Earlier this year, Planetromeo called out for entries from its millions of members to take part in the ‘Love Beyond Borders’ project. „We wanted to give some of our Romeos in long-distance relationships the opportunity to get together,” said Gui Bosselaers, Head of Marketing at Planetromeo. Three couples with their Romeos living on different continents were selected. Each couple experienced a week-long celebration of love and freedom of expression in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. One of these couples: Bence from Hungary and Breno from Brazil, and now Bence shares his experiences.
For those who aren’t familiar with your story, how did you meet? And what happened ever since?
We met each other when Breno was studying in Budapest as part of an international scholarship program. We started texting on Planetromeo and after a few weeks we finally got to the point when we met each other at an underground gay party. We formed a really strong „friends with benefits” relationship. Neither of us was looking for a relationship as he was only in Hungary for a limited time so he was enjoying his 1 year here and I was pretty busy with work and didn’t really want to spend my little free-time with maintaining a relationship. So the whole thing just happened and we grew fond of each other and suddenly found ourselves in an actual relationship. We spent so much time together and met each other’s friends. Since then we keep in touch nearly on a daily basis either in text, voice-, or video call.
A lot of people are skeptical about finding meaningful relationships on online platforms, some others believe it’s just for casual sex. What can you say about this? How did Romeo play cupid for the two of you?
There are many different people and each one of them has their own preferences. It doesn’t matter if you meet someone online or in person for the first time since it can turn out good or bad either way. I’m also not sure what a “meaningful relationship” means. I think that a relationship means different things to people in 21st century society than it used to mean a couple decades or even a couple years ago.
It is obvious that the number of hookups are incomparably higher than the relationships. It’s gonna be like that forever. Platforms such as Planetromeo offer a great opportunity for people no matter whether they are looking for a relationship or just a hookup. Without Planetromeo we probably wouldn’t have met with Breno at all. Our story started off as a friendly meeting followed by a great night, and our relationship was formed on the base of that couple hours. Casual sex can turn into longer and more meaningful relationships if there is chemistry.
Keeping a relationship alive is hard enough when there is constant physical presence, even more when there is a long distance with time difference. What are the rules or relationship principles that have helped you remain together despite the distance?
To be honest, I think it is more difficult to make things work when you are continually in each other’s presence. That gives you more chances to have arguments and such issues. Of course there are the negative aspects of the long distance as well because meeting each other would be really important for a relationship. We are in contact with each other almost on a daily basis, so we always know what’s going on with the other. We really care for one another and our relationship is not limited to the physical part.
Of course we both need to satisfy our physical needs as well, but we both have our ways to deal with that. We always share with each other what’s going on and this way we don’t keep secrects from each other even when it comes to these things.
I think in the 21st century there are many ways to solve such challenges. The time difference is tricky but we are both used to it pretty much as we both have friends from many different time zones.
Lots of things can happen in two years, and people can change a lot. How was it for you to meet again after two years being away from each other?
As I’ve mentioned, we talked with each other almost every day. I’m sure that both of us changed in the past two years personality-wise but we didn’t notice it as we’ve been in constant touch, but I don’t think he changed physically.
It was great seeing him again in Amsterdam for the first time after these 2 years. The Planetromeo staff planned it very precisely where and under what circumstances we should see each other when we meet for the first time in a long time. When we saw each other we just started running towards each other and he just jumped into my arms, we hugged and kissed. It was an amazing feeling that we’ve both been missing for quite a while. We spent a few wonderful days in Amsterdam.
Planetromeo made sure that not only the feeling of seeing each other again will be fascinating but also the activities, the accommodation and a few other things as well. Us, together with the two other couples were feeling like we were in a fairy tale. These memories will surely last forever!
What’s are your plans? How do you see the future of your relationship?
Breno is still working on finishing his degree, while I’m saving money for buying my own apartment in downtown Budapest. Only after these projects are successfully carried out, can we think about a future physically together. Until then we are gonna keep living our lives like this for a while. We really don’t make specific plans besides seeing each other as soon as possible. But given the circumstances, even „soon” might gonna take a while. But who knows? A visit to Brazil can happen sooner than we think.
Germán Henao
