I found this news article, and this being a hobby site, I thought it'd be cool to share.  It's about a man in Netherlands who met a woman online, and decided to come out to meet her.  Only he didn't drive or hop a train to the other end of town.  He flew halfway around the world.  When he got there, she NCNS'ed on him, and he spent 10 days waiting for her, sitting in the airport terminal the whole time.  In the end, he was hospitalized for exhaustion.  (His exact medical condition wasn't specified, but "exhaustion" sounds neither far-fetched nor far from the truth.)  The article says that his civvie date stayed in contact with him afterwards, and is keeping the possibility open for a future visit.  Whether or not he'll make another trip, we don't know (yet).

While I realize he may have been seeking love and not a release, I find it ironic that a man from a country that functions as TER's home base, and once renowned for its hobby scene---later upstaged by Czech Republic, Thailand, Costa Rica, and even Israel---ended up in that situation.  I can imagine a higher possibility of an American man doing this, provided (hehe) he doesn't know about TER.  It'd be better for that man to simply hop on a train to Amsterdam, if he doesn't live there, and visit its Red Light District, to the tune of maximum 500 euros (his appointment + train tickets).  Heck, Netherlands is small; he won't even need a hotel, given the short distances there.

Just wanted to get the hobby community's take on this quirky situation.  Questions?  Comments?

-- Modified on 8/4/2016 11:37:54 PM