A woman took a leap of faith after travelling all the way from Sydney, Australia to Bali in Indonesia for a first date with a guy she had been speaking to on dating app Hinge on and off for a while.
Jess Austen, 29, had travelled all the way to Bali for their first date only to be ghosted by him when she arrived – but then awkwardly saw him on the way home. He was sitting in the row in front of her on the plane.
Jess told News.com.au : "He ignored me, if he saw me – but how could he not? I was standing next to him waiting to get into my row.
"I would have loved to have said something to call him out, but I was a bit embarrassed that I’d gone all that way, been ghosted and now was on the plane alone behind him."
Back home, Jess was so "embarrassed" she posted a video on TIkTok sharing the dating story, which has now been seen by more than 36,000 people.
Sharing screenshots of conversations between the two, Jess explained that the timing had never been right for them, but finally at a point where they were both single, he again sent her a message on Instagram.
The bloke asked her: "Don't you want to do a little trip to Bali next week?". Jess replied saying it "super tempting" after the guy, who was on holiday with friends in Bali, said he could host her, and that he could move into his friend's room so she could stay.
After a lot of back and forth, the guy said his friend didn't want him to move into his room, but that if she was coming, he would book somewhere else to stay while she was there.
They spoke every day in the lead-up to the holiday and he kept saying he was "hyped" about her coming, and even said: "from the 24th to the 27th it's just you and me".
Before flying out they made a plan to meet up, but when she arrived he kept making excuses and making other plans, and then stopped replying altogether.
Her last messages, "What time are you aiming to be back on mainland" and "Come on, don't let this [be so] anticlimactic after all the talk!", went unanswered and he then unfollowed her.
Right at the end, Jess revealed that she had then seen him on the plane home, however he lated claimed he hadn't seen her.
After the story received a lot of attention, the guy reached out to Jess to apologise.
She explained: "He reached out to me after seeing the article and has apologised profusely. He said he's now aware of how these kinds of actions can affect people and how he was acting selfishly, and wants to do better and learn from this mistake.
"He wishes me all the best and really did a quite genuine apology. So no hate, no cancelling, no bullying. Live and let live, people can learn from their mistakes."
Do you have a story about being ghosted? Send an email to ariane.sohrabishiraz@reachplc.com.
