After meeting at a crossroads in El Salvador, one travel-loving couple formed a connection that forced them to reconsider their future.
When Joe Norling and Nicole Nideroest found themselves on an Intrepid trip to Central America in 2024, neither of them was looking for love.
Joe, now 52, a former police officer from Cambridge, New Zealand, saw the trip as a way to reach his goal of having visited 50 countries by his 50th birthday.
For Nicole, 38, a travel agent from Zurich, Switzerland, it was a chance to do something for herself after the end of a long-term relationship, and a great way to visit Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – five countries which had long elicited her wanderlust. Little did they realise that the trip would change both their lives forever.
First encounters and curious connections
A pastry and some ‘weird-tasting orange juice’ might not sound like the most romantic of meals, but it was in a bakery somewhere on the way from Suchitoto to Playa El Cuco in El Salvador that Nicole and Joe first noticed each other.
‘We’d stopped to go to the supermarket,’ he says. ‘Everyone else had left, but she waited for me outside. We ended up grabbing lunch together at a bakery and when we jumped back on the bus, we started to find out a bit more about each other.’
Over group dinners, strolls on the beach, swimming expeditions and a ziplining excursion, the pair grew closer. ‘Every time we were in a group, we were secretly holding hands,’ says Joe.
They had their first kiss in Leon, Nicaragua, on the rooftop of the hotel they were staying in. ‘It was this perfect moment,’ says Nicole. By the last five nights of the 16-day trip, they had ‘given up trying to hide it’ and ‘were spending every moment together’, says Joe.
Despite their intense connection, both of them thought it would be a short-term holiday romance. After all, they lived 11,000 miles apart. ‘We tried to be realistic about the distance,’ says Nicole. ‘I thought: this is all that will happen, but I’ll keep him in my heart as this positive experience we’ve shared.’
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Not the end of the road
When the trip came to an end, the pair went their separate ways, but it didn’t take long before they realised it wasn’t over. ‘As soon as I landed, I had a two-hour drive back home from the airport and I called Nicole and we talked the whole time,’ says Joe.
‘We were messaging and chatting every single day,’ says Nicole. ‘I think about 10 days later, we’d committed to a relationship together and would FaceTime for hours every Sunday, despite the time difference.’
‘I remember I told my mum “I’ve met this amazing girl” and she said “Well, when am I going to meet her?”’, says Joe. ‘I explained that it was impossible, but I started thinking “Well, how about it?”’.
They planned a trip to see each other six months later in Sri Lanka. After two weeks of amazing food, wildlife safaris and hiking in national parks, they realised they’d fallen in love. ‘I was completely head over heels,’ says Joe. ‘We just had to make a plan of how to make it permanent.’
Nicole came to New Zealand for eight weeks over Christmas at the end of that first year and met Joe’s friends and family, including his two daughters, Sage, 28 and Sam, 27. Sadly Joe’s mother, Barbara, had passed away by that point, so never got to meet Nicole.
‘When I dropped her at the airport after two months, I felt lonely in my own house for the first time, even though I’d lived there by myself for nine years,’ he says. ‘Everything was always just so easy and natural with her.’
A few months later, they arranged a trip to Lisbon and then both flew to Switzerland so that Joe could have a taste of Nicole’s life.
‘At this point, we knew we wanted to build a future together,’ says Nicole. ‘We had two options: either I move to New Zealand or Joe to Switzerland. I had less responsibilities and spoke English, so it made more sense for me to be the one to move.’
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A new life together
In July 2025, Nicole emigrated to New Zealand full time – they found a house and moved in together. Coincidentally, it was New Zealand which had actually first inspired Nicole’s love of travel. ‘It was one of the first countries I visited with my mother when I was 15,’ she says. ‘My uncle lived there and it really sparked a passion for visiting new places.’
But emigrating was hard. ‘Countries don’t make it easy,’ she says. ‘There were so many documents we had to fill in.’ And there were challenges with suddenly living together after a long-distance relationship, too. ‘I think we were both so used to living alone,’ she says. ‘We had to compromise on things and adjust to our differences.’
For their next Christmas, they spent it with Nicole’s family in Switzerland, and Joe used the opportunity to ask Nicole’s dad if he could propose to his daughter. ‘I was incredibly nervous asking him,’ he says. ‘I remember we were standing outside in the snow together and I was shaking and it wasn’t just the cold – but, luckily, he said yes.’
To celebrate the second anniversary of their meeting, they booked another Intrepid trip in April – this time a 20-day adventure in Peru. ‘I’ve always loved Intrepid trips, even before I met Joe on one,’ says Nicole. ‘I love how they give back to the community and use local guides.’
But it wouldn’t just be their anniversary they were celebrating. When they got to the city of Puno, they hiked up to a lookout point with views of Lake Titicaca, and Joe got down on one knee.
‘We had talked a bit about marriage, but I was really surprised,’ says Nicole. ‘The scenery was beautiful, it was an amazing moment. That night, we went to a really special restaurant called La Receta and celebrated our anniversary and our engagement at the same time.’
They’ve not started planning their wedding yet, but like any true travel obsessives they’ve already thought about the important part: the honeymoon. ‘We’re going to go to Antarctica,’ says Joe. ‘It’s the only continent neither of us have set foot on.’
Although they’re happy with their Kiwi life, they’re currently planning trips to the Pacific Islands and would like to live in other places, too.
‘I can’t remember what life was like before I met Joe,’ she says. ‘I have no idea how we managed to go five months without seeing each other, now I miss him after one day.’
Nicole thinks it was fate that brought her together with her soulmate. Or perhaps it was the weird-tasting orange juice. ‘We joke that it was probably spiked with love potion,’ she says.
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