When Katy Collins got engaged she thought, like most brides-to-be, that her relationship would last forever.
She was wrong. Just three months before her wedding day, Katy’s partner left her with a broken heart and a whole lot of wedding plans to cancel.
But rather than recede into a three-month-long duvet-day, 31-year-old Katy decided to enjoy her own kind of honeymoon holiday and she set off on a solo mission to backpack around the globe.
Satrting in South East Asia, Katy documented her travels on an aptly titled blog, Not Wed or Dead.
In a far-flung corner of the world, Katy found a revitalising purpose in life: Wanderlust.
Collins is now an acclaimed novelist having penned a book series, The Lonely Hearts Travel Club.
Katy has just completed her fourth book, after signing a three-year deal with Harper Collins, which is inspired by her time travelling the world on her own.
Her travels – and her glittering career as a travel blogger – have taken Katy all over the world.
She’s seen the Taj Mahal in India…
… and listened to music in one of the world’s most famous venues, the Sydney Opera House.
She’s sombrely taken the Bridge over the River Kwai, paying respects to the fallen.
All in the same month that Katy soaked up the Christmas sun in Thaliand.
The Liverpudlian blogger even travelled closer to home, visiting Father Ted’s house on Craggy Island.
Katy made lots of new friends along the way.
…some of them – but not all – are human.
Katy writes on her blog:
Everyone did think I was a little mad, especially as I’d never travelled anywhere by myself before but it just felt right. I needed the time away from everything and everyone I knew to find myself.
And find herself she did. Katy even sold her old wedding dress on eBay and donated the proceeds to the families of Tom Jackson & Mia Ayliffe-Chung, two of her fellow backpackers who were murdered in Australia.
Katy has compared her life to a romantic comedy, so, according to the laws of literature, she requires a happy ending.
Posting on her Instagram yesterday, Katy revealed to her followers that she is engaged to wed the very man who wrote her story three years ago, dubbing her the ‘Bridget Jones backpacker’.
Revenge, and not even a hint of nastiness involved. That’s how to do it.
Imagine the novel this little twist will inspire.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.