CNN
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Carter Leathers was sitting at a desk on the terrace of a boutique resort within the heart of Florence, Italy – sipping a Negroni and attempting to quieten her nerves.
The courtyard was peaceable, open and ethereal, dotted with aperitivo-hour drinkers. Carter tried to take in the Florentine vibes – and keep away from checking her cellphone and studying the inevitable anxious messages from her mom.
Then by way of the stone arches into the courtyard, walked a tall, confident-looking man in a blue swimsuit.
This have to be Max Ratzenböck, thought Carter.
The person was trying across the courtyard, after which his eyes met Carter’s. He began smiling, trying immediately happy to see her.
This sense was mutual. Carter smiled again.
“Wow, he seems good,” Carter thought to herself.
Carter and Max stated their hellos. And shortly Max was sitting reverse Carter, his personal Negroni in hand.
“As soon as we began speaking, we simply saved smiling at one another,” Carter tells CNN Journey at present. “We simply hit it off.”
The choice to satisfy up in Florence not felt fairly so loopy.
“Okay, yeah. That is going to work,” Carter recollects considering.
It was late August 2022. Carter, a 35-year-old esthetician from Sacramento, California, was on what she calls an “Eat, Pray, Love-style” trip in Europe.
Earlier that summer season, Carter had dated a man in California and she or he’d hoped their relationship may go someplace. As an alternative, it unceremoniously ended.
Within the wake of that disappointment, Carter made a acutely aware option to shift her priorities.
“Okay, I’m simply going to go do my very own factor. I’m not ready for anyone,’” she thought.
With that mindset, Carter booked a solo journey to Europe.
“I stated, ‘I’m simply going to go and discover and sort of see what occurs, and see who I meet,’” recollects Carter.
Carter was excited for a change of scene, a change of tempo. She loves artwork and imagined herself whiling away afternoons in galleries in picturesque European cities – with out having to accommodate a companion’s wants or necessities.
Whereas placing collectively her itinerary, Carter knew Florence and Rome have been non-negotiable stop-offs. However she wasn’t positive about her third vacation spot. She weighed up choices and ultimately, she acquired inspiration from an unlikely place: an episode of actuality tv present “The Bachelor,” filmed in Vienna, Austria.
The episode included sweeping pictures of the historic buildings and inexperienced parks.
“The town appeared so fairly,” recollects Carter.
Flights booked and resort reservations made, Carter determined to modify her relationship app location settings to Vienna.
Carter’s app of alternative was Bumble, which prompts girls to make the primary transfer in hetrosexual pairings.
“I used to be like, ‘Okay, let’s see what the fellows appear to be in Vienna,’” Carter recollects.
And that’s when Carter noticed Max Ratzenböck for the primary time.
“As I began swiping, he was the second man that got here up and I used to be similar to, ‘Oh, my gosh, I hope we match,’” Carter recollects.
A few hours later, Carter’s cellphone pinged: Max from Vienna had favored her again. It was a match.
In the summertime of 2022 Max was a 31-year-old Austrian comic discovering his footing in his private life and profession within the wake of the pandemic.
“I’d simply moved into the residence I’d at all times needed to have – it was in the midst of Vienna, it’s an outdated residence, a little bit of a bachelor pad,” Max tells CNN Journey at present. “I used to be performing and I’m a comic. However since Covid, I left the stage, mainly, as a result of at the moment, the stage was not likely an choice.”
Like many comedians within the wake of the pandemic, Max turned to TikTok. He discovered some success posting comedic movies there, and have become targeted on rising his social media viewers, whereas additionally juggling his day job at an promoting company.
“Principally that’s what all I used to be doing – assembly with associates and dealing – after which I took an opportunity on Bumble too,” says Max.
Max vividly remembers the second he opened the relationship app and noticed Carter for the primary time.
“There’s this gorgeous-looking girl on my entrance web page,” he recollects.
Max was so struck by Carter, he remembers questioning if she was “even actual.”
“I might get that query lots, if I used to be actual,” says Carter at present. “They’d be like, ‘Oh this can be a faux profile.’”
Max swiped to the fitting “instantly.” Then he acquired the notification: Carter favored him too, it was a match. Max couldn’t imagine it.
“That turned out to be an excellent choice,” says Max, of his choice to swipe proper on Carter’s profile. “One of the best I ever made.”
