Connect with FacebookLove is in the Air: Married TravBuddy Couples (Part I)
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, which to some is nothing more than a made-up “Hallmark Card” holiday, but for a number of TravBuddies, it was a day to celebrate with their special someone. Perhaps you enjoyed a nice dinner out (provided you could get a reservation), sent flowers, went on a romantic getaway (like the Caribbean cruise I am writing this post from), or just enjoyed a quiet night in, but wherever you spent your Valentine’s Day, we hope it was a special one.
In an upcoming series -- just to keep that sickeningly sweet romance factor of Valentine’s Day alive -- we will feature four married couples who found their true loves -- on TravBuddy! Although not meant or designed to be a dating site, TravBuddy has managed to inadvertently bring together a number of people who are in different stages of a relationship -- be it just dating, a committed relationship, engaged, or in this case -- already married.
This week, we will look at Malvin (malvin_soh) and Florianne (coffeefairy) who live in Singapore and have been married just over a year.
1. How did you guys meet on TravBuddy?
Back in the last quarter of 2008, I was very active in organizing TB meetups in Singapore. And this TB guy called malvin_soh suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started replying on the meetup forums saying how he wish he could join us on the TB meetups.
Finally on November 2008, he dropped me a message in TB asking if we could meet up for coffee when he's in Singapore around last week of that month. I was a little skeptical as this guy seems to like one-on-one meetups.
A few months after we became a couple though, I found out we've exchanged a couple of messages earlier that year when I replied to a Singapore TB meetup that I missed but I stopped replying to him when he started to send me a private message, lol.
2. Where did you meet in person for the first time?
At Spinelli's cafe in Raffles City Mall. He met me and another fellow TB, Najiah (najiah10).
I was supposed to meet him a few days before that for coffee and dancing with his best friend and his best friend's GF but he forgot to tell me that the bar we're supposed to meet up has shifted from Harbourfront to Clarke Quay so I ended up getting lost and finally decided to just go home.
3. Where did you get married? How long have you been married?
We got married in Singapore Botanic Gardens on 27 Dec 2009. We have been married now for 1 year and 1 month. And then just a couple of weeks ago (23 Jan 2011), we actually got married again but this time under Roman Catholic rites.
4. Did you move a long distance to be with your significant other?
For me, well I was already residing in Singapore when we met. He was still basically based in Australia that time but has just came back to Singapore as his last stop from his 8 months round the world trip.
I was already not expecting anything serious would develop between the two of us because he was talking about moving to the Middle East to work. I was also planning on moving out of Singapore that time. But well, fate can really turn things around.
A couple other interesting tidbits about Malvin and Florianne:
- When Florianne moved to Singapore her friend said maybe she would find Mr. Right there. Florianne said she didn’t think she would ever date a guy from Singapore and she met Malvin shortly thereafter!
- Malvin said he had no intentions of ever visiting the Philippines again (he was there once when he was 7 years old) yet he ended up there only a few months after meeting Florianne -- to meet her parents!
- Guess what day of the year Malvin proposed to Florianne? Valentine’s Day of course!
We wish Malvin and Florianne all the happiness in the world and hope they have many happy years together!
Photos used with Coffeefairy's permission.
