{"id":122880,"date":"2023-11-24T08:27:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T08:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/11\/24\/he-took-her-on-a-private-plane-ride-on-their-first-date\/"},"modified":"2023-11-24T08:27:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T08:27:05","slug":"he-took-her-on-a-private-plane-ride-on-their-first-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/11\/24\/he-took-her-on-a-private-plane-ride-on-their-first-date\/","title":{"rendered":"He took her on a private plane ride on their first date"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sallie Kuria relocated to Germany from Kenya in 2010, unsure what to expect but ready to embrace a new adventure.<\/p>\n

Sallie, then 23, arrived in the small town of Eschbach, near Freiburg in the mountainous Black Forest region, to work as an au pair for a guy who owned a company that restored old airplanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Okay, let me go and try it. It might change my life,\u2019\u201d Sallie tells\u00a0CNN Travel\u00a0today.<\/p>\n

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The family Sallie worked for lived in an apartment on site, situated in an airplane hangar filled with workers renovating fighter planes dating back to the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Among the employees was 22-year-old Klaus M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n

Klaus noticed Sallie not long after her arrival. He thought she was cute, he recalls, and found out through the grapevine that she worked for his boss.<\/p>\n

But although they shared a workspace, it wasn\u2019t until Sallie and Klaus ended up at the same party that they got speaking.<\/p>\n

At the gathering, the two spent the whole evening in non-stop conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were eating and chatting until it was chilly,\u201d recalls Sallie.<\/p>\n

They spoke in English, talking about family, faith, race \u2013 and planes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything he talks about is about planes,\u201d says Sallie, laughing.<\/p>\n

As the party drew to a close, Klaus walked Sallie back to the hangar.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, that is where I was like \u2018Yeah, he might be the guy,\u2019\u201d Sallie says today.<\/p>\n

A flight to remember<\/h2>\n
\"Klaus
Klaus with the Piper PA-12 airplane he took Sallie flying in. Courtesy Sallie and Klaus M\u00fcller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following week, Klaus and Sallie\u2019s boss asked Klaus to pick Sallie up from the train station.<\/p>\n

Sallie didn\u2019t like driving in Germany, so if she wanted to meet up with friends in Freiburg, she had to cycle to the station, or get someone to drop her off.<\/p>\n

Various people at the hangar had given her lifts before, including Klaus, but they\u2019d previously only exchanged pleasantries during the five minute car ride.<\/p>\n

But in the aftermath of the party, Sallie and Klaus were keen to continue getting to know one another.<\/p>\n

Soon, this became a routine \u2013 Klaus would drive Sallie to and from the train station and they\u2019d chat the whole way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these little conversations, they kept us always a little more curious about the other one,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

One day as they pulled up at the hangar, Klaus asked Sallie if she wanted to go flying with him. He shared access to a Piper PA-12, a renovated American three-seater aircraft that dated back to the late 1940s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re on an airfield, and you have an airplane, it\u2019s summertime \u2013 after work, what you\u2019re going to do when it\u2019s nice weather, you\u2019re going to go out and fly,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

Sallie agreed to give it a try.<\/p>\n

The following Saturday the two were in the plane and ready to go, Klaus sitting in the front and Sallie behind him.<\/p>\n

Soon they were soaring over the hangar and through the clouds.<\/p>\n

Mid-air, Klaus asked Sallie if she\u2019d like to see a trick and, tentatively, Sallie agreed. She wasn\u2019t scared of heights or flying, but this was an experience like none she\u2019d had before, and she was a little ill at ease.<\/p>\n

Klaus momentarily descended the aircraft, before ascending it again, creating a kind of \u2018zero gravity\u2019 feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so lifeless, I was so afraid,\u201d says Sallie, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want you can hold on to me,\u201d she remembers Klaus saying.<\/p>\n

She put her arms around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a moment for me,\u201d says Sallie.<\/p>\n

She still had butterflies, but now it was for a different reason.<\/p>\n

A few days later, Sallie invited Klaus round for dinner to thank him for the flight. She cooked him some Kenyan dishes, including Mukimo with fried cabbage and fried beef.<\/p>\n

After dinner, she and Klaus sat on the balcony together. For the first time, Sallie noticed he had a large tattoo on his shoulder.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d never imagined herself dating someone with a statement tattoo and found herself wondering what her parents would think.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was too late, because I was already falling in love with him,\u201d Sallie says now. \u201cFor me, there was no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n

First date<\/h2>\n

It was Sallie who suggested she and Klaus go on their first official date.<\/p>\n

She found Klaus in the hangar one day \u2013 she\u2019d become familiar with the plane he was working on, and always found him in or around the old jet when she stopped to chat.<\/p>\n

Sallie asked Klaus if he wanted to go to the cinema that evening, and he agreed.<\/p>\n

Soon, the two were heading out on regular dates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a very exciting time for both of us,\u201d says Klaus. \u201cShe having moved to another part of planet Earth, not really knowing anybody, and still trying to find her place. But also for me, because up to that point, all I had really had in my mind were airplanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sallie hadn\u2019t expected to fall into a relationship in Germany so quickly, but she felt the connection with Klaus couldn\u2019t be ignored.<\/p>\n

Sallie says she saw Klaus \u201cnot only as a boyfriend, but he was my best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think right from the beginning, both of us had this feeling like, I have found a soulmate or the soulmate,\u201d says Klaus, who remembers telling his dad he\u2019d met someone special while on a father-son weekend away.<\/p>\n