Max and Carter began messaging backwards and forwards straight away, with Carter explaining to Max she was primarily based within the US, however can be visiting Europe in just a few weeks time.
Their messages have been mild, flirty, and pleasant. Carter advised Max may possibly present her round Vienna.
“I used to be completely, completely doing that,” says Max. “I blocked all my stuff out of my calendar to have 4 to 5 days to point out Carter round Vienna.”
Carter Ratzenböck
Carter and Max hit it off shortly once they linked on a relationship app.
Carter and Max exchanged common messages within the lead as much as her arrival in Europe. Then, when Carter acquired to Italy, she and Max switched from chatting on Bumble to utilizing messaging app WhatsApp.
And now they have been in the identical time zone, their backwards and forwards grew to become much more frequent.
“Once I was in Rome, I began texting him an increasing number of,” recollects Carter. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, he looks as if a pleasant man.’ However you by no means know who you’re speaking to.”
Carter was excited, but additionally somewhat cautious in regards to the concept of assembly up with a complete stranger in another country.
“If I’m going to satisfy up with this man, I ought to FaceTime him to verify he’s actual,” she thought.
So one night, whereas she was stress-free on the balcony of her Rome resort room, Carter spontaneously hit the decision button on her cellular phone.
Some 700 miles away in Vienna, Max was sitting at residence, taking part in video video games on-line with associates.
“It was a Saturday evening. It was summer season, it was actually scorching,” recollects Max. “I believe I’d performed basketball, had a pleasant bathe, and now there was a pleasant summer season breeze coming in. After which she known as me for the primary time.”
Max noticed Carter’s identify pop up on his cellphone and instantly dropped the online game controller.
“I informed my associates to get off – ‘I’m not right here for the subsequent two or three video games,’” recollects Max. “After which we had our first discuss nose to nose. She was on her balcony having a glass of crimson wine in Rome.”
Carter thought it was “endearing” that, quite than being out partying on a Saturday evening, Max was residence taking part in video video games. She felt it boded nicely for his or her potential connection.
“I’m extra of a homebody too,” explains Carter.
And though she’d known as him out of the blue, Max appeared thrilled to talk along with her. The video chat quashed any worries Carter had about assembly Max in particular person.
“It simply felt very easy speaking to him,” she says. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, that is good. I like this man.’”
Through the FaceTime name, Carter talked about she was going to be going to Florence subsequent. Max then spoke a bit about his reminiscences of Florence – it was a metropolis he’d visited a number of instances, as he’d spent common household holidays in Tuscany rising up.
As Max described his fondness for Florence, a thought crossed Carter’s thoughts.
“I’m simply gonna be wandering across the metropolis on my own,” she stated. “Do you really wish to come meet me in Florence?”
Carter just about assumed Max would say no – she figured he’d be busy, unable to make it work, unwillingly to spontaneously journey to Italy.
However to her shock, Max simply smiled and stated sure instantly.
“I couldn’t wait,” recollects Max. “I used to be utterly stoked to satisfy her. We’d been speaking for a few weeks and it intensified over time. So I acquired that flight to Florence.”
That’s how Carter got here to be ready for Max within the resort courtyard on August 31, 2022 sipping her Negroni.
“I used to be considering, ‘That is both going to go actually good or actually unhealthy,’” Carter recollects. “I used to be attempting to not be nervous.”
Max was nervous too. When he informed a detailed good friend about his plans, his good friend was fairly blunt.
“Oh, wow,” the good friend stated. “Both that is going to change into the most important romance of all time, or it’s going to be the worst vacation of your life.”
“Yeah, you’re most likely proper,” stated Max.
Carter’s mom, in the meantime, was “so apprehensive.” In a collection of frantic texts, she informed Carter to cover her passport, and ship updates as quickly as she’d met Max in particular person.
Regardless of the nerves – and their family members’ apprehension – as quickly as Carter and Max met in particular person on the Florence resort terrace, they each felt sure they’d made the fitting choice. They spent the remainder of the night chatting, flirting and laughing over cocktails. This night set the tone for the remainder of the 4 days, during which they have been collectively just about 24/7.
“We simply hit it off so nicely that I used to be like, ‘Simply stick with me. I need you to stick with me,’” recollects Carter. “And so he ended up staying with me in my resort the remainder of the time in Florence. Just about from the second we met, we have been collectively.”
