How I Met My Partner: Loved-up couple planned trip to Lanzarote on second date

NOT many women would be bold enough to suggest a trip to Lanzarote on their second date.

Luckily, what started off as a joke for Mayfield bombshell Sue-Ellen Carroll turned into one of the best and most romantic trips of her life. Fast forward six years later and she is just as smitten with locally renowned photographer Pawel Nowak.

The Polish native swept Sue-Ellen off her feet from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Their love story didn’t exactly start off like a Mills and Boon novel. On the contrary, Sue-Ellen recalls her sister trying to persuade her to postpone the date, remarking that she couldn’t arrive ‘looking like ‘Quasimodo’.

The comment was made after Sue Ellen-who owns a communications business focusing on retail consultancy and digital marketing-developed a nasty eye infection.

She feared the setback might scupper her chances of hitting it off with Pawel. Little did she realise that miles away in Kerry, Pawel was also contemplating cancelling on his date. He was suffering from a high fever and wondered if the date would go ahead at all. Fortunately, both parties made a decision to risk it all for a shot at love.

“I had been on Plenty of Fish for a while but there was a lot of fish that I wanted to throw back in the sea”, Sue-Ellen laughed. 

“I am over 5’ 8” so it’s difficult to find a guy who matches up with me height wise. I can still remember a guy from one date standing on his tippy toes in an attempt to kiss me. He was 5’ 5”.

Sue-Ellen deleted the dating app. However, her attitude changed more than six years when she decided to make a second go of it.

“It was St Stephen’s Day and the thought of going out and meeting someone in a bar didn’t appeal to me at all. I decided to go back on the app and this was when I matched with Pawel. He was living in Killarney. He was Polish but his written English was better than that of anyone I had spoke to through the app. 

"We made plans to meet at the Cork International Hotel for dinner. It all seemed perfect until I got this awful stye on my eyelid. I went to see my friend Katie who was working in Susan Ryans at the time. She explained that I couldn’t pop it and would just have to leave it. My sister begged me to postpone, telling me that I couldn’t arrive to a date looking like ‘Quasimodo’.

Sue-Ellen boldly went ahead with the date.

“I told myself that I would be able to distract from the stye with false eyelashes and dramatic eye make-up. When I got to the restaurant I couldn’t see out of my left eye. Still, the minute I saw Pawel I was hoping there would be a spark. The stye had burst by the time the main course came and we ended up having a fantastic first date”.

It was on their second date, a walk in Inniscarra, that the pair decided to do something extraordinary.

“We were both talking about how much we loved travelling so I asked him if he thought it would be a good idea to go somewhere together”.

Before they knew it, they were spending their third date in a resort in Lanzarote.

“We booked it for around two or three weeks after our second date. 

"It was madness! It was strange because we weren’t nervous in the slightest. From the moment we were together we were laughing. It was a great holiday. I just knew it was right. It was a bonus that he was taller than me”.

She admits that some people were sceptical when she told them about their holiday.

“Most people told me it was a big step. They were concerned that everything was happening so quickly. Once they met us and saw us together they said “that’s your guy”. We moved in together and are now living in Mallow. Pawel is 45 minutes from Kerry and I am 45 minutes from Cork so it suits us both really well”.

The couple have travelled all over the globe together since meeting in 2017.

“We’ve been to Cambodia, Vietnam, Iceland, Boston and all over Europe. I really enjoyed meeting his parents for the first time in Poland. Even though we had to use Google translate the entire time it was clear to see that we both shared the same sense of humour”.

Sue-Ellen is looking forward to the future.

“Our plan is to retire to Portugal where we will have warm weather and a nice house”.

For now, Sue-Ellen and Pawel are content just enjoying each other’s company.

“We have a rescue dog and Pawel has three motorcycles that he loves working on. He often goes out on them for what I refer to as ‘wind therapy’. Pawel and I are really happy where we’re living”.

The Cork woman is urging disillusioned singletons not to give up.

“I was single for three years after I moved on from another relationship. You just have to keep the faith. Online dating can be draining but so many people have met the love of their life in that way”.

She also offered up the secret to a happy relationship.

“I would be telling anybody in a relationship that communication is the most important thing”, she told The Echo. 

“You need to talk to your partner and listening is equally as important”.