Woman reveals secret to her ‘perfect’ relationship

By Hannah Van De Peer via SWNS

A woman says her relationship is perfect - despite spending very little time with her boyfriend of five years.

Christina Patel, 31, quit her nine-to-five in recruitment to go traveling and spend on average three months away from her partner per year.

She chooses not to bring her partner, 40, along on trips due to his work schedule as a teacher.

The pair’s relationship has been branded “abnormal” by trolls online - as well as older relatives.

But Christina says people just don’t “understand” their dynamic, and they fully trust each other.

Christina, a travel blogger from Ware, Herts., said: “Some people think our relationship is abnormal - but it was always this way from the get-go.

“It’s actually been smooth-sailing the whole time, we trust each other and we’ve each made sacrifices.”

The blogger worked in recruitment for seven years - and while she enjoyed it, she knew it wasn’t what she wanted to do forever.

She started a savings account just for travelling - and managed to save "thousands of pounds" and quit her job January 2024 to travel across the globe.

Since then, she’s been on 58 trips traveling to countries like Nicaragua, Indonesia and the USA - on her own.

“I had a really good job,” she added.

“I was working with some amazing people - it just wasn’t what I wanted to do with my career.

“I wanted to be in the travel space, so I started a travel blog.

“I saved all the money up myself - and monetized my social media and website, which is how I fund myself now.”

But as she began her journey, in January 2019, she met her now-partner on Hinge.

From the first date, she told him she was pursuing her dream of solo travelling - and he accepted that his career commitments meant he couldn’t join her.

She said: “He’s a teacher, he can’t just go on holiday whenever he wants.

“By the time we’d gone on our first date, I had four months of trips booked up anyway.

“He knew going into the relationship that this was what I liked to do - it wouldn’t have worked otherwise.

“When we are able to go away together, like during the summer holidays, we will.

“But this has just always been part of our relationship.”

Christina says the pair have never run into any problems because of her travels.

She believes this is down to them being “easy-going, laidback people” with good communication skills.

“We text every day - and we FaceTime every weekend,” she added.

“It’s just about keeping in contact basically, we’re really laidback, easy-going people.

“If a problem came up, one of us would say something.

“We’re also just very secure in ourselves.

“My biggest tips would be - making sure you fully trust each other, and being prepared to make compromises.

“Sometimes I might want to go on a trip for three months - but my partner will ask if I can go for two months, instead.

“There are just some sacrifices you have to make.”

The couple have run into a number of negative comments online - and have learnt to brush it off.

While social media trolls have been responsible for a lot of their comments - they’ve also had backlash from elderly relatives.

Christina said: “I’ve posted about our relationship quite a lot, before.

“Some of the comments were like: ‘I wouldn’t let you go out if you were my girlfriend.’

“Another person said he’d change the locks.

“I don’t know really, if it would be the same if I were a man.

“I think a lot of people from the older generation don’t understand, either.

“They just ask me what the point is.”