Carter Ratzenböck
That is Carter and Max’s first ever picture collectively, taken on Florence’s Ponte Vecchio.
In Florence, Carter and Max spent the times sightseeing across the metropolis and evenings ducking into osterias to share bottles of wine and bowls of pasta. They took images collectively – together with their first-ever image, posing on Florence’s Ponte Vecchio bridge – one thing that ought to have been awkward, however they each needed to seize the second.
Carter texted the photographs to her mom and sister.
“Wow, you look nice collectively,” they replied.
Max additionally despatched the Ponte Vecchio picture to his mom.
“I informed her straight away,” recollects Max. “I stated: ‘Wow, take a look at that image, isn’t she lovely? We hit it off and it’s going nice.’”
When their time in Florence got here to an finish, Carter and Max traveled on to Vienna, collectively.
“It was three, 4 days in Florence,” recollects Carter.
“After which one other 4 days in Vienna,” provides Max.
“So our first date lasted per week,” says Carter, laughing.
After the superb time in Florence, Max was excited to point out Carter round Vienna, the town he known as residence.
“I used to be fairly keen to present her the crème-de-la-crème tour,” he says. “I’m a really proud Austrian. I’m very proud of this capital metropolis. Now we have this very lovely metropolis.”
In contrast to Florence and Rome, Vienna is “by no means actually on the checklist of locations for Individuals who do Europe,” says Max.
“That’s so bizarre to me,” he says. “As a result of it’s the middle of tradition. And it’s attractive.”
Max was decided Carter would fall in love with Vienna – particularly given they have been falling for each other too.
The primary night was spent at Vienna’s historic opera home watching Puccini’s romantic opera “La Bohème.” Max and Carter sat hand-in-hand within the theater, drank crimson wine in intermission and afterward Max launched Carter to a Viennese custom.
“There’s a really well-known sausage stand, proper subsequent to the Opera Home, the place you’d meet the president after the opera – as a result of everyone goes there to get a sausage and a chunk of bread with mustard, and eat it and have a final sip of beer earlier than they go residence after the opera,” says Max.
The 2 additionally toured the town’s quite a few palaces, visited the Schönbrunn Zoo and rode the historic Ferris wheel.
For Carter and Max, the time in Vienna was each a whirlwind romantic haze and outlined by a sense of straightforward, shocking intimacy.
“I used to be actually snug. After we have been in Vienna, he was already ironing my garments for me,” says Carter. “It went from zero to 100, actually, actually fast, when it comes to consolation.
“He simply took such excellent care of me and that’s what actually impressed me. He watched out for me, he confirmed me round…”
Carter Ratzenböck
This is Carter and Max having fun with the Viennese Opera.
Then, abruptly, the week was up and Carter needed to fly again to California. Max took Carter to the airport and as they stated their goodbyes within the departures space, he was agency that the farewell wasn’t endlessly:
“I’m going to return and see you in California,” he promised.
As they hugged goodbye, a sense of certainty crossed Carter’s thoughts.
“That is it,” she thought. “And both I’m going to have to maneuver right here, or he’s going to have to maneuver to America.”
Carter boarded her flight, and Max went residence alone. Again in his residence, Max known as his mom to fill her in correctly on his romantic journey, enthusing about Carter and their time collectively.
“After which I put my cellphone away and I used to be sitting there, I used to be like ‘Oh, that is bizarre,’” he says.
Max instantly felt lonely and unhappy – and concurrently, he discovered himself marveling at that feeling.
“You met this particular person solely per week earlier than – three and a half weeks earlier than on-line – and now she’s not right here and it’s horrible,” he thought.
Max’s life in Vienna felt empty with out Carter. And over the subsequent few weeks, as he wandered across the metropolis, Max realized each nook of the town reminded him of her – whether or not he was strolling previous the sausage stand outdoors the Opera Home, or simply recognizing the Ferris wheel turning within the metropolis skyline.
Again in Sacramento, Carter saved having to remind herself that her go to to Europe wasn’t a dream. It felt like a “fairy story,” she says. And it was arduous to wrap her head round all the pieces that had occurred in such a brief area of time.
As quickly as he may, Max booked a flight to go to Carter for later within the fall. Ultimately, this go to rolled round.
“I went and picked him up from the airport. And I used to be like, ‘I can’t imagine he’s right here. I can’t imagine it. Oh my gosh, that is actual. He actually got here. He’s actually right here,’” recollects Carter.
