Once entering her 30’s Rachael couldn’t help but wonder, “has the dating pool really just become a dating puddle?” Close to giving up, after exasperating first date after first date, the thought of finding love was becoming a hopeless fable and seemingly unattainable. With a looming pandemic ramping up, finding a relationship seemed low on anyones list of priorities. Defeated, Rachael was just moments away from deleting all of the dating apps plaguing her phone. Then, on one probably rainy March afternoon, adorned in her sweats, in a fleeting moment of romantic optimism, she placed the pint of Ben and Jerrys back into the fridge, opened her Hinge app, and came across this handsome, tattooed, beautiful soul and immediately thought “his dog looks so cute,” so she swiped right. As the stars aligned in fortuitous hope….it was a match.

With much of the world shutting down, Rachael and Matt’s relationship started and progressed quickly. After telling her about his love of ice hockey, and her fabricating her enjoyment of learning new activities, they shared their first date at an ice skating rink. Soon she was purchasing a new bike and they were pedaling their way into a blooming romance, Rachael, complaining about the sudden influx of physical activity every step of the way. Matt soon became intrigued with Rachael’s love of travel, and applied for his passport. With the amazing pandemic flight prices, they soon found themselves sharing their wanderlust and found in each other a life long adventure buddy.

In November, Matt and Rachael set out on their favorite adventure to date. They flew to Athens, Greece and enjoyed a few days exploring the Acropolis before zipping over to Budapest, Hungary and relaxing in the largest European bath house and Beer spa, finally rounding out their trip in Rome, Italy. On November 20th, after an amazing dinner in Piazza Navona, they headed for a quick cocktail….which turned into multiple cocktails and way too many laughs. Stumbling home at 2 am, as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Rachael found herself having to pee…like bad. So the couple did as the Romans do and stumbled into the nearest McDonalds for a snack. On their way back to hotel Trevi, the world seemed to shine like they had too much wine. They stopped for a moment to toss their coins into the Trevi Fountain to ensure their return to Rome. While digging for coins, Matt dropped to one knee in front of Rachael’s favorite European landmark, in her favorite European city. After confirming the McDonalds bag was safe from harm, Rachael said yes, and the rest is history. Rachael and Matt are looking forward to a lifetime of adventures and laughs together and can’t wait to kick off forever with you!