Jennifer & Paul
August 7, 2010

Paul and I met at the wedding of two friends. I was living in England and flew back to Canada for the wedding and he had flown to Ontario from Edmonton for the week. We started to talk at the wedding rehearsal about our travel experiences – both of us have traveled extensively and we both have a passion for outdoor adventures through our traveling. We each found that we couldn’t stop talking to each other during the evening despite the wedding festivities! The wedding came and went – I flew back to England the day after the wedding and Paul returned to Edmonton. No exchange of address had been made and I didn’t expect to ever see him again. However, I couldn’t get him off my mind! I even told one of my friends whilst recounting my trip to Canada that I had met a guy who I could marry, but likely will never see him again!

Three months later, I received an email from Paul – just hours before I was flying away for Christmas holidays traveling around Europe. I usually don’t check my emails over my holidays, but this time I couldn’t stop checking them! Paul mentioned that he had some holidays in February and he was interested in traveling around the UK. He asked if I could recommend any places that I had traveled. I also had holidays in February and within a week, Paul had booked a ticket to England and we were planning a hiking trip through Snowdonia National Park in Wales. Paul booked a beautiful country cottage and we spent each day exploring the mountains.

One evening we decided to explore an old castle, only to find it closed when we arrived. We walked around the outer grounds to the castle – admiring the views out to sea and the 12th century architecture of the village. Paul led me around the front of the castle; we seemed to be winding through walls and archways. All of the sudden, we realized that we were inside the castle! We had a castle to ourselves and could admire the sunset over the sea with a royal view! Paul and I continued our relationship, for a year, while being thousands of miles apart. We met up in Venice, Corsica, and Paris. A year since that initial adventure, I moved to Edmonton to start a life with Paul.

We regularly visit Jasper and stay at a small rustic cabin. One weekend, Paul and I set off for our weekend at the cabin and I noticed that we had been driving a lot longer than usual! We had actually passed the cabin and he had booked a weekend at Jasper Park Lodge saying he felt we needed to be spoiled for the weekend. The next day, we hiked up high over Maligne Lake. While admiring the views, Paul opened his pack and gave me a card. The card was from Wales. He had bought the card and written it during our first ‘date.’ Inside he wrote that he can’t wait for a lifetime of adventures. I looked up from the card to see Paul on one knee, asking me to marry him! We continue to look for adventure and are both so happy that after thinking we’d never see each other again after the wedding, we have found each other!