moved

Lanie van der Horst, from New York, and her now husband Mark spent years meeting up across the world after they met by chance on a trip thousands of miles from their homes

A woman moved across the world to be with the love of her life, after initially finding him annoying when their paths crossed on holiday.

Back in 2008, Lanie van der Horst, now 44, was on a Contiki tour that started in Riga, Latvia, before heading on to Russia and Scandinavia when her life changed. Living in New York City at the time, the teacher embarked on a 13-week European adventure with a pal.

“I arrived late because the flight was delayed, which meant I got to dinner late and got the last table. It was the table my now husband was sitting at.”

That Lanie and Mark’s paths would cross in such a way is pretty unlikely. Back then, there were around 6.5 billion people on the planet, which the couple lived on opposite ends of. Their homes were about 10,000 miles apart: almost as far away as any two people can live on the 24,901-mile circumference of Earth.

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But meet they did. Unfortunately, Mark didn’t make a great first impression.

“I thought he was an absolute idiot. He was sitting with a roommate he didn’t know. They were both very excited. They were giggly, they were young. He was 26 at the time. I’m one year older. They were talking about shooting fireworks off, drinking. Things I wasn’t interested in. Dinner was fine. I thought, ‘Of all the people, I’m not going to hang out with him’.”

Despite having made a bad first impression, Mark, now a wastewater worker, had three weeks of travelling alongside Lanie (and 12 other young holidaymakers) to make a better second one.

“You’re together a lot, and we started having different conversations. I didn’t think I was going to marry him. He said to me that I talked about real things, like my family going camping, and everyone else was talking about what they did today. It became something more during those three weeks,” Lanie continued.

“Halfway through the trip, he asked me to travel with him afterwards. I went, much to my mother’s dismay. He rearranged his trip a bit and we went to Latvia, Russia, Finland, Estonia and Denmark.”

Clearly, the extended trip was a big success.

“The first whole day we spent just together was in Tallinn. It is now my son’s middle name. That’s how much I liked it. We then added two more weeks after. In Romania and Hungary. My family is from those countries. It was fun rearranging my tour, getting to know somebody. I thought we’d part ways.”

Back at home, Mark and Lanie continued talking online, emailing and messaging one another from their respective continents. At this point, neither had much hope of being reunited.

“I told him next time I travel, I’ll go to Asia, and he said, ‘Maybe I’ll see you there’. However, by December, we were planning a trip together. It wasn’t like we had to be together. I really liked him, but I didn’t think we’d end up together.”

The pair met up in Asia the following year and booked several group tours together, in case they ended up parting. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t by myself,” Lanie explained.

“In China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. We clearly really liked each other, but I told him we were on vacation, and he didn’t know me in real life. He was so nice, and we were working so well together. Partway through, I realised I didn’t want him to leave.”

In total, Mark and Lanie travelled together for nine weeks. At the end of their Asian adventure, the American was bereft. “I cried and cried and cried and told him he had to come see me. He had to get a new job and come visit. He did,” she explained.

Mark came to the US to meet Lanie’s family at her sister’s wedding, and fit in so well that he stayed for three months. This was followed by a trip around Europe and then Central America together. “We just met up around the world,” she said.

While jetting around the world to explore together was fun, the pair eventually decided to settle down after Mark proposed in the Fraser National Park in Tasmania. They married six weeks later and started life together in New York, then in Florida, after their daughter was born.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mark realised he wanted to move back home. “He said he wanted to go to Australia, but not forever, just until the vaccine was out. I told him I wasn’t moving, then he reminded me I’m adventurous. And so we moved. With everything going on in the US I’m not going back anytime soon. I think we’re there for good.”

Do you have a story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Gillian Philip met Henry during a solo trip and it changed her 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.”

Emigrating to sun-kissed Lanzarote might sound like a dream come true, but one British couple have confessed that they miss quite a few things from back home – including the weather!

Taking early retirement and leaving the soggy British winters behind forever is an impossible dream for many of us. But designers Richard and Tarnya Norse-Evans managed to do just that when they sold their business and relocated to the Canary Islands.

While they don’t regret making a new home for themselves in balmy Lanzarote, where the temperatures rarely drop into single figures, Richard and Tarnya say there are a few things they miss about chilly, rain-lashed Britain.

“When you live on a small island you need to see and do something different, because here you don’t get to go to the art galleries, visit people, go to the city or eat in different restaurants,” Richard told the i Paper.

