A Scottish man flew all the way to America to meet a girl that he matched with on Tinder after only getting to know her for two months through the app.
Paddy Campbell, 32, used the popular dating app for the first time after being encouraged by a friend when he became single in January. He matched with Bridget Kelly, 28, on March 21 - she was using Tinder Passport to look for a Scottish date after growing tired of dating Americans.
Initially, Paddy believed Bridget was from Edinburgh due to the tartan dress she was sporting. "A friend got it for me back in January, I'd no idea about Tinder but I wanted to move on," he explained.
"I got a message from Bridget and thought she was in Edinburgh, she had a tartan dress on. She said 'How's the weather over there?' and I looked properly and realised she was 4,000 miles away.
"We had a lot in common and carried on chatting on Snapchat."
The pair began talking nonstop despite the six-hour time difference with Bridget even jokingly inviting Paddy to be her date at a friend's wedding on May 21. But Paddy took the plunge and made the 4,000-mile trip to meet Bridget in Chicago on May 17 where they spent a few days in bliss going out for dinner and breakfast while walking around the city.
Now, the pair are happily together with Bridget planning to come to Scotland for two weeks in July while Paddy plans to go back to America again in September. Despite the difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship, the pair have argued that when it works, it works.
While the couple were having the time of their lives in Chicago, they took a bunch of cute snaps together. Paddy argued that he believes Scottish men are the best for dating because they are direct and funny - although he noted that Bridget needed to be a "translator" when they went out in Wisconsin, her hometown.
He said: "We've got the best patter in the world, we say it how it is, no beating about the bush. We always speak our minds. Bridget has been my translator."
As part of his routine, Paddy gets up at 3am to chat with Bridget before starting work at 6am while Bridget sometimes starts work at 2pm, making the time difference easier to manage. Paddy plans to fly home on May 31 and has packed an itinerary including watching the play of To Kill a Mockingbird in Chicago.
Bridget introduced her new Scottish partner to her parents on Friday evening (May 20)
"They make them different in Scotland, I was just intrigued about the idea," Bridget said. "I'm of Irish heritage and I was curious about what it would be like to live in Ireland or Scotland. I've dated a couple of Irish guys in America, I thought 'let's try Scotland'."
She added: "We were on the phone and I was saying something I really like about him and I accidentally said 'I love you'. We have definitely said we loved each other."
Despite their connection, both of them realised it may not click when they met in person and were open to being "best friends" if that was the case.
Paddy said: "We were respectful of that but we got lucky."
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