As Valentine’s Day approaches, one Avoca Beach couple is making plans to get married this year – for the 43rd time.
Since they first married almost 15 years ago at Pearl Beach, author, life coach and self-proclaimed digital nomad, Laura Maya, and her French husband, David Frot, have renewed their vows in every country they have visited.
With their 15th anniversary fast approaching, Maya said the couple met in Peru and initially got married to get a visa, as it was the only way they could stay together.
“Looking back it was probably a little reckless to marry a guy I’d only been officially dating for nine weeks, but it is still, hands down, the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said.
“At the time we first got married I didn’t even know David’s middle name, or what his favourite colour was, but despite that, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”
They tied the knot for the first time in front of friends and family in a casual and romantic barefoot beach ceremony.
“Standing up in front of friends and family and promising to stay together forever was such a special experience; we decided to get married over and over again by renewing our vows in every country we visited,” Maya said.
“I really think in doing that, it’s helped us to continually appreciate what we have in each other and never take each other for granted.”
With so many wedding ceremonies to their credit, the pair usually celebrate their original anniversary by staying home and eating takeaway pizza.
While COVID-19 restrictions have slowed things down for the keen travellers over the last two years, they hope to hold their 43rd wedding in Ireland, Andorra or San Marino this May.
With so much of their lives spent travelling and experiencing a diverse range of cultures, Maya recently wrote a travel memoir, Tell Them My Name, sharing an extraordinary experience which started when the pair travelled to Nepal as part of a volunteer team.
The off-beat book has deeper messages about diversity, multiculturalism, culture and connection and is available at bookshops and online.
“In writing the book, I wanted to give people the opportunity to connect with my Nepali family, to witness their struggles and their joy, and share in the knowledge that people born into a different part of the world might live a vastly different life on the outside, but on the inside, they share the same hopes, emotions, challenges and dreams as we do,” she said.
Tell Them My Name is available now in all good bookshops and through online retailers.
Terry Collins