Lifestyle
How a lady forced to sit apart from friends on flight fell in love with a stranger
Woman, 37, who was forced to sit apart from her friends on a nine-hour flight reveals she ended up falling in LOVE with the man in front of her – and the pair are now happily MARRIED
A woman who was forced to sit alone on a nine-hour flight after being separated from her friends has revealed how she ended up falling in love with the man sitting in front of her – and now, the married couple spends their days traveling the globe together.
Martina, now 37, and Leslie Johnson, now 41, met by chance when they were both flying to Kenya back in 2014.
Martina, from New Jersey , was traveling with five of her pals, but when she found out that she wouldn’t be sitting with them, she was left scrambling.
Desperate to not be alone for the immense journey, she begged those around them to switch seats – but no one obliged.
A disappointed Martina ended up sitting in the row behind New York City-native Leslie – unknowing that he would one day become her husband.
The two ended up hitting it off and talking ‘the entire flight’ – and by the time they landed in Nairobi, Martina said she knew they ‘were going to be together’ one day.
‘We talked the entire flight. We had a really good conversation,’ she told CNN Travel recently.
‘In the back of my head, I’m thinking, “If he’s single, we’re going to date.” But I didn’t know if he was single.’
What makes their meeting even more magical is that Martina almost didn’t go on the trip because she thought it was a ‘scam’ when she first discovered how cheap the flight was – only $279 for a round-trip flight to Africa.
After chatting all the way there, Martina asked for Leslie’s number before the two went their separate ways.
They thought that might be the end of it, but when they coincidentally ran into each other at a restaurant in Kenya a few days later, it seemed like fate.
The couple explained that they both noticed each other almost immediately, but didn’t realize that the other person had seen them.
‘I went to the restroom, but I didn’t think [I] caught [her] attention. So I ended up going back like two or three more times,’ Leslie explained. ‘But I still didn’t make any kind of eye contact with her.’
Martina recalled, ‘I was excited to see him. But I was also playing it very cool.’
The two finally spoke when they were both done eating, but Martina admitted the interaction felt ‘a little awkward.’ Even so, she left with the same feeling she had on the airplane: That they would somehow end up together.
‘It’s weird, because it was just a matter-of-fact feeling. It wasn’t necessarily like, “Oh, I just met this guy – I’m so excited.” It was just a very calm, matter-of-fact,’ she gushed.
‘Like, we just had a great conversation and he seemed like a great person. [I thought], “If he’s single, that’s it. We’re going to date.”‘
‘Everything just kind of seemed like it was meant to be, or just was happening for a reason,’ Leslie agreed.
After they both got back to the States, Martina decided to send Leslie a text message, which read, ‘How’s jet lag treating you?’
They then started talking about what they had been up to on their respective trips and after a few days of chatting nonstop, Leslie asked to take her out to dinner.
They went to a South African restaurant in midtown, and after that, they were inseparable.
‘We were constantly in touch,’ Leslie revealed, with Martina adding, ‘It was very easy. There were no gray areas. We liked each other, and we hung out, we spent time together.’
Three months later, they made their romance official, and around year after that, Leslie got down on one knee and asked Martina to marry him during a romantic trip to London.
They tied the knot in Columbus, Ohio, in October 2018, and the theme of the wedding was ‘Love at first sight.’
Now, nearly a decade after they met by chance on an airplane, the couple have used their mutual love of travel to become viral online stars.
They have racked up nearly 100,000 followers on their joint Instagram account, called The Couple Who Travels, where they document their endeavors and share travel tips.
They’ve visited Antigua and Barbuda, The Maldives, Turkey, and Guatemala all within the last year.
Looking back on how their romance began, Leslie still can’t believe how lucky he got, telling CNN, ‘I met someone who lived not too far away from me, but I met them on a plane – thousands or whatever miles away from home.’
As for Martina, she hopes that their story will encourage others to get out and travel more.
‘Do what you love, and it will lead you to everything else,’ she concluded. ‘I love to travel. I traveled and I met the love of my life.
‘So find that thing that you love and you don’t know what breadcrumbs that will lead you to.
‘It might lead you to the love of your life. It might lead you to your purpose – you just don’t know, but we all have unique desires and things that we are passionate about.
‘Don’t ignore it. Don’t wait for someone else to go with you. Just do what you love and see what happens.’
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There have been standout performances by goalkeepers so far, with the Americans repeatedly frustrated by Sweden’s Zecira Musovic in the round of 16. The Chelsea keeper produced a string of saves and was voted player of the match as the U.S dominated but couldn’t find a breakthrough in the game that ended 0-0 through extra time.
Netherlands keeper Daphne van Domselaar was player of the match as the Dutch advanced to the quarterfinals by beating South Africa 2-0.