He added that, while Lanzarote’s weather makes for a nice easy life there’s something to be said for a good old-fashioned chilly day. He said he sometimes feels nostalgic about the idea of “putting on a coat and Wellingtons and getting out in a forest for a good stomp and an English pint in a pub”.

While that’s a rare treat these days, it’s still a possibility. Because the cost of living in Lanzarote is much lower than in the UK, Richard and Tarnya can afford to splash out on an occasional flight back to Blighty for a taste of what they missing.

The pair also noted the struggles with the language barrier, and highlighted challenges in Spain with paperwork that meant long wait times for permits.

According to the most recent figures, between 6,200 and 6,500 British people are officially registered as residents in Lanzarote, making them one of the largest foreign populations on the island.

That number’s swelled massively in the summer, of course, when thousands more flock to the sun-kissed islands. Because the climate is so mild, there’s no real “low season” on Lanzarote, and holidaymakers are arriving at the island’ airport at any time of year. Tourism is the single biggest of the island’s economy.

Holiday rentals on Lanzarote grew by by 113% between June 2023 and December 2025. While there have been a few reports of extreme, violent anti-tourist hostility, they tend to be exaggerated, and the island remains generally welcoming to holidaymakers.

Richard and Tarnya have become part of that thriving industry, with a luxurious-looking Airbnb to supplement their lifestyle. “We certainly do not live a permanent holiday,” Richard said. “Work life still goes on regardless of the weather.”

They also own a vineyard that produces around 7,000kg of grapes a year, which they sell to a local wine producer.

And there are many kinds of business that simply aren’t available on Lanzarote – with Richard bemoaning the lack of variety when it comes to the arts and entertainment.

But luckily, he says there’s always the option of popping home for a taste of what he’s missing. He added: “With a four-hour flight we can be back in London quickly and enjoy the best of both worlds.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump moved quickly this week to negotiate with Democrats to avert a lengthy government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding, a sharp departure from last year’s record standoff, when he refused to budge for weeks.

Some Republicans are frustrated with the deal, raising the possibility of a prolonged shutdown fight when the House returns Monday to vote on the funding package. But Trump’s sway over the GOP remains considerable, and he has made his position clear at a moment of mounting political strain.

“The only thing that can slow our country down is another long and damaging government shutdown,” Trump wrote on social media late Thursday.

The urgency marked a clear shift from Trump’s posture during the 43-day shutdown late last year, when he publicly antagonized Democratic leaders and his team mocked them on social media. This time, with anger rising over shootings in Minneapolis and the GOP’s midterm messaging on tax cuts drowned out by controversy, Trump acted quickly to make a deal with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“Trump and the Republicans know that this is an issue where they’re on the wrong side of the American people and it really matters,” Schumer told reporters Friday after Senate passage of the government funding deal.

Crisis after Minneapolis killings

Senators returned to work this week dealing with the fallout from the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers, as well as the killing of Renee Good in the city weeks earlier.

Republicans were far from unified in their response. A few called for the firing of top administration officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy. Most GOP senators tried to strike a balance, calling for a thorough investigation into Pretti’s killing while backing the hard-line immigration approach that is central to Trump’s presidency.

But many agreed that the shootings threatened public support for Trump’s immigration agenda.

“I’ve never seen a political party take its best issue and turn it into its worst issue in the period of time that it has happened in the last few weeks,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “Some things have to change.”

Democrats quickly coalesced around their key demands.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said there “was unanimity” around core principles of enforcing a code of conduct for immigration officers and agents, ending “roving patrols” for immigration enforcement actions and coordinating with local law enforcement on immigration arrests.

It helped that Trump himself was looking for ways to de-escalate in Minneapolis.

“The world has seen the videos of those horrible abuses by DHS and rogue operations catching up innocent people, and there’s a revulsion about it,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said.

“The White House is asking for a ladder off the ledge,” he added.

The painful politics of shutdown

Republicans are also trying to promote their accomplishments in office as they ready for the November midterms and the difficult task of retaining control of both chambers of Congress.

But the prospect of a prolonged shutdown shifted attention away from their $4.5-trillion tax and spending cuts law, the centerpiece of their agenda. Republicans had hoped the beginning of this year’s tax season on Monday would provide a political boost as voters begin to see larger tax refunds.

