Our story takes place across all social media platforms and spans almost 10 years- you could say its almost as old as social media itself!

It all started off back in 2010 when the only main social media platforms were Facebook and Twitter. Twitter was still relatively new, and since we were from the same city, we started following one another. Apart from the occasional retweet, we never interacted. Until Facebook introduced the ‘people you may know’ feature, when Kaan added Claudia as a friend.

We would occasionally send one another funny memes, but never had actual conversations. When Instagram was introduced, we followed one another on there as well. At this point, the universities we were studying at were only 20 minutes apart- but we never made plans to actually meet in person.

We were following one another for years without ever actually meeting in person!

All that changed in June 2015, when Kaan saw Claudia was in town and asked her out to dinner- as friends. From our first dinner conversation, we developed such strong feelings for one another and knew that it was the start of something serious.

We were polar opposites: Claudia had just graduated from university and was taking time off to travel the world, while Kaan was already established 2 years into his career and was looking to climb the corporate ladder.

During the course of that summer, we met up at every opportunity- which was hard, since we were both travelling around North America extensively and were rarely in Toronto. But we were doing everything we could to squeeze in even a few extra minutes together.

Within the first 2 months of us dating, we booked a flight to Hawaii and backpacked around the islands. Claudia is a firm believer that you don’t really know a person until you’ve actually traveled with them- and Kaan passed the test. Right after Hawaii, Claudia left on a backpacking trip to South America for a few months, and it was a test for our relationship. 2 months in, Kaan pulled off a romantic gesture and flew 18 hours to meet her in Peru for 6 days (that was all he could get off work). Traveling together is what strengthened our bond and we knew we were meant to be together.

In May 2017, we set off on a around the world trip, and towards the end of it, Kaan proposed in the most magical place ever- amid the hot air balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey. A few months after, we decided to ‘save the date’ for our barn wedding on September 7, 2019.

Our love of travel is what really bonded us together, and in May 2018, we decided to move to sell our belongings and travel the world, basing ourselves in Bali.

We are so grateful for social media because it allowed us to find our soul mates. It is crazy because we can’t even imagine what our lives would be if we haven’t met one another. We took a chance on one another, on love, and on happiness, and we will never look back on it.

Here’s to hoping you guys find your soul mates! And when you find them, you’ll just know.

xo,

Claudia & Kaan