(CNN) --
The first time Krystina Burton saw Gabriel Solberg, she looked away in exasperation.
Burton, then a 30-year-old dancer living and working in Los Angeles, was waiting for a flight at New York's JFK airport after an audition in the city.
It was early in the morning.
The terminal was practically empty, so she had the entire row of seats free for her.
When a man dropped his suitcase on the floor and sat down next to her, Burton felt irritated.
It was Solberg, then 34, on his way back from visiting his family in Europe.
He was sleepy after an overnight layover at the airport and not paying much attention to his surroundings.
"This guy is not space conscious," Burton recalls thinking. The two strangers were sitting so close that Burton could see the plane's seat number on Solberg's ticket. He realized he would sit right next to him, and she groaned internally, not in the mood to spend six hours sitting next to someone who didn't understand the concept of personal space.
It was July 2018. Seen from the present, Solberg is quick to come to her defense and remembers things slightly differently.
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"That's their perspective," he told CNN Travel, laughing. "When I got to the terminal, it was packed, it was full of people, and I just sat in an empty seat.
I just sat there for five minutes."
Burton says Solberg sat out for a few minutes because he jumped the second the boarding was announced, confirming his suspicions about his arrogant nature.
"I knew that since we would be sitting next to each other, we would be in the same boarding group for sure. But he had already escaped and boarded the plane in the wrong group," Burton told CNN Travel.
Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg met in an airport terminal, a moment they recreated in this photograph.
(Credit: R335istance Photography/Tyler Petit Photography)
When Burton eventually boarded the Alaska Airlines flight and saw that Solberg was already in his seat, he quickly tried to put on his headphones to avoid any conversation.
"But I wasn't quick enough and he immediately started a conversation."
Solberg hadn't noticed Burton in the terminal, but he noticed her as soon as she boarded the plane, walking down the aisle and toward her row.
He says that he was shocked by her smile, and suddenly realized something.
"Hey, weren't you sitting next to me in the terminal?" he said, smiling.
"You sat next to me," Burton replied, smiling.
Burton's first impression of Solberg as arrogant and self-centered faded and they began to talk.
"I feel like the chat was immediate," recalls Burton. "As soon as I got on the plane and was getting to my seat, I felt like it changed, I wasn't irritated anymore."
Romance on the plane
Burton didn't have the best first impression of Solberg, but changed his mind once they started chatting.
(Credit: R335istance Photography/Tyler Petit Photography)
The captain announced that the flight was delayed and they probably wouldn't leave for a couple of hours.
Burton and Solberg were in the center and aisle seats.
The passenger at the window fell asleep almost immediately, so they soon felt they were alone.
While the plane was on the ground, Solberg and Burton chatted, flowing smoothly from everyday small talk to deeper topics.
"We talked about everything," recalls Solberg.
They remember arguing about their jobs, where they lived and why they were traveling to Los Angeles.
They also shared their love of travel.
Solberg is French-American and grew up in Germany, so she spent her entire life traveling.
Burton's employment as a dancer took her all over the world, from dancing stints on cruise ships to tours of the United States.
When the flight finally took off, Solberg and Burton felt as if they had known each other for years.
They watched a couple of movies back to back, but talked and laughed the whole way.
"I told him he had terrible taste in movies," says Solberg.
"We were trying to see 'Planet of the Apes,' which I think is a great movie," Burton said. "But he was like, 'This is the most ridiculous movie I've ever seen.'"
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Burton was charmed by Solberg's candor and sense of humor.
It was obvious that she was kind beyond jokes.
Throughout the six-hour flight, there was also room for more serious talk.
Burton and Solberg discussed spirituality and religion, and their respective views on life.
It was, Solberg says, "a really natural conversation."
When the flight landed, your seat neighbor woke up with a surprise.
"Obviously when we all boarded, no one knew each other. And then the guy slept through the entire flight. And at the end of the flight, we were basically sitting on top of each other and this guy wakes up at the end of the flight like, 'What's wrong? going on here?'" Solberg recalls, laughing.
The connection wasn't just clear to the man in the window seat.
It was also evident to Solberg and Burton.
Still, they were wary, each for different reasons.
Solberg had broken up with a longtime partner about five months ago.
