Hello! Seeking some guidance on how or if I should move abroad to chase the potential at love.
I (30M, USA) met a woman while traveling in Belize who is French and lives in Paris. We formed such an intense connection right off the bat and spent the rest of our trip together. I visited her in Paris since and was even harder to say goodbye than the first time, like someone ripped out a part of me.
Even before we met, I was planning to quit my job and travel next year but this is making me reconsider and instead going to Paris to give a relationship a shot. The issue is we really don’t know eachother that well, having spent a total of 3-4 weeks together. I’ve had plenty of relationships and even been married, but she makes me feel something I’ve never experienced before. She makes me feel like I’ve finally found home.
Logistically I don’t know if or how I could make this work. In a perfect world we follow the natural progression of dating by living separately and taking the steps as they come. I have a feeling going straight to living together jumps too many steps (the fun part) and risks ruining our one chance. I just won’t have a job/be able to support myself in a city like Paris so living together makes the most sense. I also can only stay in the country for 90 days at a time(or 180 total per year). Getting a work visa in France seems very difficult. I have ~40k$ set aside for my travels but could do more if I had to.
I’m afraid that if I don’t act on this now then we could drift apart with the distance. Neither of us wants a long distance relationship and we lack the foundation of trust to make that work, let alone a 9 hour time difference.
As mentioned my original plan was to backpack for 6-12 months which is still a dream of mine but I don’t know if we can pick up our relationship after. ( I know, First world problems between chasing love or traveling the globe 😅)
I’m trying to keep myself in check, but if this really is love then I would regret it for the rest of my life if I never gave it a shot.
Am I crazy? How can I make this work? Has anyone done something similar?
Thanks for reading and appreciate any input :)
I think the most reasonable idea is to keep visiting her for short periods, and keeping long-distance relationship in between. I think after a few months of such schedule you will get to know her enough to figure if you want to live with her. I decided to move in with my future husband after around 5 months of knowing him - but it was almost obvious for me just after a couple of months of active dating that we have a future together. Things happen fast in our age)))