‘I was single for 17 years until I met my partner on a cruise from Rio de Janeiro’
Dating online has become the norm for most of us, with over 60 per cent of US couples meeting online in 2024, according to data from Stanford University.
Going on the ‘apps’ has become so ingrained in our dating culture to the point where meet-cutes – a charming or amusing first encounter between future partners – sound practically mythological. If you meet a couple who reveal that they didn’t meet on Hinge or Tinder, it’s become rare and intriguing.
Not only is meeting spontaneously more romantic – like your favourite rom-com characters – it’s also better for your health. Natalie Russell, a relationship recovery coach with nine years in the field, points out: “This modern world of dating has become so heavily online that it is affecting the longevity of relationships.”
Whilst it’s easier, requires less commitment, and is potentially less daunting browsing ‘try-before-you-buy’ online profiles, Russell explains that you often can generate a stronger connection from the outset if you meet in person. “Meeting face-to-face means you have context; you can tell more about the person, how they carry themselves, and whether there’s chemistry between the two of you.
“People can hide themselves online, as you put the best version of yourself forward and there isn’t the opportunity to get to know their wider community, for example.”
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Telegraph readers and writers of all ages have revealed their real-life meet-cutes, and Russell has shared her tips for meeting romantic partners in real life.
Without further ado, read on for our meet-cutes and share yours in the comments section.
‘We met on a solo cruise – we held hands and never let go’
Linda, Telegraph reader
“I was single for 17 years. My last relationship ended amicably as we wanted different things. I did a lot of solo travel, not to try and find someone but to see the world. It just so happened that David and I, both in our early 70s, met on a solo travellers’ cruise ship, the Azamara Pursuit, in 2019. He was recently widowed and he wasn’t looking for a relationship either. Maybe that’s the formula, don’t go looking, it might just happen!
“We had left Río de Janeiro earlier that day. I was in the nightclub lounge when this gentleman approached and asked if he could join me. I was surprised as I didn’t expect to attract anyone’s attention as I waited for some girlfriends I had met that day. We sat and talked for a long time about cruising and travel. A few days and a shared game of trivia later, we went ashore together in Bahia and had a great time wandering through the streets and seeing the local entertainment.
“We had dinner that night. It seemed like it was meant to be, and we never ran out of things to say. David first held my hand in Agadir, Morocco, as I was nervous about crossing a busy street. He took my hand and I felt safe, and he never let go! This year, we will spend Valentine’s Day and our six-year anniversary on the same ship we met.”
‘If it wasn’t for Covid – we wouldn’t have met’
Ellen Murphy, Community Editor
“I wasn’t on the apps, neither was I looking for a relationship when I met my boyfriend in 2022 in a busy nightclub. We were out celebrating graduating from university. We’d never bumped into each other before during our four years at uni, despite having mutual friends, and our graduation was, by then, two years delayed because of Covid (we couldn’t shake the vice chancellor’s hand during the ceremony for this reason). This later would make the encounter seem serendipitous.
“Thanks to his friend and mine bonding over their same surnames, we were left to talk just the two of us under the glow of the club’s fairy lights outside. We only spoke briefly, but I felt at ease, happy from some unspoken shared feeling. I noticed he was also very handsome. We had our first date back in London a few weeks later with a sparkling view of the city and have been together since.”
‘A tale as old as fold-out tray tables’
Gabby Colvin, Newsletter Editor
“My dad was a pilot and my mum was cabin crew. A tale as old as fold-out tray tables. Whilst swimming in a pool down-route in Cairo, my mother was trying desperately not to get her hair wet. My dad, having spotted her, offered her a hand out the pool, dropped her on purpose, and asked if he could take her out to dinner to apologise.
“Thirty years of marriage later and they’re still travelling around the world together. Personally, I would have been fuming over my hair, but my brother and I owe everything to my mum’s more charming response.”
‘I first saw her across the dance floor in 1959 – I was smitten’
Ivor, Telegraph reader
“I met my wife-to-be at a Devon holiday camp in 1959. I was there the year before and by an amazing coincidence, my wife’s sister was there too. She waxed lyrical about the camp’s entertainment to my future wife that summer – referring to a memory challenge I performed with two friends. My wife was convinced and attended the next year. I first saw her sitting across the dance floor from me and thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I was smitten. I asked her if she’d like to dance and she agreed.
