Travel flings

Ok I have a question for you all.

First off, it’s been my experience that after every travel fling I’ve had, no matter how brief or long, you both typically part ways and don’t really keep in contact after the fact.

Yes, there are emotions felt, and you might go on to message each other on rare occasions for some light chitchat, but meaningful communication is not maintained.

However, last year I experienced for the very first time being the local who a traveller had a fling with. Because of my previous experiences, I did everything in my power to not get attached to this guy while we were spending time together, and I actively encouraged him to continue on his journey despite him dropping hints like « I don’t know if I should leave tomorrow… »

When he left my city for good, he was incredibly emotional. He cried a lot. Then he sent me a lot of very heartfelt messages from the train. I was sad and grieved our brief connection like I’ve done with other travel flings in the past, but then started to move on.

But yet — he kept in touch. A lot. Like a lot a lot. Even though when he left my city he was on the very first leg of his trip around the world. It’s been 9 months of him travelling but he still to this day sends me incredibly romantic messages, and he hearts every single thing I post on instagram. It has been really hard for me.

So, to arrive at my preliminary question for you: Has this ever happened to you before — a travel fling keeping in touch in such a way? Or have your experiences typically mirrored my previous ones, where not much contact is kept up after a fling? If the former, what was going on? What did you do?

I vented to my friend about this today, and they said « Empty promises and cheesy romantic lines are a fuckboys bread and butter » (LOL)

But to me, this only makes sense for local fuckboys, because then the possibility to meet up and hook up actually exists. So my second, and main question to you all is: Why on earth would someone do this behaviour when they know you may never cross paths again? I struggle to make sense of it.

Edit: I am not looking for relationship advice here. Was just providing some context behind why I’m wondering what I’m wondering. Please respond only to the questions I’ve asked, as that is what I’m really hoping to gain insights about.