Gian Perroni, 62, and Angela Harsanyi, 53, found love in Belfast while waiting four months for their cruise liner to depart. Now they are engaged and are planning to get married at sea.
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00:00This is Angie from America and Jeanne from Canada and they're both hoping to
00:07set sail this weekend on the Villa V Odyssey. Guys let me ask you first of all
00:12how did you actually come up with this mad plan to you know for a non-stop
00:17world cruise and how long are you going for? Well this is a three and a half year
00:21circumnavigation but we both bought cabins so we have the opportunity to
00:26stay up to 15 years. We'll see how long we last but we're definitely committed
00:31to going at least once around the world and then we'll see how it goes.
00:34What's your background Jeanne work-wise? I work full-time I'm the director of an
00:38affiliate marketing company so I work I have an office on the ship which is
00:42ideal and it's kind of nice being over in this time zone because my office is
00:46in Montreal so I get to take my mornings nice and quiet and then work in the
00:51afternoon and evenings. So you're still working but part-time? No no
00:56full-time. Full-time? Oh wow you're the first person I met full-time who's
00:59gonna keep working here. There's a few of us but I'm not quite ready to
01:02retire but when I am at least I'll already be in my retirement home. Very
01:05good and Angie tell me a little bit about your background then work-wise. I
01:10was a salon owner for 33 years in Colorado. Was that a beauty salon? It was
01:15and now I am doing a travel agency. Right. So I'm doing the Odyssey adventure
01:21travel and I'm gonna do that on board with our trip. So you're gonna be working
01:26as well? I will be. You're working for the company? No this will be my own. Right and
01:30what will the what will the nature of the business be? Travel cruising and
01:36vacation packages. Okay and more to the point you guys did not know each other
01:43until you met each other in Belfast. Correct. Tell me how did this unfold and
01:48now you're engaged can we see the ring Angie? Oh wow let's see. It's a very
01:55unusual color. Congratulations to you both. So tell me tell me how it
02:00unfolded. We both got into Belfast back in May. We got part of a
02:06friend's group and we hung out for a little while and then Angie and most of
02:09them went off to the Canaries because I was working I stayed on the ship. Angela
02:15ended up going back to the US for about a month month and a half I think and
02:18then when she came back at that point we were kind of living daytime on the
02:23Odyssey and back into hotels in the evening. We both liked the outdoors and
02:27a little exercise so we started walking back and forth together and we not only
02:32realized how compatible we are but it blossomed into a nice amazing romance
02:37unexpectedly. Wow that's just it's just such a perfect story isn't it Angie
02:43what's your take on on how this all happened? I would have to agree with him
02:48on that we we just naturally started realizing how compatible we were on our
02:57walks and I started realizing that I didn't want to live another day without
03:01him so I was more than pleased that he proposed. Wow that's just so amazing and
03:08I'm sure this was the last thing that you ever thought would happen when you
03:11both came to Belfast? 100%. So there was a silver lining to being
03:16delayed in Belfast? Yeah we always laugh that we're the only two people on
03:20the ship that don't mind the delay. You know I don't know how our romance would
03:24have progressed otherwise but being in close proximity and having this
03:28opportunity to spend so much time together has been amazing. Okay and you
03:33got matching tattoos while you were here? We did. Can I ask you to show me is that
03:36okay? Sure we can try and get them up here let's see.
03:41All right Wow. That one's still healing but yes you've gone you've really you've
03:48gone in here for the whole thing. Yeah we went with it with the Celtic Trinity knot
03:52it you know it means endless love and it seemed like it was an endless love
03:56endless tour, endless cruise, endless honeymoon. So correct me if I'm wrong the
04:03captain is gonna marry you? That's the plan. And he's legally able to do that?
04:07Yeah the rules are as long as you're more than 12 miles offshore the
04:12Bahamas allows the captains to marry you and it's a recognized marriage in most
04:17countries in the world including Canada and the US where we're from. So and you're
04:21gonna do this in the Bahamas or offshore of the Bahamas? No we're planning on
04:24doing it between Panama and Costa Rica in the spring and then having a short
04:29little honeymoon off the ship in Costa Rica before continuing our honeymoon for
04:33forever. But our ship is flagged from the Bahamas that's why he made that comment. Okay right right brilliant brilliant. Wow I'm sure a lot of people have
04:43just hundreds of questions here what's the most common question you got asked
04:46about this romance? I think the most common question is you know when did it
04:50happen and how did it happen so fast you know but I you know people are
04:55always saying you know what's the hurry you know are you sure but we are sure you
05:00know we we just we click so well that there's never been a doubt that it
05:04wasn't meant to be. We started joking about marriage a couple of weeks after
05:08starting dating and you know once I make a commitment I carry through. You're not
05:13gonna need two cabins anymore are you? Well we do actually because Angie's here
05:17on a sister trip so okay her sister's coming out and they share a cabin so
05:22I'll share Angie. That'll be lovely and tell me what about Belfast how have you
05:27found it? It's been amazing the people here have been so accommodating so
05:31friendly we've we know that all the Uber drivers know us IKEA we're probably
05:36their best customers. But you're not buying furniture here? Of course we're
05:40buying everything and Amazon my god they shipped every hotel in the city for us.
05:44But no we've probably had a pint in most of the pubs in town we've just enjoyed
05:50walking around and enjoying the parks and our our commute from downtown out to
05:55the Odyssey has been there's been part of part of our thing yeah. And how do you
05:59find I mean how do you find the people here compared to people that elsewhere
06:02on your travels? So really really really friendly you know I remember I had a
06:08friend I told him I was going to Scotland he said are you ready to fight
06:11and I'm like okay is that like that? Here it's been amazing you know we we
06:16get lost people give us directions we need something people help us out so zero
06:21complaints love it I think we ended up in the right spot for sure. And the last
06:28question then about the weather Angie you're from Colorado this must be
06:31relatively normal for you here at the minute the rain is is drizzling down on
06:35us. Yeah we still get 300 days of sunshine though okay right definitely
06:40missing my sunshine okay okay but the snow and the colder temperatures
06:44absolutely. Okay well hopefully you're departing this weekend all of you
06:48hopefully. That's what we hear we've learned to be patient when it happens
06:53we'll be the most excited people around. Very good well congratulations on your
06:57engagement again and on behalf of journalists everywhere thank you for an
07:02amazing love story. Our pleasure.