“The next day we drove in my 1939 Hillman Minx Ten to a Lyme Regis café near the seafront, we had tea and teacake and I put into action my only chat-up line (‘Shall I be mother?’) and Eve dissolved into laughter. We were married for more than 60 years.”
‘I met my wife in the Telegraph newsroom’
Joe Burgis, Deputy Letters Editor
“I met my wife in the Telegraph newsroom. While reporting from Ukraine at the start of the war in 2022, Danielle rescued an abandoned dog, and later brought her into the office in London. My first words to her were: ‘Oh, you’ve got a dog’. She wasn’t bowled over by my zinger, but still she remembered who I was some months later, when we worked together on a story about chemical weapons testing (a classic rom-com sub-plot). The next day we went to the pub, and exactly a year later I proposed.”
‘I wasn’t nervous at all that he wouldn’t show up’
Lou, Telegraph reader
“It was 1985, I was travelling and working in Australia with a friend. I got talking to a few people around the pool where we were staying in Cairns. One of them was John*. He was from London, travelling on his own, and had a great sense of adventure about him. The three of us drove to Cape Tribulation; camped down the Goldcoast; stayed on a deserted Denham Island, and finally found ourselves at a banana and avocado farm in Maleny. The local pub there had a jukebox – John and I fell in love listening to Elton John’s Rocketman over a pint of lager.
“When we had to part ways – he to work at a cattle station and I had my flight home – we arranged to meet six weeks later outside Harrods on December 20, at 4pm. Funnily, I wasn’t nervous at all on the train that he wouldn’t show, we’d had so much fun together. Sure enough, he was there for me, and has continued to be there for 33 years of marriage.”
*Name has been changed.
‘We got the same bus for a year before he broke the silence’
Kath Brown, Acting Editor of Lifestyle
“Adrian was known as ‘the man on the W3 bus’ to my work colleagues at the time. I would arrive at the office and they would know from my mood whether the silver fox who got on the same bus as me from Crouch End to Finsbury Park in north London had smiled or caught my eye. This vague flirtation went on for a whole year without a word being exchanged. One day he got on the bus with another very good-looking guy and they went upstairs. For some inexplicable reason, I took this to be a sign he was gay and was devastated.
“But then I got a new job and when I got off the bus at Finsbury Park, instead of getting the Piccadilly Line I boarded the Victoria train – taking the same route as him. He spotted me and said, ‘You don’t normally take this Tube.’ His first ever words. ‘No I’ve got a new job,’ I replied. At last an actual conversation began and Adrian suggested we have a drink that Friday. I wrote down my new work number (it was 1995 before we all had mobile phones) and he called me later that week. We met in a pub and have been together ever since – 29 years!”
‘I quit my nightclub job only to re-enter with a girl I liked’
Mark, Telegraph reader
“I was 21 years old, working at a club in Leeds. As ever, it was really busy and amongst the chaos, the owner’s girlfriend accused me of giving free drinks out. I was so incensed and convinced that they were going to sack me anyway that I stormed out to spare them the indignity. As I was walking out, Liz was walking in with a bunch of her friends. I knew who she was and thought she was quite nice so I decided to queue, pay entry, and come back in.
“I got to flaunt my night in front of the owner and his girlfriend who were helplessly understaffed, but more importantly, I spent the evening chatting Liz up, who I proposed to seven years later. Here we are after 30 years of marriage – I suppose it was a good thing the owner’s girlfriend dobbed me in for something I didn’t do.”
‘I don’t mind admitting I fell in love with him on sight’
Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor
“I met my husband Dominic when I was nine and he was 13. I should probably point out at this stage that we didn’t become romantically involved until we were in our 20s but I don’t mind admitting I pretty much fell in love with him on sight, back in the late 1980s. He went to school with my two older brothers and turned up at our childhood home one day for a band practice with the elder of the two. I don’t know if it was the guitar that swung it but an entry in my 1991 Roald Dahl diary (which I still have) reveals that I remained smitten until he went off to university. I thought I’d never see him again until we were reintroduced by mutual friends in 2001, immediately hit it off and ended up marrying four years later.”
‘Five years of friendship later’
Ryan Gudge, Daily T Production Coordinator
“After a job interview, I held the staff room door open for the next applicant, not knowing what the future would have in store for us. We found out later that we had both got the job. Stood on the tills training together at Superdrug in Canterbury we became incredibly good friends both in and out of work. Five years of friendship later – including one year where we lived next door to each other – on a random night in October, we kissed for the first time and haven’t looked back since!”
