“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.”
-Thomas Jefferson

I’m not sure if I ever told you about mine and Alex’s first date but I’m pretty sure that if I did tell you I didn’t really go into detail about it. Mainly because as most of you know we had a little rocky middle bit that left me wanting to wait to talk about our relationship. So now my crazy has calmed down a lot and I’m feeling more comfortable I thought I would start our Paris story off with the reason we chose Paris as our first holiday destination.

I met Alex on Tinder (not ashamed to say) in fact he was my first Tinder date and possibly the only guy on Tinder not to surprise me with a picture of his dick! After only a couple of days chatting he asked if he could take me on a coffee date, at this point he hadn’t decided to confirm to me that he was a man by sending me a pic of his dick so I agreed. Coffee dates are in my opinion the best first dates to go on because if you get on it can turn into a dinner date and if not you have only wasted 30 mins and had a caffeine hit. Somewhere between arranging the coffee date with a actual time and date and meeting, our plans for the first date changed to 24 hours in Paris just 10 days after first swiping!!! The first time I ever laid eyes on Alex or spoke to him in anything more than text form was when he pulled up outside my house to take me to the Airport (go big or go home). Please know I wasn’t being careless (and certainly wouldn’t recommend travelling aboard with a stranger) I had several escape plans if he turned out to be a arsehole or if 24 hours would seem like hell. I knew I would know by the end of the hour drive to the airport at which point if he was an arsehole I would simply jump in a taxi home or if I realised once in Paris I had a list of flights home on my phone ready to fly back alone at any time. I gave all details to friends and family and planned on keeping them fully updated on my whereabouts. Prior to him picking me up we had shared pictures of each other and right up to seeing him I was unsure if I found him attractive, every picture he sent he looked completely different in, yet my biggest fear was what if he smelled? I can grit my teeth through a lot but not through bad odour smells tho. I still remember the utter butterflies I had in my tummy just before he came to pick me up including pretending not to be home.

Luckily as I opened the door I was instantly attracted to him and he smelt amazing!!!! Honestly I would have refused to get in the car if he smelt awful, I would have moved house and changed my name anything to hide from him. The next hour to the airport my stomach was going crazy with butterflies and conversation flowed easily, at this point I would have been happy just to drive around the country with him.

We arrived at Manchester airport and checked in! We took a seat at the bar and started chatting, the kind of talking you see in chick flicks gold! Totally emerged in conversation we could have been anywhere in the world. In fact we spoke through our flight! Yep we actually missed our flight from talking, amazingly I wasn’t bothered about missing the flight more the fact that I was worried that he would want to end the date early at this point!!

I am pretty sure as we were escorted from the airport I held my breath the whole time waiting for him to say he would drop me off at home. Instead he suggested spending the night in Manchester. There was absolutely no way I was going to say no, it had been a long time since I had found someone to talk to like that, if ever!! Its safe to say the next 48 hours were the best first date I have ever been on, EVER! And even to this day I am convinced that if we did get on that flight our first date wouldn’t have been so good. As you can imagine missing our flight is something I still laugh at and something hes still grump about. So when we decided to have our first holiday together a few different ideas came up but I really wanted it to be Paris.

Fast forward nine months through some ups and certainly through some downs and we were sat in the same place at the same bar at Manchester Airport. Although this time there was several alarms set on my phone and a little less drink. And thank goodness this time we actually made it onto the Jettly plane (could you imagine if we missed it again). This was Alexs first trip to Paris and it had been ten years since I visited whilst solo travelling in my early twenties. I didn’t have the best memories of Paris, turns out that was about to change and i’m pretty sure now that Paris will be forever in my heart.

There has not been a single holiday that I have been on with a boyfriend that I didn’t come back from and then break up with them once returning home. Its not that I am a bitch its just that i’m a slight control freak and if i’m on holiday I want to see and do as much as possible. Obviously not the way most people work and by the end of a holiday they annoy me so much that I just break up with them. You learn a hell of a lot about someone once you have been with them for 24 hours a day. Usually way more than I can handle. Now this time and actually really liking Alex I decided to try and leave control freak Emma at home and just relax. The thought of which made me very anxious!!

Its safe to say I did and actually enjoyed not planning, not needing to be somewhere or do something at a certain time. Mine and Alex’s time together is limited and very rarely includes having a full day together, at the moment we don’t see each other at the weekends and we both work more than full time during the week. So it was really important to me to actually be able to spend some real time together and not have to worry about work or normal everyday tasks. I still feel like I have soooooo much to tell him about me and there is so much I want to learn about him that this felt like the first time we were really able to just talk for hours.

We spent our first day in Paris wandering the streets, laughing, kissing and stopping at each cafe for a drink whilst I giggled constantly to myself that we actually made it this time. There might have also been a lot of pinching myself. You know that feeling you get when you know a moment will stay with you forever, well imagine having that feeling for an entire day and thats where I was at. Honestly the whole day felt like an absolute fairy tale all I could do was keep stopping and try and take every single detail in.

I actually can’t remember anything we did that first day I just remember the feeling of utter bliss which might be totally corny but its true. And you know what, after the last few months I don’t care I fully enjoyed being with Alex and being in the moment with him. I can’t even remember what we spoke about just that we spoke for hours It was honestly one of the best days I have ever had, I hope its the start of many more adventures.

Absolutely shattered from a 3am start and one too many drinks we headed back to our hotel for a early night and did I mention there was a mirror on our hotel ceiling, when in Paris do as the Parisians…………

“It’s midnight. One half of Paris is making love to the other half.”
-Ninotchka

PS I am sure tomorrows blog post will actually be about Paris, but I can’t promise.