Scot travels 5,000 miles to go on a Tinder date and it actually went well

Journeying more than 5,000 miles just to go on a date with someone you met on Tinder is a whole new level of commitment, but that’s exactly what one man from Scotland decided to do earlier this week.

Paddy Campbell, 32, broke up with his partner in January and soon joined the app, on which he received a message from a woman he thought was “very bonnie [and] very pretty”.

Except the woman in question – Bridget Kelly, of Wisconsin in the US - was actually using Tinder’s Passport feature, meaning users can stick a pin anywhere in the world and match with people in that area.

That didn’t have an impact on their chemistry, however.

In a video posted to TikTok on Friday, Patrick told his followers: “We’re actually getting on really well, so after a few months of talking, she invites me over to America for a wedding.

“I’m packed, and today I’m actually getting picked up from my brother-in-law, and I’m now heading to America, which is f***ing scary, because I’ve never been there before.

“I’m actually nervous because I don’t know how these yanks are going to react, especially when they find out I work in the whiskey sector.”

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Although his mum was born in Ohio, Patrick confirmed it would be his first time travelling across the pond to America, and would be going from Glasgow to Dublin, then Dublin to Chicago, before meeting Bridget in her hometown.

And while Patrick chronicled his side of the story on his account, Bridget shared hers on her own TikTok profile, revealing her long-term relationship ended “a couple of months ago” because her boyfriend told her she needed to “make moves for you”.

She said: “So I thought to myself, ‘OK, fine, you want me to make moves for me? Fine, I’ll find a Scottish guy, and maybe move to Scotland - see what that’s like.’

“I stuck my [Tinder Passport] pin in Edinburgh, I stuck my pin in Glasgow … and I stuck my pin in Falkirk. I had been on Tinder Passport for, like, three days, and I met a lovely, wonderful Scottish guy named Patrick – Paddy – and he’s the sweetest guy.”

After talking for two weeks, Bridget explained she was helping to co-ordinate a wedding, which Paddy offered to help with and be her date for.

“Eight weeks later, we’re meeting for the first time, I’ve just picked him up from the airport and we’re going out for dinner at a really nice restaurant,” she added.

Bridget then went on to share further updates about Paddy’s visit to the States, with the actor and writer describing it as “easily the best date I’ve ever been on [with the] best company as well”.

The pair revealed they went to visit the ‘Cloud Gate’ sculpture in Chicago – perhaps more commonly known by its nickname of ‘The Bean’ – and that they had “so many more adventures this week to come”.

“It’s like a rom-com, you guys,” Bridget wrote in the caption.

Replying to comments, she said she will “write and publish” a book on the romance and that she would go over to Scotland in July.

And all of their followers love the story too, with one saying: “I have so much investment in this story.’

“Handsome, dresses well, killer tatts, Scottish accent and travelled halfway across the world to see you. Winner 10/10,” wrote another.

We’re not crying, you’re crying.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.