What transpired when two strangers chose to take a vacation together

Rodrigo Leal and Irma Cáceres had been working at the same company in Mexico City for two years before their paths finally crossed.

Their first encounter didn’t happen during a company-wide meeting or while preparing coffee in the office kitchen – it was to plan an overseas vacation together.

It was the spring of 2011, and 31-year-old Rodrigo was eagerly anticipating a trip to Finland to visit his family later that year.

He saw his summer journey to Scandinavia as the perfect chance to explore Europe, having arranged additional vacation days before and after the family gathering.

Although traveling alone was an option, Rodrigo thought it would be more enjoyable to have someone accompany him. However, when he mentioned the trip to his friends and asked if anyone wanted to join, nobody was interested. His friends either had other summer plans or didn’t want to take time off work.

One day during his lunch break, Rodrigo was discussing his dilemma with a close colleague, Paola.

She paused for a moment.

“Hold on, I think I know just the right person,” Rodrigo recalls Paola saying. “She loves traveling solo, is always up for adventure… I can introduce you right now – she works here too.”

That “perfect person” was Irma Cáceres, a 29-year-old salesperson at the company who never passed up a chance to explore new places.

Paola took Rodrigo across the office and introduced him to Irma.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Rodrigo explained the vacation plans to Irma and asked if she would be interested in joining him.

Irma immediately agreed.

“It wasn’t love at first sight,” Rodrigo admits to Dinogo Travel today.

Nevertheless, Rodrigo quickly realized that he and Irma shared a mutual passion for adventure, and he was intrigued by the possibility of their trip together.

For Irma, the obvious shared enthusiasm for travel was the main reason she decided to accept the invitation. Plus, she and Rodrigo had Paola in common, and Irma trusted Paola’s judgment.

The next day, Rodrigo and Irma met for an initial discussion about their plans. Rodrigo shared that two of his siblings lived in Finland and that his entire family was flying out for a few days, but he was hoping to extend his trip with some additional European travel.

Irma was thrilled, but when she shared the news with her friends, many of them expressed concerns.

“Who is he? What does he want? Be careful,” she remembers them advising.

However, her mother, whose opinion meant the most to her, withheld judgment until she saw a photo of Rodrigo.

Irma showed her mother Rodrigo's Facebook profile picture.

Her mother glanced at it and simply said, 'You should go with him,'” Irma remembers today.

And just like that, it was settled – Irma would be going on vacation with a complete stranger.

Planning the trip

The two colleagues began meeting whenever possible to discuss their travel plans.

“We were very focused on work at the office, so our meetings were brief – usually just 10 minutes at a time before getting back to our tasks,” Rodrigo recalls.

Though their conversations were short, Rodrigo and Irma slowly realized they shared a similar approach to planning their trip. Both were eager to book flights and handle major details quickly, but they were happy to leave things like accommodation choices for later.

As they discussed rental cars and which cities to include in their itinerary, both began to notice how much they enjoyed each other’s company.

Months went by, and their conversations continued to happen only at work. So, Rodrigo decided to ask Irma if she'd be open to meeting outside of the office one evening.

“I’m busy, I have a lot of other commitments,” Irma replied.

Rodrigo took her response as a sign that she wasn’t interested in anything beyond friendship, but Irma later clarified that she was genuinely occupied.

“I turned him down initially because I had prior plans with friends and family, and I didn’t want to cancel or change those commitments,” she explains today.

Two weeks before their planned trip, Rodrigo hosted a house party. He invited all his friends, along with many of his colleagues.

At work, Irma overheard some talk about the party and realized she hadn’t received an invitation.

Rodrigo hadn’t invited her because he wasn’t sure where they stood and didn’t want to cross any boundaries, but Irma was left feeling confused.

When they next met to talk about the trip, Irma decided to ask him directly about the party.

“Am I invited to that too?” she asked.

Rodrigo responded with, “Do you need two invitations, or is one enough?”

“He was sort of indirectly asking if I was bringing someone, which, of course, I wasn’t,” Irma reflects today.

“Just one,” she remembers replying.

