What's your answer? Before Sunrise , Chocolat , Lost in Translation. Sometimes, all that people are after is a more exhilarating one night stand. Others just like meeting up with strangers to be able to explore the city from the perspective of a local.
And a few do end up with a blockbuster-type romance that either ends in a happily ever after or a teary-eyed flight back home. For Carla , a travel fling or any kind thereof was something she never imagined herself to have. I learned a lot about it through a friend who reached over a hundred matches on Tinder and had enough stories to make me believe that it was a gross app and was meant for just hookups and nothing more. But when she had to fly to the US to experience the app for an article she had been tasked to write while also hoping to heal a broken heart , her view on dating via the notorious app changed.
I met lawyers, struggling actors, models, entrepreneurs, med students and all sorts. Most of them had the same intentions as my friend back home, but a lot of them, I realized, were just as lonely as I was. That time, we were both carefree and unbelievably driven by our constant craving for an adrenaline rush. Just like a lot of other love stories, it felt too good to be true. Went on a road trip all over California, chased the sunset in Bali, and even woke up to booked flights to Bangkok.
Every skyline was a victory and every airport felt like home. We were everywhere, pretending the world was a theme park and we had to try every ride. It was fun. It was crazy. Crazier than I ever thought things could ever be.
But of course, it had to end. This kind of relationship requires a certain level of maturity neither of us had. It was a gamble we both knew we would lose but we still kept playing. More than anything else, I discovered a side of me that made me love myself so much more and I thank the universe for that. No regrets, just loveβ¦and a million stories to tell, I guess. There are those who like the idea of meeting up with strangers abroadβeven without romance or sex involvedβto be able to experience the place as a local would rather than as a tourist.