As for Sallie, she told friends that she was dating a German guy, but she didn\u2019t mention Klaus to her family.<\/p>\n

Still, she sent them photos of herself and Klaus, hanging out or on weekend outings. She figured they\u2019d probably guess he was important to her, but she didn\u2019t want to spill the news just yet.<\/p>\n

Moving in together<\/h2>\n
\"Klaus
Klaus and Sallie exploring Heidelberg in 2011. Courtesy Sallie and Klaus M\u00fcller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the next few months, Sallie and Klaus spent every moment they could with one another.<\/p>\n

They enjoyed many an evening cooking together at Klaus\u2019 apartment, Sallie encouraging him to move away from his reliance on spaghetti and beer \u2013 a hangover from his student days \u2013 and teaching Klaus recipes she\u2019d grown up with.<\/p>\n

Around eight months into the relationship, Sallie left her au pair job to study German at a local language school, and the couple moved in together.<\/p>\n

Living together was an easy adjustment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a lot of arguments. We were just happy to be there for each other and with each other,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

The couple say their decision to get married, not long after they moved in together, was equally easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in love, and we were so sure of what we wanted,\u201d says Sallie.<\/p>\n

Their relationship had played out quite privately so far, and the two decided they wanted the wedding to be the same.<\/p>\n

Neither told their families \u2013 Sallie just told one of her friends in Kenya, as she needed some papers sent over \u2013 and on a icy day in January 2011 the couple took the night train from Freiberg to Copenhagen, then boarded a train to the Danish coast, followed by a ferry to tiny \u00c6r\u00f8 Island.<\/p>\n

At the time, it was easier for foreign nationals to get married in Denmark than Germany, and the two also liked the adventure of getting married in this beautiful, isolated spot in the Baltic Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little island, very nice,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

They remember the freezing temperatures and Sallie navigating her way around in heels and a wedding dress, while also trying to keep warm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe read our vows \u2013 it was beautiful for us, we were really happy,\u201d says Sallie, who took Klaus\u2019 name following the wedding, becoming Sallie M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n

After the ceremony, they ate burgers together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t regret not having anyone with us,\u201d says Klaus. \u201cWe were just enjoying each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, it wasn\u2019t long before long they shared their happy news with their families.<\/p>\n

Some weeks after the wedding, the news slipped out to Klaus\u2019 parents.<\/p>\n

And a few months later, when Sallie found out she was pregnant, she told her parents, explaining she was married to Klaus.<\/p>\n

The worries she\u2019d had about her parents\u2019 reaction to her going against tradition quickly vanished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very happy,\u201d says Sallie.<\/p>\n

Klaus\u2019 parents were equally delighted at the prospect of being grandparents.<\/p>\n

Sallie and Klaus were still in their early twenties, so while they were thrilled to start a family, they do recall some worries over finances.<\/p>\n

But their overwhelming memory is of excitement and glee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a joyful experience all these months, and the time our son was here was just pure joy,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying hard to be the best parents we could be for him, and yeah, I think there was never doubt in our minds, like \u2018is it too early for us?\u2019 or whatever. We were just looking forward [to] the experience, and we always felt very, very blessed to be able to do it, to be parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

After their son was born, Sallie and Klaus visited Kenya to introduce Sallie\u2019s parents to Klaus and the baby. It was a special trip, with Klaus enjoying experiencing a different country and culture.<\/p>\n

Later, Sallie\u2019s brother moved to Germany for a while and became a source of support to the young family.<\/p>\n

10 years later<\/h2>\n
\"Sallie
Sallie and Klaus with their family in 2020. Courtesy Sallie and Klaus M\u00fcller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sallie and Klaus have since had two more children: a daughter in 2018, and a youngest son born in spring 2020, right when Covid-19 first hit Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a Corona baby,\u201d says Sallie of their youngest child.<\/p>\n

Due to Germany\u2019s restrictions at the time, Klaus wasn\u2019t permitted to be present for the birth, and Klaus says leaving Sallie at the door of the hospital was a tough experience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to both Sallie and Klaus that their children learn about their Kenyan and German heritage. Their kids are bilingual, switching swiftly between English and German, and the family embrace Kenyan and German traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want them to be strangers when they land in my country or they go to my country,\u201d says Sallie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice way of showing your children what this world is all about, and that\u2019s diversity, and with diversity comes tolerance,\u201d says Klaus.<\/p>\n

The family have enjoyed a number of trips to Kenya with their two older kids, and more are sure to come \u2013Sallie and Klaus have always hoped to have a traditional wedding celebration in Kenya, something that\u2019s still on the to-do-list.<\/p>\n

\"Sallie
Sallie and Klaus still go flying today, now with their kids in tow. Courtesy Sallie and Klaus M\u00fcller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Sallie has a\u00a0YouTube channel\u00a0and while Klaus no longer works in the aviation world, he continues to pursue his passion for planes in his downtime.<\/p>\n

Sallie and Klaus still go flying together, often with the kids in tow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love it,\u201d says Klaus. \u201cAnd that\u2019s my joy that they can enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decade after they first met, Sallie and Klaus say they continue to have fun, work together as a team, and put their family first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were first friends, then lovers and then soulmates, we support each other even today,\u201d says Sallie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always trusted our gut, \u201d says Klaus. \u201cWe always say if everything falls down, the most important thing, we still have it \u2013 and that\u2019s us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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