This Sheffield student’s one night stand in Malaysia has become a successful long-distance relationship

Most one night stands turn out to be exactly that. If you're lucky, you may get some sort of breakfast the next morning. After that, it's unlikely you will see them again, and if you do things tend to be awkward.

For one couple, though, one night of passion has become a long-distance relationship spanning thousands of miles.

Emilio Marcos Sierra, a third year Politics student at the Uni of Sheffield, and his girlfriend Sita Prajongjud, who does Mechanical Engineering at university in the Thai capital of Bangkok, have now been together for more than six months. Emilio spoke to us about a very modern love story.

From the club to Cambodia

The couple met on a bar crawl in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, where they were separately travelling around Asia over the summer. Emilio didn't even want to go out that night, after being sick because of the malaria tablets he was on.

"I guess it was just casual," he recalls. "Like it happened, then after knowing each other for seven hours she left for the Philippines."

They talked through the night before she said goodbye and, rather than seeking to distance themselves from any memory of the night, added each other on Facebook to keep in contact. After establishing common ground, she arranged to meet him in Cambodia.

They arranged to meet and decided to travel around Cambodia for two weeks, taking in Angkor Wat – the largest religious monument in the world – as part of their travels, before travelling around Thailand too.

A romantic 'reading week' away

Let's face it, no one actually does that much reading in reading week. Hardly anyone, however, goes to Emilio's lengths of dedication, flying out to Thailand and then Bali to treat their significant other.

"She was so happy when I told her we were going Bali because it’s her fave place," Emilio said. "We drove around the island on a motorbike and stayed at an awesome four-star hotel. I got a birthday cake arranged from the hotel, which made her cry.

"We chilled on the beach and by the pool, and just had an awesome time together. We were gonna go diving but she broke her ear drum in April so it’s still too bad to dive!"

They're seeing in 2018 together

The couple are now planning to reunite this month, before seeing in the New Year together. Sita got her UK visa sorted in October, and is going to fly over on Boxing Day, planning to surprise Emilio with what he is convinced will be a trip to London.

"We'll do touristy stuff, then go to Liverpool to see the city and then a night out," he says. "And on New Year's Day she will meet my family and then we will probably just do some day trips to Leeds, the Peak District and so on."

While definitely unusual, this tale of love spanning the continents proves that good and wholesome things can come from drunken nights out. Who knows, perhaps the lad or lass you met in Kavos last year might be the one after all.