When Emma Di Palma, 23, booked a summer holiday to Portugal, she never expected that she would be going alone.
She originally planned to go on the trip with her ex-boyfriend, who ended the relationship just a week before they were supposed to jet off.
Unwilling to lose out on the holiday, Emma, an account manager from Montreal, Canada, planned to go alone – but she quickly started to feel apprehensive.
‘I started to not feel in a good space to go alone,’ she said.
‘I didn’t want to hook up with men.’
Thankfully, Emma’s dad, 59-year-old Domenico Di Palma, quickly noticed that she was feeling anxious, and decided to book a last-minute flight and join her on the trip.
‘He booked a seat right next to me,’ she added.
‘It meant the world. My dad fixed a broken heart that he didn’t break.’
The pair bonded over seafood, hiking and sunbathing in Praia de Lagos, as well as sightseeing in Lisbon.
While Emma spent time with her dad during the day, she also managed to make some friends and go out at night.
‘Me and my dad love seafood,’ said Emma.
‘We bonded over some food we liked.’
Retired woodworker Domenico ‘fell in love’ with Lisbon, where the pair spent hours walking around and talking.
The pair didn’t argue once and left feeling closer than ever.
‘I moved out at 19 and we didn’t have the best relationship growing up,’ said Emma.
‘I got to know more about him. I asked him more about his life before my mum and before kids.
‘He opened up a lot. I got to know him on another level.’
She added that the holiday reminded her not to take her parents for granted.
‘He’s done so much for me,’ she said of Domenico.
‘I cherish my time with him.’
Domenico said the trip was ‘wonderful, unplanned and welcomed’.
‘When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade (or Aperol Spritz),’ he said.
‘We now have great memories.
‘I’m sure she will move on and get over the sadness. It has definitely started.’
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