"Our holiday romance has turned into a five-year relationship - but we live 2,500 miles apart"
- 4 months ago
A couple's holiday romance turned into a serious long-distance relationship - and they have spent the last five years 2,500 miles apart.
Demi Lamb, 20, met her partner Bayram Kara, 23, on a yacht in Marmaris, Turkey whilst on a family holiday in 2018.
Despite being shy, yacht crewman Bayram plucked up the courage to introduce himself to Demi.
After exchanging details, the pair kept in regular communication after Demi returned home to Edinburgh and haven't stopped talking since.
Deciding to become an official item just two years ago, Demi flew out in February to meet Bayram again in Turkey - five years after meeting him.
Demi has since gone on to visit Bayram a further five times and spends her time off from university visiting her lover in Turkey.
The couple hope to settle down in Turkey and one day own their own yacht after Demi graduates from her fashion marketing degree in 2025.
Demi, a student and wellbeing lead activities lead coordinator at a care home from Edinburgh, said: "He'll tell you that I caught his eye.
"We spoke for maybe 10 minutes, I was very quiet and he was extremely shy.
"He approached me with a nudge from another crew member, when he asked my name, how I was, my age, and how the night was going, before he pulled his phone out to use Google translate as he knew very little English.
"At this point, I only knew how to say hello in Turkish!
"We exchanged social media and then two weeks after I got home he messaged and we just had constant back and forth."
The 2,500 mile distance between them meant Bayram and Demi were constantly on the phone to each other.
She said: "When we first started speaking, because I was so young, I didn't know what was going to come of the situation and it was just a 'friends' situation for about three years and only two years ago we decided to take it to the next level.
"It was really difficult though and what helped massively was communication.
"We were on the phone 12 hours a day and falling asleep on FaceTime.
"There are a lot of apps that you're able to track locations etc so if we haven't answered we're able to know each other are safe and that helped a lot when he had to do national service which meant seven months with no contact."
Demi Lamb, 20, met her partner Bayram Kara, 23, on a yacht in Marmaris, Turkey whilst on a family holiday in 2018.
Despite being shy, yacht crewman Bayram plucked up the courage to introduce himself to Demi.
After exchanging details, the pair kept in regular communication after Demi returned home to Edinburgh and haven't stopped talking since.
Deciding to become an official item just two years ago, Demi flew out in February to meet Bayram again in Turkey - five years after meeting him.
Demi has since gone on to visit Bayram a further five times and spends her time off from university visiting her lover in Turkey.
The couple hope to settle down in Turkey and one day own their own yacht after Demi graduates from her fashion marketing degree in 2025.
Demi, a student and wellbeing lead activities lead coordinator at a care home from Edinburgh, said: "He'll tell you that I caught his eye.
"We spoke for maybe 10 minutes, I was very quiet and he was extremely shy.
"He approached me with a nudge from another crew member, when he asked my name, how I was, my age, and how the night was going, before he pulled his phone out to use Google translate as he knew very little English.
"At this point, I only knew how to say hello in Turkish!
"We exchanged social media and then two weeks after I got home he messaged and we just had constant back and forth."
The 2,500 mile distance between them meant Bayram and Demi were constantly on the phone to each other.
She said: "When we first started speaking, because I was so young, I didn't know what was going to come of the situation and it was just a 'friends' situation for about three years and only two years ago we decided to take it to the next level.
"It was really difficult though and what helped massively was communication.
"We were on the phone 12 hours a day and falling asleep on FaceTime.
"There are a lot of apps that you're able to track locations etc so if we haven't answered we're able to know each other are safe and that helped a lot when he had to do national service which meant seven months with no contact."