That Saturday, Irma was the first to arrive at Rodrigo’s party – “We both have that in common, we’re always punctual,” she says today.

She helped him set up for the evening, chatting as they filled bowls with chips.

As the other guests trickled in, they settled in for a night of cards and movies. When the power unexpectedly went out, everyone used their phone flashlights to navigate the darkness and see each other.

Rodrigo and Irma both agree that the chemistry between them was undeniable that night.

“All we needed for the sparks to fly was to meet outside the office. Until then, we’d only met in meeting rooms or hallways,” Rodrigo recalls.

“It was like a bolt of lightning,” Irma says.

The next day, they made plans to meet again. Officially, it was to go over last-minute trip details. But really, both of them were eager to see if their connection would hold up outside the office.

It did.

A few days later, Rodrigo officially asked Irma to be his girlfriend.

He’s a bit old-fashioned, he admits. Plus, he wanted to make sure they were on the same page before they left the country.

Overjoyed, Irma happily accepted.

“I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it. He was so romantic,” she remembers fondly.

In just a few days, they would be heading to the airport. Their international trip would mark their first official date.

Their first destination: Paris

The first part of their trip was a flight from Mexico City to Paris, where they spent a few days. Both felt a little nervous as they made their way to the airport.

Irma realized mid-journey that she had forgotten to pack pajamas and had to grab a pair on the way.

They both remember a moment at the airport when Rodrigo admired the sound of French being spoken by some travelers, only for Irma to point out that they were actually speaking English.

"He turned bright red," Irma laughs. "It was so funny."

However, once their plane landed in Paris, the couple felt at ease.

"We took the subway to Place de la Concorde, then began our walk towards the Eiffel Tower," Rodrigo recalls.

They pushed through any jet lag, soaking in the romance and charm of Paris, with side trips to Monet’s gardens in Giverny and the stunning Palace of Versailles.

After their time in Paris, the couple flew to London, rented a car, and set off on a road trip across Britain.

It was Rodrigo’s first experience driving on the left side of the road, while Irma played the role of the "copilot."

"We made it from London to Edinburgh without a scratch on the car. Rodrigo only took three tries to exit a roundabout and managed to avoid any tickets," Irma recalls.

Along the way to Edinburgh, they visited the ancient wonder of Stonehenge, as well as the English cities of Salisbury, Oxford, Nottingham (where Rodrigo had once studied), and York.

Their night in Edinburgh also marked Rodrigo’s birthday, and the couple stayed out celebrating with pints, not stopping until dawn.

The following day, the couple flew to Helsinki for Rodrigo's family reunion.

After the excitement of the previous days, both felt a wave of nervousness again.

When Rodrigo told his family he was bringing a friend along, they were thrilled, happy to know he wouldn’t be traveling alone.

But when I told them, 'I’m going with my girlfriend,' it was a completely different reaction,” Rodrigo recalls.

His family was happy for him, but as he puts it, they were also a bit uncertain about the whole situation.

Irma was also nervous about meeting Rodrigo’s family, but her worries quickly faded once they arrived in Finland. Rodrigo's family embraced her warmly.

If they had doubts about the unconventional travel plans, they kept them to themselves.

“It was easy for me because Rodrigo was so kind, and his family was incredibly welcoming,” she says.

The group spent five enjoyable days in Helsinki before boarding a ferry to Tallinn to explore Estonia's capital. Rodrigo says it was a lot of fun, and the time spent together felt completely natural.

After bidding farewell to Rodrigo’s family in Finland, Rodrigo and Irma made their way back to London. They had plans to meet Irma’s aunt and uncle, who lived there, at a restaurant with a view of the Thames and Tower Bridge.

“They put Rodrigo in the hot seat and grilled him about his intentions. He passed with flying colors,” Irma recalls.

“It was our last night before heading back to Paris early the next morning, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying a few glasses of Champagne,” Rodrigo adds.

After Paris, the couple flew back to Mexico. At the airport, Irma’s mother was there to pick them up and take them to their separate homes.