Carter Ratzenböck
When Max got here to California, Carter took him to San Francisco.
Carter needed to introduce Max to one of the best of California in the identical approach he’d proven her Vienna. So first they stopped off in San Francisco, then the 2 went to Napa Valley and spent just a few days within the wine nation.
“I took him wine tasting and confirmed him throughout there,” recollects Carter. “It was actually enjoyable.”
Carter additionally launched Max to her entire household they usually all traveled collectively to the coastal metropolis of Monterey for just a few days’ trip.
“It was nice. We simply threw him into the hearth,” says Carter.
“We had a number of enjoyable,” says Max. “Monterey is somewhat good city on the coast on the way in which south – I completely fell in love with that place too.”
When Max and Carter stated goodbye on the finish of Max’s journey, they promised to satisfy once more as quickly as they may.
That is it. And both I’m going to have to maneuver right here, or he’s going to have to maneuver to America.
Carter Ratzenböck
And so Carter booked a visit to Vienna for December, which occurred to coincide along with her birthday. Carter assumed they’d keep in Vienna, wander across the Christmas markets – however Max had a shock up his sleeve:
“He stated, ‘We’re going to Paris on your birthday,’” recollects Carter.
She couldn’t imagine it.
“I had at all times needed to see Paris,” says Carter.
After the Parisian getaway, Carter returned to the US for Christmas. Max joined her, and the 2 welcomed the New Yr collectively, excited for all 2023 may deliver.
However whereas Carter and Max have been sure they needed to be collectively, the form of their future was nonetheless unsure. They’d each spent far more cash on worldwide flights in 2022 than they’d ever anticipated. It simply wasn’t sustainable to journey backwards and forwards so often.
So Max and Carter waited it out for just a few months, and whereas the nine-hour time distinction was troublesome to navigate, the couple remained dedicated to at least one one other from throughout the Atlantic.
Carter Ratzenböck
This is Max and Carter having fun with an Alex Katz artwork exhibition in Vienna.
After just a few months aside, in spring 2023 Carter returned to Austria, becoming a member of Max on a household trip to the south of the nation.
“That was the primary time she met my dad and my brother and his girlfriend and my mother,” says Max.
The journey was a little bit of a baptism of fireside, Max admits.
“We went on this unbelievably lengthy biking journey,” he recollects. “She did so nicely, I couldn’t imagine it, as a result of it was, like, 55 kilometers – , actually lengthy – electrical autos, up and down the hills – however with a number of wine breaks, in order that made it a bit simpler.”
It was throughout this journey that Carter and Max began speaking extra critically in regards to the future, and what it’d appear to be.
“I need you right here with me,” Max informed Carter. “I need you right here with me greater than something.”
However when the subject of marriage got here up, Carter was stunned to appreciate they have been on barely totally different pages. All her associates within the US in dedicated relationships have been married. However Max had associates in Austria who’d been with their companions for over a decade and shared a number of youngsters, however had no intention of ever signing marriage papers.
To Carter, this gave the impression to be one thing of a cultural hole – possibly there was a stronger dedication to the establishment of marriage within the US than in Austria? Max even stated he by no means deliberate to get married.
However when Carter defined that marriage was vital to her, a vital image of dedication in a relationship, Max understood. He needed to be with Carter endlessly, that a lot was positive. And so Max and Carter confirmed marriage was of their future.
Additionally of their future? Carter leaving California and completely transferring to Vienna.
This was an enormous choice, however Carter had fallen in love with the Austrian capital, and was excited on the concept of a life there.
The couple did additionally take into account Max transferring to the US, however ultimately, Vienna received out.
“It’s at all times ranked probably the most livable metropolis on the planet,” Carter says, referring to the current Economist Intelligence Unit checklist of the world’s most livable cities, which ranked Vienna at primary for the third yr in a row. “We simply felt high quality of life can be lots higher right here in Vienna.”
As for Max, he suggests transferring to the US in some unspecified time in the future isn’t off the desk.
“I’ve at all times had a really huge affiliation with America,” he says. “And why ought to I not take the identical factor on my again that Carter did for me, and transfer over to America? We’ll see. However I believe that Vienna is simply the proper place to dwell, all in all.”
View this interactive content material on CNN.com
In Could 2023, Carter moved out of her Sacramento residence, offered her automotive and all her furnishings, packed a few suitcases, and moved the world over to start out a brand new life.
