Well guys, first off what a great forum, lots of help on here plus lots of hard luck stories, but i guess that comes with many long distance relationships.
This is my story, All was ok in my life before Xmas, I am a single male divorced, 44 years old living in Ilford, Essex with my 2 dogs (Japanese Akita's)
I have friends from all over the world with my dogs, most of them on Facebook, then one day in December i was a little bored and decided to look at the applications on FB, AYI (Are You Interested) was one of them, where you just click someone if you like their profile picture, or send them a wink, it does cost to join, but it was only a bit of fun, so i never paid for reading the messages sent, Then i noticed that this lady from Belfast had clicked back, so this continued for a couple of weeks, then all of a sudden i thought i have to find this lady from Belfast as she is a stunning looking girl, all i had to go on was her name was Ailene and she was from Belfast, well there was 2800 Ailene's on Facebook, it took me 2 long days then all of a sudden i found Ailene's profile, i was so happy, so i sent a little message saying if you would like too add me then please do,
Then a day later she added me, It turns out she isn't Irish but a Filipino living in Northern Ireland for the last 2 years as a nurse and is flying home on the 31st of this month, so we got chatting about life and things in general, lots of jokes and making each other smile, one joke i kept on about that i was 4'10" infact i am 5'10" but it was nice to have a laugh and make each other feel at ease, her joke was i didn't search for her i hunted her down, i phoned a few times that also broke the ice and i was enjoying getting to know this so called Irish girl lol,
So just before Xmas i messaged her, would she like to go out for a drink? thinking no chance of that happening, what with the distance and the really bad weather at the time, then out of the blue i got a reply back saying ok if you want too, i have family about 10 miles where Ailene is living so i found out what a small world, so i can go visit them as well at the same time, so i looked online for a flight as it was only £77 return, bingo went and looked at my passport and it had expired in June 2010, not to be detered i thought right a coach, i searched online and managed to get a coach leaving London Victoria at 1500 on the 27th Dec and getting into Belfast at 0700 on the 28th Dec i booked it so i could be back on the 31st at 0600 intime for New Years Eve with my brother and sister, I arrived in Northern Ireland for the 1st time in 30 yrs what a difference from the old NI I knew, I went and saw my cousin and told her what i was doing she knew i was mad but not this mad surely, I stayed at a hotel for 2 nights in Carrickfergus County Antrim, where Ailene had friends and did her groceries, so our first date was going to be in Belfast at 1330 in Central station, as she couldn't be seen with this stranger by her friends and her friends knowing nothing, so we decided to play it low key, as it was only a 1st and maybe last date anyway, now she was living and working 2 stations up from where i was staying and there is only one train every half hour, so we were both on the same train but which carraiges? so we were both nervous by the speed and words in our text messages too each other lol, i asked her which carraige she was on and she said "guess" lol well the train pulled into the station i looked in the 1st carraige and the 2nd didn't see her so i went for the 3rd carraige i was bricking it by this time, i told her that i would need a hand getting on the train as being a dwarf at 4'10" and the stationmaster was happy to carry me onto the train hehe. i sat in the 3rd carraige with my head down low and still texting Ailene knowing we were now together in a funny sort of way, so i texted her can you tell me what carraige you are in as i will have to walk up and down the train until i see you, but i couldn't do that as i was too nervous i was happy too sit in my seat and be nervous, then my bravado was a bit up and i said can you please tell me where you are or i will phone you and i will find out myself when your phone rings, lol, i never did phone, so i got off the train at Belfast Central and went with the flow of passengers, well to be honest i legged it up the stairs not to be seen by Ailene lol i then went to the exit/'entrance to the station near to the big Xmas tree and watched as everyone went by, big, small, pretty, ugly, i looked at them all, but no, Ailene wasn't to be seen, so i phoned her and said "were you on the train? she said "yes", but she was still on the platform waiting for everyone too leave the train, whereas i was at the opposite end of the station, so after a few minutes our paths met on the concourse of Belfast Central station. well if you are still reading when i get time i will put the next episode of this journey up on here,
catch you all soon Gary.
Originally Posted by AnaWallace
how i miss her 
to the filipino/uk forum, btw.
Hope its a happy ending
Hi Gary, welcome to the forum 