While that game saw South Africa keeper Kaylin Swart make an error to allow Lineth Beerensteyn to score, she also pulled off a string of saves to keep the Netherlands at bay.
Nigeria’s captain Chiamaka Nnadozie’s made a crucial save to deny Canada’s Christine Sinclair a place in history in a scoreless opening draw, earning her player of the match accolades.
“Of course everything is not perfect, but I think we are going in the right direction,” said former Germany keeper Nadine Angerer, who is part of FIFA’s technical study group at the World Cup.
“What we’ve seen so far in general is that there are way better goalkeeping performances.”
Angerer said the save percentage in the group stage improved from 70% in 2019 to 77%.
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Lifestyle
OMG: Police Say the viral brawl between four women at a Las Vegas casino was over a married man
- Viral footage showed women fighting on the floor of a Las Vegas casino.
- A police report obtained by Fox News digital said the women were fighting over a married man.
- One of the woman told police said she “has been dating/sleeping with a married man.”
A wild brawl between four women on the floor of a Las Vegas casino took place over a married man, police said.
The fight between the women, captured on video in multiple pieces of footage that went viral, was over an alleged affair, according to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department report obtained by Fox News Digital.
One piece of footage, apparently captured by a bystander, shows men trying to pull two women apart inside a casino while a third woman also tries to intervene.
One woman is pinned down on the floor by a man whose skirt has come up to reveal her underwear. She is then led away, and the footage does not show what happened to the other women. Four women were involved in the fight in total, the police report said.
Other footage shows the same woman coming towards a bystander who tried to intervene while brandishing a pink-heeled flip-flop and a woman on a mobility scooter taking part in the fight, The Daily Mail reported.
The incident took place on July 9 next to a poker tournament at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, Fox News reported.
The police report offered new alleged details as to why the incident unfolded.
It identified the woman who was pinned on the floor as 24-year-old Danielle Pertusiello, and she told police that she was entering the bathrooms after leaving a party with her friend, 29-year-old Amanda Collado, when they were both “hit from behind by closed fists in the back of the head,” Fox News reported.
The police report said Pertusiello said she “has been dating/sleeping with a married man,” and a woman had previously caught him “cheating on her” with Pertusiello, according to Fox News.
Fox News said one of the women in the fight was the alleged wife, but it is unclear who she is in the video.
Details, including the man and his wife’s name, were redacted in the report, Fox News reported.
The police report said that surveillance footage from the casino showed a woman tapping on Pertusiello and Collados’ shoulders, and then “all four females start throwing punches at each other.” The fight ended when a security guard brought Pertusiello to the ground, Fox News reported.
Pertusiello and Collado were issued citations for disorderly conduct and were released, Fox News reported. Both women did not immediately return the outlet’s requests for comment.
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For two years, Texas Southern University (TSU) has collaborated with IgboFest Houston, a cultural entity and festival that showcases the African heritage and Igbo culture to the great city of Houston, to promote, embrace, and encourage culture, and diversity education in the community.
This year, TSU will be visibly present at this festival to highlight their potentials as an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming institution for all members of the community. A team from the institution will be on the ground to share remarkable information about the great institution.
Last year, an internationally renowned TSU’s Debate Team was at this event and performed the “Igbo Landing Mass Suicide of 1803”, a rendition of one of the largest mass suicides of enslaved people that took place when Igbo captives from what is now Nigeria were taken to the coast of Georgia.
According to Dr. Chris Ulasi, TSU’s acting Dean of the School of Communications who also chairs the Houston IgboFeast, “This partnership is highly needed and most importantly, would reflect the mission of the IgboFest in building cultural awareness, linguistic diversity through teaching and learning of critically endangered languages, and youth cultural literacy.”
IgboFest Houston has reigned for decades in the City, bringing in performers from across the United States and globally. This year, IgboFest will display the Ijele Masquerade, classified as the biggest masquerade in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Bringing the African heritage and indeed the Igbo culture to the most diverse city in America is traditionally motivating and spiritually authentic,” Dr Ulasi said.
This colorful carnival, which also is the largest African cultural festival in the City, will hold at the Discovery Green – 1500 McKinney on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Admission is free.
Group performances will range from traditional to acrobatic dancers, whereas other displays will involve very rare masquerades from Igboland. Expected at this event are; Government representatives including Houston’s Mayor, Sylvester Turner, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Al Green, Texas Hour Rep. Jarvis Johnson, and others.
Texas Southern University, one of the nation’s largest HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), possesses an impressive array of undergraduate and graduate programs, a diverse faculty, 80-plus student organizations, and an alumni network comprised of educators, entrepreneurs, public servants, lawyers, pilots, artists, and more, many of whom are change agents on the local, national and international stage.
For more information, please call 281-788-8133 or 832-452-7784
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