‘I Came So Hard In The Taxi’: 8 R29 Readers Share Their Wildest Holiday Hookup

Summer flings have long provided source material for our favourite rom-coms and beach reads, but what happens when you find yourself starring in your very own holiday romance? For single folk, holidays are coated with an additional layer of mystery and allure. Who will you meet? An international jetsetter? A bubbly, kind-hearted local? The meet-cute opportunities are endless.

Several Refinery29 Australia readers have written in to share their very own tantalising holiday flings. These hookups come in all forms — some romantic, some sexy, some sweet, some sad. Read on for eight real stories.

We met on a plane, somewhere between Dubai and Melbourne. We were sitting next to each other and I didn’t even look at him until a few hours in. Our arms were touching as we were both resting them on the armrest between us, but something felt different.

Then the lights in the cabin went down. I put my hands on my knees and so did he. I still hadn’t looked at him. Then our pinky fingers touched. Maybe it was an accident?! But then our hands moved together and our fingers linked! We were holding hands! It was electric! I couldn’t believe it. Still no eye contact. Then we got the fleece blanket and pulled it over us. I rested my head on his shoulder. The flight attendant walked past and offered us water. We both went to grab the bottle and that’s when I looked at him. Cute! Phew. The flight attendant walked away down the aisle and we turned to each other and made out! What the hell was happening? Then he said,
"maybe we shouldn’t do that here 'cos that’s my mum and sister" gesturing next to him! Jeeezus!

"Do you wanna go for a walk?" he said. "Sure!" I replied. We made our way to the back of the plane. Do you think we joined the mile high club? Sorry to disappoint but we didn’t. We just made out like sickos in the stairwell where the flight attendants go to rest. Then we had hours more to kill so we went back to our seats and watched some movies. We swapped numbers back in Melbourne and met up, just once. It fizzled out, but boy, was it crazy fun in the air.

I live in a popular holiday destination and in the summer of 2012, a boy a year older me was staying at his grandma's place near me, just for the season. After some awkward run-ins at the shops and a quiet beach in between our houses, we started talking and struck up a bit of a romance. We became attached at the hip for a while and ended up losing our virginity to each other. I was heartbroken that he had to leave the state, but it was definitely a fling I'll never forget and I'm glad that the memory isn't tainted by a messy breakup. Hope he feels the same!

When I was on holidays in Sydney before Christmas, I jumped on Hinge as I was in the mood to meet new people (no strings attached). I matched with a guy who I really clicked with, but we didn’t get to meet because COVID cases were rising quickly at this point. Jump forward three weeks (I’m back in Melbourne) and we start talking again. We chat non-stop for a while, then next minute, I’m booking a flight for literally the next day to spend the weekend with him. It was wild. I’d never done something as spontaneous as this before.

He instantly brought me into his world and I met his friends, mum and he took me around the city like we’d been dating for years. It was like I'd rented a boyfriend for the weekend — we cooked dinners, picked out his new bedsheets, ate breakfast in bed, and constantly told each other how much we adored one another. I didn’t really want to accept that I had a life outside of this, but realistically… how the fuck was this going to work?

To this day we still talk and I visited him again in Sydney a few weeks after that. Who knows what is in the future for us, but at least I know I’ll always have a date when I go to Sydney.

I was on a summer youth program overseas when I was 16, and met this kid from Sydney (I’m from Melbourne). We hung out the entire time and would sneak out of our rooms, and talk until sunrise every night. We fell in love. At the end of the trip he went back home to Sydney and I went back to Melbourne. Four years later while in Sydney on a road trip with a friend, I ran into him at Bondi Beach. We sat in a park and talked all night. We've been dating since then and he’s also moved to Melbourne.

I was in London to meet my best friend M, and he took me out to Heaven (possibly the best gay nightclub in London, if not the world!). At the time, I hadn't really come out, but I had kissed a few girls (and liked it). We had the best time dancing with lots of incredible people, and it ended up being pretty late. M was chatting up this cute South African guy, who had a friend with him. I ended up dancing with her because our two friends were hooking up, but I didn't feel any particular attraction towards her. M said he was inviting them over back to his for a breakfast drink (it was 5am) so we all tumbled into a cab.

She sat next to me, and while we were chatting, she started feeling me up, at first over my clothes, but then gradually her fingers found their way under my skirt. I was mortified at first because M and his guy were right in front of us, but they were too busy making out to notice, and I was too drunk to care. I came so hard in the taxi. We went back to M's, where we skipped drinks and she went down on me. I didn't come this time but it was beautiful. It turns out that she was flying back to South Africa the next day, but we did keep in touch for a while.

I met a great love while staying at a hostel in Los Angeles. I was sitting on the couch when all of a sudden a large group of boys stumbled in, all in high school gear. I was annoyed 'cause they disrupted my reading. However, with them was two coaches and Christian caught my eye. We both stared at each other, and while his team checked in, he started up a conversation with me. We exchanged Facebook details straight away and continued to talk while we went to our respective hostel rooms. The next day I went to Universal Studios while he took his high school wrestling team to their tournament. I was supposed to be spending the day with one of my closest friends but, I kid you not, I could not stop texting this man that I met the night before.

Later that night back at the hostel we all met up and Christian and I stayed behind on the roof 'til the early hours of the morning. We talked about everything and anything, bonding over our shared love of punk music, food, and our dreams. He tried to convince me to change my flight to see him before I left my trip and I wish I did. Kissing him for the first time felt like all was right in the world, we had this instant connection from the moment our eyes locked the day before and it was all real. The next day he gave me his sweatshirt to keep before we parted ways. We continued to talk and make plans about me coming to visit for months afterwards, continuing to chat about our dreams and hopes.

Christian, unfortunately, passed away in a swimming accident in June of 2018, six months after we met. Losing him broke me because I truly believe we were meant to be and were on our path back to each other. I miss him every single day and often hear his voice reminding me that home is where we feel most comfortable shitting. Since he passed, I connected with his younger sister and we’ve become very close, both using each other as a way to connect with him now that he’s gone. I’m sorry this is not the most fun story but it’s the most real.

I went on a trip to Bali with a group of six or seven friends, and it was super quiet because a volcano had just erupted and no flights could get in (our flight was basically the last arrival from Australia). On our first night out, I met a guy from London who was insanely lovely and so funny. We hit it off and he came back to our villa that night — he drove his moped behind our taxi because my friends wouldn’t let me ride on the moped, bless them. The next night, I dragged a friend 45 mins away to a club he was at just to see him, and again, he came back to our villa. The day after that, his friends and my friends all went to Potato Head beach club together, and I was literally obsessed with him. Day after that, I got Bali Belly so didn’t get to see him, and then he left Bali the day after that. We spoke for a few days after parting ways, but it was silly to chat since I knew I’d never see him again! My friends and I still bring him up all the time — he was a bloody angel!

I live in Victoria and I met him on holiday in South Australia. We hooked up in a one-man swag, and I thought I'd never see him again. We ended up chatting so I went to visit him in Queensland. I'm moving to Western Australia and he said he'd come visit lol. He's basically my interstate/travel hookup buddy now.