Gillian Philip met Henry during a solo trip and it changed her life
Gillian and Henry in Alaska in 2023(Image: PA Real Life)
A teacher who met her now-husband on a solo trip in China and moved more than 5,500 miles – 9,000 kilometres – across the world after only meeting him four times in person has said “you will find love when you least expect it”. Gillian Philip, a teacher from Scotland, decided to “give up on dating” when she turned 30 and moved to South Korea to start a new chapter, where she could focus on herself and “enjoy (her) life”.
In October 2019, however, Gillian, now 39, found herself on a Flash Pack trip to China after her original holiday plans fell through – and this is when she met Henry Philip, 42, a software developer, also from Scotland. They soon formed a bond while exploring Beijing, riding motorbikes and watching the sunrise at the Great Wall, describing the trip as “unforgettable”, but they both “didn’t expect to meet anyone” romantically.
Despite living in different countries, they kept in contact via messaging and video calls, and Gillian decided to move across the world to be with him in July 2021 after only seeing him in person four times. Now living in Edinburgh together, they have since married and welcomed their first child, and Gillian wants to encourage others to travel the world and “dream big”.
Speaking about an amusing anecdote, Gillian said: “I remember talking to one of Henry’s best friends, and he said to me, ‘So what’s going on with you two?’. I said, ‘Well, it’s probably just a holiday fling that’s overrun’, and he went, ‘Why do you say that?’.
“I just said, ‘We live 9,000 kilometres apart, there’s a nine-hour time difference in our relationship. In reality, it’s going to go nowhere’. What’s funny is I said that to the person who ended up being the best man at our wedding.”
Gillian explained that she had a long-term relationship while at university but, otherwise, she tried the usual avenues for dating in her 20s. She downloaded various dating apps, including Tinder, signed up for online platforms such as Plenty of Fish, and her friends tried to set her up with potential partners – but without success.
“I’d go on a date and I’d be thinking, ‘I could genuinely be doing anything else with my time right now’,” Gillian said. “I could be getting my marking done, I could be sorting out my emails instead of sitting in this pub.”
When she turned 30, Gillian decided to move to South Korea to teach at an international school. Although “terrifying” at first, she said she wanted to focus on herself and enjoy activities such as walking, swimming and travelling.
“I just thought, I’m going to stop trying to do this stereotypical route – you work hard in your profession, you work up the ladder, then you buy a house, you meet a partner, you get married etc.,” she said. “I just wanted to go and enjoy my life.”
While in South Korea, Gillian said she ventured on her first solo Flash Pack trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2018. Flash Pack is a social adventure travel company which specialises in creating bucket-list experiences for like-minded solo travellers, and Gillian thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Then in 2019, she decided to go on another Flash Pack holiday after other plans fell through – this time, to China.
“In 2019, I was originally meant to be going to the Rugby World Cup in Japan with my sister and her husband, but they couldn’t go in the end,” Gillian said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to do that by myself, so I just thought, ‘Actually, while I’m here, I’m not far from Beijing and I know Flash Pack’s a great company, so let’s just go and do that trip’.”
Gillian booked her spot in September and Henry booked his in August, and they both flew out separately to China in October that year with no expectations to meet anyone. The 12-day adventure included seeing the Great Wall at sunrise, exploring Beijing and being invited into the homes of locals to make dumplings by hand, along with seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.
The group practised tai chi, explored lantern-lit streets, visited various food markets, travelled on high-speed trains, rode motorbikes, saw pandas and journeyed by boat in Shanghai. It was on this trip that she met fellow adventurer Henry, but she admits it was not love at first sight.
“The first time I met him, it was in a group in the evening, when everyone is introducing themselves,” Gillian explained. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, wow, he’s amazing’, it was more, ‘He seems like a nice person’.”
Gillian remembers spending time with Henry one afternoon when they had time to do some shopping, and he helped her pick out a jumper as she had only brought 6kg of hand luggage for the trip. They then ended up “sitting and chatting” on various train journeys and visiting food markets, allowing them to form a closer bond, and Gillian said he was “really kind and really easy to talk to”.
“I thought by fluke we just ended up sitting next to each other on every train journey, but I found out later he planned some of that,” Gillian said. “It was nice to just sit and chat and, as we chatted, we realised we had a few mutual friends in common.”
In Shanghai, they ended up “staying up all night talking to each other”, and they shared their first kiss there before flying home. However, Gillian did not think they would see each other again and even considered setting Henry up with one of her friends in Edinburgh.
“I knew he was a great guy, but we lived so far apart,” Gillian said. “We did say that we travel really well together, so it would be great to travel again, but it was one of those things where you say that and don’t know if it will ever happen.”
Despite living 9,000 kilometres apart, they maintained contact and managed to meet up a few times in December 2019, where they visited the Christmas markets in Edinburgh and spent New Year together. Then, after months of not seeing each other because of Covid-19, countless messages and an “I love you” moment over a video call, Gillian decided to quit her job and move across the world in July 2021.
“If any of my female friends said they’re moving halfway around the world for a guy they’d met four times, I’d say, ‘What are you doing?’,” Gillian said. “Surprisingly, only two people turned around to me and said, ‘I don’t think that’s a wise idea’… but a part of me thought, if I don’t give this a go, I’ll always regret it.”
After moving in together in Edinburgh, Henry proposed in May 2022, they got married in July 2023 and they have since welcomed their first child, who is now 17 months old. They have continued to travel together, visiting Alaska for their honeymoon and other places such as Toronto, Vancouver and Croatia, and they love “spending time as a family”.
Reflecting on how they met and her advice to others, Gillian said: “Henry and I say to each other, if we saw each other in a bar, I don’t think either of us would have had the confidence to go up to each other. Our paths were meant to cross, we just took the long way round to get there. It’s the old cliche which people used to say to me and I hated them saying it, but you will find love when you least expect it.”