Republicans are also mindful of the political damage from last year’s shutdown, when they took a slightly larger portion of the blame from Americans than Democrats, according to polling from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Trump told Republican senators at the White House in November.

On a practical level, this funding standoff threatened to destroy months of bipartisan work, including long hours over the holiday break, to craft the 12 spending bills that fund the government and many priorities back home.

“We saw what happened in the last government shutdown in regards to how it hurt real, hardworking Americans,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I don’t want that to happen again.”

A two-week funding battle begins

The agreement reached this week, if passed by the House, would avoid a prolonged shutdown and fund nearly every federal department through the end of the budget year in September. But it would not resolve one of the most difficult issues for Congress and the White House: Homeland Security funding.

Instead of a full-year deal, funding for the department was extended for just two weeks, giving lawmakers little time to bridge the deep divides over immigration enforcement.

Democrats are pressing for changes they say are necessary to prevent future abuses, including requiring immigration agents to wear body cameras, carry clear identification, end roving patrols in cities and coordinate more closely with local law enforcement when making arrests. Many Democrats also want tighter rules around warrants and accountability mechanisms for officers in the field.

Those demands have met stiff resistance from Republicans. Some are opposed to negotiating with Democrats at all.

“Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. Why are we giving an inch to Democrats?” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) wrote on social media.

Republican senators said they would take the fight to Democrats by introducing their own bills, including restrictions on “sanctuary cities,” to show their support for Trump’s policies. That term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“We’ve let the issue get away. We’re not leading. We’re trying to avoid losing rather than winning,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who held up the spending bills until Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agreed to give him a vote on his sanctuary cities bill at a later date.

Thune acknowledged the difficulty of the next two weeks, saying that there are “some pretty significant views and feelings.”

“We’ll stay hopeful,” Thune told reporters about the upcoming fight. “But there are some pretty significant differences of opinion.”

Cappelletti and Groves write for the Associated Press. AP writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

After uprooting himself from the UK, expat Mark Danby has revealed that there has been one surprising upside of moving from Britain to the Costa del Sol in Spain

As Storm Chandra batters the UK with fierce winds and heavy downpours, many Brits will find themselves fantasising about relocating to warmer climes. One Briton who made the move is Mark Danby, who left his home in the UK and moved to Spain’s Costa del Sol.

However, it wasn’t the holiday destination’s blistering summers that drew Mark in, but rather its gentle, temperate winters. On his Tapas Guy channel on YouTube, he reveals that winter on the Costa del Sol is when he feels most content as an expat.

He explains: “You may be surprised to know that I moved to the Costa Del Sol because of the winter, not because of the summer.

“Winter here is when a place actually reveals whether it’s the right place to live or not, or whether it’s just a place to come for your summer holidays. Before I came here, winter meant something very, very different to me. It meant short, dark days, and cold, wet mornings.”

The milder climate in southern Spain allows Mark to genuinely savour a complete day, wandering in the winter sunshine instead of sheltering indoors from the rain. “My first winter here felt somewhat unfamiliar,” he recalled. “The beaches were quiet. Evenings were calm. For the first time in a long time, my winter days weren’t dictated by weather extremes. I didn’t realise how much I needed that until I had it.”

Mark reveals that his relocation from the UK to Spain has had an unexpectedly positive impact on his mental health. He shares: “Here in the winter, mornings can start with a walk or a drink outside, even in January.”

He elaborates: “Physically and mentally, winter has changed things for me. I get out more. I walk more. I spend more time outside. And as a result of that, I do feel generally less stressed.”

He also notes that his improved mood has boosted his productivity. However, he points out that life isn’t just easier during the Spanish winter, it’s also more affordable.

“The winter in the Costa del Sol is when it becomes financially honest,” he says. “There’s no tourists. Rents drop, sometimes significantly. Leases become available and eating out feels sustainable not just like a luxury.”

Mark admits that some eateries and pubs do shut down during the winter, resulting in slightly fewer dining options.

On the other hand, he observes, the Spanish summer also brings everything to a halt. He adds: “It becomes too hot, everything shuts down and it takes even longer to get things done.”

The rhythm of life, Mark explains, is generally more laid-back throughout the year.

Yet it’s the winter season that holds a special charm. He concludes: “The mild climate removes friction from your daily life. You don’t have to fight the weather like you do in the summer. You can actually live with it.

“When you stay through winter, something changes. You stop being a visitor. You become part of the rhythm.”