What Irma didn’t realize at the time was that during their trip, she and Rodrigo had made a life-changing decision – after two weeks spent in each other's constant company, neither of them could imagine being apart.

“It was on the tram ride to Helsinki airport, right after saying goodbye to my family and finally being alone, that we started talking about moving in together,” Rodrigo remembers. “We both knew instantly it felt right. We wanted to be together, without any doubts. It was the right decision.”

Irma’s mom, along with the rest of the family, was taken aback by the news.

“They all thought I was out of my mind – which, to be honest, I probably was,” Irma laughs.

But once her family saw how serious she was about it – and how happy Rodrigo made her – they came around and were genuinely supportive.

However, the couple chose to keep their living situation under wraps for the time being.

“We drove to work separately, and only a few close family members knew we were living together,” Rodrigo shares. “We only made it public a couple of months later.”

Cue the surprise, followed by a wave of celebration: the couple had also made the decision to tie the knot.

After an exciting summer of travel, Rodrigo made the proposal more personal. He organized a scavenger hunt at home, leading Irma to the discovery of the engagement ring.

As they settled into life together, the couple didn’t face any major conflicts. The only hiccup came just before their wedding, during a particularly stressful photo shoot.

“We were both on edge, feeling the pressure. It almost turned into a ‘Runaway Bride’ moment,” Rodrigo recalls. “But we stuck it out and made it through.”

In 2012, they tied the knot in Zacatecas City, Mexico, marking the occasion with a beautiful day, made even more memorable by the unexpected rain.

“We were just so happy to have our family and friends all together,” Rodrigo says. “It was a wonderful night, even though it rained heavily the whole time.”

One of the guests at the wedding was Paola, the mutual friend who had introduced Rodrigo and Irma and suggested they travel together. The couple remains very close to her to this day.

“I always tell her, ‘You’re the one responsible for bringing us together, and we are so incredibly happy,’” Rodrigo says with a laugh.

After their wedding, the couple set off for a dream honeymoon in the islands of French Polynesia. Over the following years, they ticked off travel highlights across Mexico, the US, and Europe, from island-hopping in Greece to soaking in the beauty of Lake Como in Italy.

In 2015, Rodrigo and Irma welcomed their first child, Sofía, who quickly became a part of their travel adventures.

“Before she even turned one, Sofía was flying almost every month,” Rodrigo recalls.

Two years later, the couple expanded their family with a son, also named Rodrigo.

In 2019, Rodrigo and Irma made a return trip to Finland, this time with their young children, including a visit to the magical Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland.

“It was another incredible experience,” Rodrigo shares with excitement.

While their shared love for travel strengthens their bond, Rodrigo and Irma also cherish the quieter moments at home, especially in the past year amid the pandemic.

“We truly love each other and our children. Our goals align, and we always support one another. We can talk about anything and everything. We laugh a lot, enjoy movies, cheesy Latin telenovelas, and quirky series,” Rodrigo adds.

“We balance each other out. We're very similar, but also quite different, and we think that’s what makes our relationship work so well,” says Rodrigo.

‘It was fate,’” Rodrigo says, reflecting on how it all came together.

It wasn’t until years into their marriage that Rodrigo and Irma realized they had both appeared in the same group photo from a colleague’s party back in 2009.

In the photo, they’re on opposite sides of the group, unaware of each other’s presence.

Although their serendipitous encounter suggests Irma and Rodrigo might have crossed paths even without traveling together – considering they worked in the same office – they both attribute their lasting happiness to their brave decision to travel with someone they barely knew.

Now that they have children, people often ask if they’d let their kids do the same. Their answer is usually no, a mix of joking and genuine concern at the thought of it.

However, they do believe that vacationing with a partner is an excellent way to truly test your compatibility.

“You eat, you explore, and spend all your time together. It’s a completely different experience from casual dating,” Rodrigo shares. “It really helped us understand each other, and that’s exactly what we want for the rest of our lives.”

“I think it was fate that we found each other,” Irma reflects. “I’m so incredibly happy to have met Rodrigo. We make a great couple, and I’m still deeply in love with him.”