He had spent the summer visiting his loved ones in Europe, and when he met Burton he was on his way to Seattle to visit his family.
A romance was the last thing on his mind.
"My stance on relationships was that they weren't for me. I was basically saying, 'I'm not looking, I'm not interested,'" she recalls.
Burton says he wasn't looking for anything either.
"I had never dated anyone," he says.
"I was fine living my single life with my best friend in Los Angeles."
Burton and Solberg's eight-hour plane "date" came as a surprise to both of them.
It was not, they say, an instant crush.
It just felt natural and easy to be in each other's company.
"It was more of a sense of calm, as if it made sense, something very different from what I had experienced in the past," says Solberg.
As the flight landed and the passengers disembarked at the Los Angeles airport, Solberg and Burton prepared to go their separate ways.
"I said, 'Hey, there's something going on here. So I'm coming back in a week and then we'll see what it's all about,'" Solberg recalls.
"Personally, I didn't think it was going to happen," says Burton.
"I knew we had some kind of connection because I could feel it, but I was like, 'Oh sure, are you going to come back to LA and hang out with me? That's not going to happen.' I wasn't convinced."
As Burton's car pulled up, Solberg gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye.
And though Burton thought he might not see Solberg again, he immediately texted his sister and her friends to let them know.
"This is a chance meeting," he remembers thinking.
"I knew he was going to come back," says Solberg.
He texted his brother as he walked away.
"I met the girl of my dreams," he wrote to her.
They fell in love on a Greyhound bus 35 years ago.
Since then they have not separated
Cabin in the woods
This is one of the first photos of Solberg and Burton together, on their trip back to California.
(Credit: Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg (Swirl Through The World)
A week passed and Solberg returned to Los Angeles.
In the intervening days, he called Burton to make plans.
"We spent like two or three hours on that call," he says.
Solberg remembers thinking about the strangeness of the situation: he had just gotten off the phone with someone who was still essentially a stranger, with the ease of someone he had known for years.
And now he was about to cross the country to visit her.
"It's very strange, it's like we've known each other forever," he recalls.
"I don't normally like to talk on the phone. But it was very comfortable," agrees Burton.
During the call, they pondered what they could do when Solberg was back in town.
Burton suggested dinner and a movie.
Solberg said they should do something more exciting, especially if he was flying across the country.
He suggested that they rent a cabin in Topanga Canyon, in the Santa Monica Mountains, California.
"I was like, 'Oh, this is nice. We can hang out here and it's not too far from the beach, and it's not too hard to get to Los Angeles.'"
Burton, for his part, says he wasn't sold on the idea of a "killer's cabin."
She was excited to see Solberg again, but her friends and family were genuinely concerned at the thought of her traveling to an isolated location with a man she had just met.
Before leaving, a friend gave him a set of brass knuckles to take with him, in case Solberg had bad intentions.
Although the accommodations were more rustic than Solberg had anticipated, the two had a great time in Topanga.
They easily picked up what they had started on the plane, enjoying walks along the shoreline, eating out and having deep conversations.
Burton and Solberg share their love of travel and adventure.
(Credit: Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg/ Swirl Through The World)
On the day Solberg was due to fly back to New York, the two went out to lunch and discussed where things would go from then on.
The prospect of parting again was hard to swallow.
"We both felt bad," recalls Solberg.
The two decided that instead of saying goodbye, Burton would fly Solberg to New York to continue the adventure there.
“There was an empty seat next to me, on a flight he had already booked, so he booked it and came with me to New York for a couple of weeks,” says Solberg.
In the midst of the excitement and romance, Burton completely forgot about the brass knuckles he was carrying in his bag.
"It all seemed like a real fairy tale, but as we all know, every story needs a bit of drama," he says now.
As he passed through airport security, his bag set off the alarm.
The TSA agent pulled out his brass knuckles and immediately pulled Burton aside.
"It was terrible and embarrassing. And I'm not, or wasn't, a very emotional person, and especially meeting him, I felt so embarrassed," says Burton.
They called the police and threatened Burton with a possible court appearance.
Solberg could see Burton walking away from him.
"I got her out of there, I got her to share her situation with me," she says now.
