Both of us were traveling around Europe in 2018, and we met in Barcelona that summer. After spending Justin's birthday evening together, and seeing each other every other day thereafter, we knew we should take advantage of being in the same continent for a bit longer. So we met up later on in our trips, and spent time together in Paris and London, messaging and chatting constantly until that time. Even after we each returned to our home countries (Justin to New Zealand and Kristen to the United States), we kept in touch nonstop. In fact, the first day we didn't speak was nearly a year later, when Justin was unreachable for 12 hours, as he was making his way around the world to the United States. When his trip was suddenly cut short, Kristen flew over to New Zealand - and thus began the longest distance relationship that either of us had ever imagined. Kristen moved to NZ just before the pandemic, and after a tough couple of years (so many unprecedented times), we've now settled in Auckland with our beautiful little cat, and look forward to spending our lives together.