evening with my SO... then normally she would always text me a "buongiorno amore" early in the morning... but Wednesday morning nothing... Until I got a message a couple of hours later from her. I didn't think anything about it... just happy that I was finally flying out to Istanbul to meet her.
What actually happened was one of the most amazing moments of my life (I'm 41 btw). I arrived in Istanbul Wednesday evening Valentine's day around 9pm local time, and was feeling a bit stressed because at first it seemed that my luggage that I had checked in was lost (with my presents and letters for her).... in the end I managed to get it back and I texted her a short text telling her that I had arrived in Istanbul and was counting down the hours to finally see her again.
I'm rushing out of the arrival gates, walking straight to a vodaphone boot to buy a local sim card, so I could call the hotel that I had arrived, when out of nowhere I get a tap on my shoulder... I turn around and THERE SHE IS!! I can't describe the feeling of that moment... I think we stood there kissing on the side of the vodaphone boot for 30 minutes not moving an inch. It was totally unexpected...
In fact the week before she had asked me if I like surprises or not, and I told her yes... but I had totally forgotten about it and she with the help of her colleagues managed to spring a big surprise on me. She had in fact taken the night flight on Tuesday night, arriving on Wednesday, had already checked us in the hotel, and did some shopping for me. That's why she couldn't call me, and why she was incommunicado, she was on a flight to me.
The next days were amazing, the first night and the day after we didn't see much except the bedroom, but after we had an amazing city trip with a very very honeymoon kind of vibe.
We talked and talked and talked, couldn't not touch each other for the 5 days we met, we danced together in front of the blue mosque, we had a picnic, joked and laughed, had a very funny video call with her parents, where her father warned me that she is like her mother "a little general" and that I need to watch out, talked about our future, living together in Italy... it was amazing.
Then it ended... Sunday arrived, we told each other that we weren't going to think about our departure the whole day, ruining this last day together but the time to say goodbye slowly crept forward.. In the end I almost missed my flight because we couldn't stop hugging, I cried... and we waved goodbye. She going back to Sudan, and me back to Paris.
I've never experienced so many emotions in such a brief time, bot the highs and in the end the low.
On the plane back to Paris I listened to "our playlist" (the songs we send each other via messenger/whatsap during the previous months), but actually I couldn't handle it and had to do something else, watch a movie, because I felt so sad.
I arrived at my hotel in Paris, and send her a goodnight message to tell her I arrived safely, and when I was asleep and she had arrived back in her home in Sudan, she send me a picture in bed wearing a t-shirt of mine. So now we are back to long distance... until we meet again in April or May.
I know this sounds horrible to say because many of you are in LDR with much longer visit intervals or even nevermets, but at this moment, decompressing still from our visit, it seems like a lifetime before I see her again.
Anyway chin up, brave face, and let's get going at this thing called work ;-)
It sounded like such a good trip! Much better than just 3 hrs! Once Frank came to see me for just 20 hrs that felt way too short!
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