A bride who'd spent an entire year looking forward to her honeymoon ended up going alone after her new husband realised he was too nervous to get on the plane.
You don't have to be married to know that honeymoons are typically designed to offer the newly married couple a bit of alone time, so it's pretty much a given that both members of the couple actually attend.
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Content creator Lola Rae, from Manchester, was looking forward to the Gran Canaria getaway she had planned with her husband James, which was set to take place a year after they tied the knot.
The couple, who are in an open relationship, delayed their honeymoon for financial reasons, but Lola told Tyla this allowed them to 'build up to it' and get 'excited'.
With warm weather and an all-inclusive hotel, the honeymoon promised to be a perfect escape where they wouldn't have to worry about day-to-day plans, and instead could just enjoy each other's company.
Having been together seven years at that point, Lola knew James 'very well' and knew he'd been a nervous flyer in the past - so much so that he'd previously had to get drunk to get on a plane.
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Lola hadn't ever actually been on a plane with him though, and as she 'loved travelling' she was confident they'd be able to get through the flight to their honeymoon together.
"He told me usually building up to a flight he’d be so nervous but this time with me he was purely just excited," Lola recalled.
Unfortunately, things took a turn as the honeymoon got closer.
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"The morning of the holiday, he just woke up and was having panic attacks - which seemed out of nowhere to me as he hadn’t told me he’d felt it bubbling underneath," Lola said.
"He was able to calm down and I convinced him let’s just get to the next step, get packed, then the step after that is get to the airport. He was really distressed on our way to the airport."
Recognising James wasn't at all comfortable with having to fly, Lola had a choice to make: "Do we both stay or do I go on my own?"
She explained: "It was the first time I was going abroad for years, and I knew it might be my last opportunity for a long time, so I felt it made sense to go."
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James bought a flight to follow Lola on the second day of the trip, but ended up missing that flight as well.
As a result, Lola spent her honeymoon by herself.
She admitted the trip was 'hard', and though she did her best to enjoy it, she felt upset that James hadn't been able to communicate how he was feeling before the trip.
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"I also felt guilty, that he was alone and struggling with guilt and feeling like he had failed me," she said. "We were both feeling low and weren’t together to help each other through it. We called a lot and texted but it wasn’t the same.
"He felt guilty for abandoning me, he felt like he should be embarrassed for being scared of the flight," Lola continued, though she noted James was able to go and stay with a friend while she was away so he wasn't by himself.
In a bid to make the most of the five days she had on holiday, Lola decided to use a swingers website to find people in the area to hang out with while she was away.
"I think it was the third day I was there, the first person I spoke to was a guy I met for cocktails [off the website]," Lola said.
"He was lovely and I had a nice time seeing a bit more of the island rather than just my hotel room and the pool side at the hotel."
On her last day, Lola also got chatting to some of the other people staying at her hotel, and naturally they were 'gobsmacked' to learn she was on her honeymoon alone.
However, through speaking about it Lola found the story became 'almost funny rather than tragic', as well as being a great conversation starter.
"My only regret is that I didn’t start feeling like talking to people a couple of days earlier because the whole trip was really tarnished by being quite lonely," Lola explained.
Though their first honeymoon didn't quite go to plan, Lola and James are now attempting to take on a 'mini honeymoon' after James felt confident enough to try flying again on a shorter journey.
The couple have settled on a weekend away in Dublin, with James visiting a doctor and hypnotherapist ahead of the journey to make sure as he's prepared as he can be.
Both Lola and James are confident he'll be able to manage the 50-minute flight, though Lola knows that if things quite don't go to plan, there's always another option.
"Worst case scenario I’m alone in Dublin for two nights," she said.
Fingers crossed James will make it to this honeymoon!
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Travel, Wedding
Emily Brown