Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Lizzie Cernik

DARK SECRETS: How we met she made my travel dreams come true - The Real Truth

They are in a gondola on a Venetian canal
‘I hardly knew her and she bought me this wonderful champagne tea’ … Nancy (right) and Barbara in Venice. Photograph: Supplied image

After retiring from her job as a nurse, Nancy loved to spend time travelling, but she never expected it would lead to her meeting a new best friend. In 2022, she went to Munich, Germany, a city she regularly visited. “I live in North Carolina but I would travel to Europe on my own because my husband still works,” she says. “Travelling is my way of relaxing and rewarding myself after all those years of hard work.”

One morning, while eating breakfast at her hotel, she was approached by Barbara, a healthcare project manager from Austria, who was sitting at a nearby table. “I was visiting the city with my school friend, Andrea” says Barbara. “I noticed this very elegant woman and really liked her coat. I’m a size 18 and struggle to find nice clothes, but I noticed she was a similar size.” Barbara asked Andrea to lean over and look at the label on the coat, so she could find out where it was from. “She almost fell off her chair trying to see, so I decided to just go and ask,” says Barbara.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.