A teenage girl has fallen in love with a young man 10,000 miles away in AUSTRALIA – after accepting his random Facebook friend request.
Smitten Rebecca Luff, 18, embarked on the ultra long distance relationship after stranger Michael Young, 25, contacted her on social media.
The pair grew close and would chat every day but just one thing stood in the way of their fledgling relationship; she lived in the UK but he was residing in Adelaide, Australia.
But despite the 20 hour plus flight time to see each other, the couple said they are determined to make things work.
After chatting online for more than a year, they finally met when Michael came to Rebecca’s home in Plymouth, Devon, in September 2016.
They spent three weeks in each other’s company and travelled for a mini-break to Amsterdam.
And Rebecca is now taking a three month sabbatical from her job with insurance company TH March to fly out to Australia to meet her Michael’s friends and family.
She said: “When we first met it was like I had known him my whole life, it wasn’t awkward at all. We just clicked.
“When we first started talking, I never thought it would be this serious.
“Nobody took us seriously for a long time; I think everyone thought it was all a bit bizarre.”
Rebecca said it all started when she casually accepted the friend request two years ago.
The pair had been speaking online for months via Facebook and Skype before eventually making things official in December 2015.
The couple, who have not seen each other since October 3, have now been dating for a year and a half.
After almost five months apart, Rebecca says she can’t wait to be reunited with Michael.
She said: “I’m so excited to finally be able to go and visit the places he regularly tells me about, and of course finally get to meet his family and friends properly.
“It’s strange because I already feel like I know them, we’re Facebook friends and I regularly speak to them when we’re on Skype to each other.
“His Nan is letting me borrow her car whilst I’m there so I can travel around whilst Michael is at work, which is lovely.
“The best part is, everyone is so supportive, and my Dad always tells me to do these crazy things whilst I’m young.”
The couple plan on travelling around Australia as Rebecca really wants to visit Bondi Beach.
“It would be rude not to, since as I’ve gone all the way there,” she said. “I need to tick it off my bucket list”.
As for their future, they both know the day is going to come when one of them is going to have to take the plunge and move half way across the world so they can be together for everyday life.
Rebecca added: “It sounds incredibly cheesy, but if it’s meant to be we will find a way to make it work”.
