'I fell for the waiter who poured shots in my mouth on holiday - now I'm moving'
Beth Winstone wasn't looking for romance when she stumbled across Gabriel Alia working in the restaurant her family had always visited. A few days later, she was madly in love
A family holiday for one singleton soon turned into a Mamma Mia love story when she fell for a Greek waiter who poured shots into her mouth.
Beth Winstone travelled to Zakynthos, Greece, in August 2023 with her mum and grandma. The three visited the traditional restaurant her family had gone to every summer without fail.
Although she was not looking for love after coming out of a 'bad' relationship, the 23-year-old met Gabriel Alia while he worked as a waiter at his uncle's restaurant. On the third night of their trip, Gabriel, 25, took her out for a drink, and Beth said she fell in love instantly.
The two met every day for the remainder of her holiday, and after she returned to the UK, it took her only two weeks before she didn't want to be apart any longer and flew back to see him. Gabriel asked Beth to be his girlfriend, and the two have been inseparable since.
Beth, from Birmingham, says she has found true love and that Greek men are 'different' to British men. Gabriel had danced with her and helped her 'out of her shell' following her breakup.
The content creator said: "In August 2023 my grandad died and my gran had already booked to go to Zante and I booked at the last minute, a month before we were meant to go. We went back to [a] restaurant [that the family liked to visit] and that's when we met.
"I was previously in a relationship, it ended and it mentally destroyed me, it was really bad. I had absolutely no expectations in my head, I didn't want to speak to anyone ever again and then that happened.
"When we were in the restaurant, I was just sat there oblivious because I wasn't looking for anything. He kept trying to speak to me and asked if I ever smiled because apparently I had a moody face.
"It just went from there, he took me out on the third night of the holiday for a drink. After that, we'd see each other every day of the holiday, in the night after he finished work. When I got back home, two weeks later I flew back out on my own for five days, because he was still working.
"I came home and two days later at 2am in the morning I bought tickets for a flight from Manchester to Zante at 6am. I surprised him, he didn't know I was going. The first time I went back after two weeks he asked me to be his girlfriend, but I was still a bit unsure because of the long distance. But I said yes, obviously."
She continued: "It's the way he was with me, he'd made me laugh and stuff and take me out, not what most men do nowadays, he wanted to get to know me and meet my family and stuff, they loved him. It was meant to be.
"Greek men are different from English men, let me tell you that. I definitely had a Mamma Mia story, that's what all my friends said. The relationship is getting better and better, we haven't been apart a day since we met. He is the love of my life."
After splitting their time between Zakynthos and Birmingham, the couple now live together in the UK, with Gabriel working for Beth's dad at his scaffolding business. Beth said: "I went back to Greece in October with my mum and nan, I quit my job as a waitress and then moved there for a whole week.
"Once summer season finished in Greece he flew back to England with me to meet my dad. We moved back to Greece in November, we got a house in Zante, and then after Christmas we decided to move back to the UK because it was really hard for me to find a job there in the winter.
"We tried both and we decided we like it here more. I moved over there just after two months of meeting him but I knew it was something, and it was.
"I absolutely didn't expect to be with a Greek man at all, I was just going on holiday with my mum and gran and my cousin, it all just happened so fast."
Beth explains she had been visiting Zante with family since 2012 and had met Gabriel before when she was younger, but had not recognised him. Beth posted her and Gabriel's story on social media, in a video that has gathered more than 500,000 views.
One commenter said: "Greek men are built different, you'll be together forever." Another said: "Marry him & move back to Greece." A third said: "I witnessed a true love story."
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