Sadly, simply as Carter set off for the airport, Max’s grandmother unexpectedly handed away. Carter arrived in Vienna to a grieving Max and some days later, accompanied him to the funeral.
It was a “tough begin,” admits Max. However he was so happy to see Carter. For each Max and Carter, being by one another’s facet throughout this powerful interval strengthened their certainty that they’d made the fitting choice.
“You wish to have your higher half at your facet when life will get a bit arduous,” says Max. “And my grandma was actually vital to me, so I appreciated Carter being there.”
Carter didn’t deliver a lot along with her to Europe – she’d offered mainly all the pieces, in any case.
However there was one non-negotiable: her canine, Waffles.
“I wasn’t going to return with out her,” says Carter.
Max was virtually as enthusiastic about Waffles transferring in as he was lastly residing with Carter.
“I by no means had a canine, ever,” he says. “And I at all times needed one. She’s superior.”
Adjusting to life in Vienna was an enormous change – for each Waffles and Carter – however Carter felt supported by Max as she started to accilimatize to Austria.
“He made it very straightforward for me to return over and begin my life right here,” she says.
A marriage and an anniversary
Carter Ratzenböck
Carter and Max flew to Florence, Italy to recreate their first assembly and have a good time their marriage ceremony.
Carter Ratzenböck
The couple had a good time having fun with the town collectively and retracing their steps from the yr earlier than. Carter even wore the identical headband as a nod to that first meet-up.
In late August 2023, on the one yr anniversary of their first assembly, Carter and Max acquired married in Austria, in a small metropolis corridor marriage ceremony attended by quick household. Carter took Max’s identify, turning into Carter Ratzenböck.
“We had somewhat brunch with our eight company,” says Max. “After which we took off to go proper again to Florence.”
In Florence, Max and Carter retraced the steps of their first journey collectively. The couple recreated their first ever picture collectively – taken a yr beforehand, on Florence’s Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
And as a nod to that first date, Carter dug out the sparkly headband she’d worn that day, which serendipitously coordinated along with her white marriage ceremony costume.
The couple additionally took images within the Uffizi Gallery, kissing in entrance of Botticelli’s “The Start of Venus.” And as they walked round Florence, passersby, recognizing that they have been newlyweds, began cheering and clapping.
As we speak Max and Carter are quick approaching their first marriage ceremony anniversary – and the 2 yr anniversary of their first assembly. They plan to return to Florence as soon as once more to have a good time each events.
“We’re sort of making it a factor,” says Carter. “This shall be yr three in Florence.”
For Carter and Max it’s surreal to assume how a lot their lives have modified since their first assembly simply two years in the past.
I believe our story is the proper instance that the unimaginable is on the market.
Max Ratzenböck
As we speak, Carter admits it was “sort of loopy” to rearrange a date with a man who lived on the opposite facet of the world.
And Max appreciates it was “fairly loopy” to fly to Florence to see a girl he met on the web.
The couple are grateful all the pieces labored out – and recognize their completely happy ending was maybe in opposition to the percentages.
However Carter’s additionally grateful for his or her mutual optimistic outlook, which outlined their early selections and nonetheless defines their relationship at present.
“Be optimistic,” she says. “Take an opportunity – that’s what I used to be considering on the time.”
In spite of everything, Carter says, if she hadn’t been optimistic about journey, about love, about Max – her life at present would look very totally different.
Carter and Max counsel their story additionally disproves the notion that falling in love through a relationship app is much less romantic than stumbling throughout a stranger the old school approach.
“Thank goodness for relationship apps,” says Carter. “It allowed us to succeed in one another. As a result of I might by no means have met him in any other case. There’s no approach we might have ever bumped into one another. As a result of like we stated, he likes to remain in and play video video games… And the way cool is it that you just get to satisfy any person by way of this app, on the opposite facet of the world and see what these individuals are like? I simply assume on-line relationship opens up so many extra prospects.”
“I believe our story is the proper instance that the unimaginable is on the market,” provides Max. “All these components… with assembly on-line, one within the coronary heart of Europe, one on the west coast in America, one utterly concerned in his life and one in her life touring… All these puzzle items are good for a novel, however not for actual life, not less than that’s what most individuals assume.
However that’s not true. We’re one of the best instance. And we’re very completely happy that it occurred that approach.”