My Twitter Love Story

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When I signed up for Twitter, I thought it would be a good way to meet other travelers and travel bloggers. I talked to really fun and interesting people, learned about parts of the travel world I never knew existed, and improved my writing. What I never could’ve expected was how Twitter would change my life.

In July I met with Barbara from Cultural Travel with Hole in the Donut while she was in Atlanta, and she told me about her travel blogging experiences. She also convinced me to buy a domain and set up self-hosting for my blog.

>>Learn how to start a blog here. Blogging is now my biggest source of income!

But I am NOT computer savvy, and I quickly ran into problems trying to import my old blog onto the new site. I sent out a random tweet that said something like “I just bought a domain and I have no idea how to set up the hosting.” Andy from Grounded Traveler responded and offered to help. He’s from North Carolina but lives in Germany, so he stayed up late to wait for me to get home from work so we could talk on Skype and import my blog. Then Barbara met with me a few more times to help me with the details of the site (thanks again Barbara!).

That could’ve been the end of it. But Andy and I started keeping up with each other on Twitter, reading each other’s blogs, and exchanging emails. After we had another long conversation on Skype at the beginning of August, I officially had a crush on Andy, despite the fact that I live in Atlanta and he lives in Freiburg, which is in the Black Forest. Every time I mentioned the 4000 mile distance, he said “it’s just a detail.”  

We emailed constantly, talked on Skype one or two nights during the week (thanks for staying up late Andy!) and spent countless hours on Skype on the weekends. It’s really amazing how well you get to know someone when all you have is talking. We couldn’t go on the traditional dinner and a movie date. Instead, we spent 6-8 hours talking non-stop each Saturday. And then again on Sundays.

Andy & I in Prague, November 2010

We continued this routine for nearly 4 months. We made it through my week long trip to Ecuador and his two week trip to Greece without being able to talk to each other. For much of Andy’s trip, he didn’t even have internet connection. We definitely learned just how important we are to each other during those weeks.

At the end of November, I flew to Prague for a trip I had planned before Andy and I ever knew each other. Andy took the train from Freiburg to Prague so that we could finally meet in person, and after the initial 20 minutes of “wow, you’re not pixel-y” it just felt natural to be around each other. It was such an amazing weekend! As a way to express how important that weekend was, I wrote a post called A Love Letter To Prague which was really a love letter to Andy. At New Year’s, I went to Germany to visit, and it reconfirmed that Andy and I fit so well together.

I’ve never felt so close to someone despite the geography. It’s never just felt right like it does with Andy. I still sometimes have moments of disbelief that a tweet led me to the man I am completely in love with. I feel like the luckiest person in the world that Andy actually saw that one tweet, and that we’re committed to being together. Also, Mom and Dad – thanks for taking the news so well!

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