"I'm not going to let you shut yourself down," she remembers him telling her.
"That's not how it communicates, it doesn't work."
He encouraged Burton to be honest with him about how upset she was.
The situation was resolved, and Burton and Solberg were allowed to exit the security checkpoint, board her flight, and she never had to appear in court.
Two strangers met on a dance floor in New York 24 years ago.
This is what happened next
Burton says that even without this added tension, the whirlwind romance was both exciting and a bit overwhelming.
"I was very anxious because I am a very balanced person, I am very logical with my decisions and with everything I do, and this was very sporadic and out of the ordinary, so it gave me anxiety because I said to myself: 'Why am I doing this? I feel good, but I don't have a plan for this," he recalls.
As for Solberg, he admits that while he said his budding connection with Burton was only casual, his actions "didn't really reflect those words."
Burton says he was able to see through that facade.
"I said to myself, 'Okay, you flew to see me. Now we're both flying to New York. But it's nothing serious.' Okay, let's pretend," says Burton.
Still, Burton made it clear that her career as a dancer came first.
When her agent contacted her about an exciting audition opportunity, she cut the trip to New York short and flew back to Los Angeles early.
However, Burton and Solberg spoke of the flexibility his career gave him to live anywhere.
In the end, the two spent a couple of months flying back and forth to see each other before Burton decided to move Solberg to New York.
It was a big step, but Burton says it felt good.
He knew that she and Solberg were on the same page.
And her career remained a priority: Right after moving to New York, she went on tour for three months.
"The second time he came to Los Angeles, we were already talking about how we were going to raise our kids and things like that. But we both love to travel. So we knew traveling would be a big thing. And also because of my career, which is so changeable. So I think the constant was that we were going to be together and get married at some point," says Burton.
A photo shoot at the airport
The couple got engaged while vacationing in Italy in 2019.
(Credit: Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg/Swirl Through The World)
In October 2019, about a year after they met on the plane, Burton and Solberg got engaged while vacationing on the Italian coast.
Solberg almost forgot to take the ring with him, and Burton's mother had to meet him at the airport to sneak it in without Burton noticing.
The marriage proposal took place on a rooftop, with stunning views of the coast.
When the two decided to book an engagement photo shoot, the location was obvious: an airport.
More specifically, Terminal A of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a transportation hub with a large and historic terminal that became the perfect setting.
Their meeting was also reflected in the wedding invitations, which were designed to look like airline tickets.
Burton and Solberg planned a glamorous wedding in St. Lucia.
Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic paralyzed the plans, but in recent months both have returned to planning the wedding.
The preparations are complicated by the fact that Burton is currently working in Germany, starring in a production of "Aladdin."
Long distance isn't easy, Burton and Solberg say, but they both enjoy seeing the other thrive in their careers.
And they know they are on the same page about their long-term goals and ambitions.
"In the next few years, we want to travel a lot. And we'll see where her career takes her, because we can live in different countries, I would love to live in different cities," says Solberg.
"And then if we want to find the base city at some point, we do want to have a base of operations, we just don't know where it is."
"We really like being nomads," says Burton.
Burton and Solberg posed for engagement photos at Reagan Washington National Airport.
(Credit: R335istance Photography/Tyler Petit Photography)
Although Burton and Solberg say their relationship started off relatively easily, that doesn't mean it's always easy.
They have a lot in common, but they are also different personalities: Burton says that she is more logical, while Solberg is driven by emotion.
They also have different origins: Solberg grew up in Europe, while Burton grew up in the United States.
Solberg comes from an Orthodox Jewish background and Burton is Catholic.
And Burton is black and Solberg is white.
From the beginning, the couple says they have had candid conversations about their interracial relationship.
"We've had incidents where I've seen them as a white person, and she's seen them as a black person, and I have to understand what she's going through," says Solberg.
"I wish I could say I can get that without having to have the conversation, but it wasn't there. So there's been a lot of conversation around that, which has been good."
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"I think it was just initially challenging, because I always say you don't know what you don't know; if it's not your experience, you're not aware of these things," says Burton.
"And I feel like it's more in your face...because if something happens to me, we're together all the time. So there's a difference between seeing what's happening in real time and hearing it or reading it. It's not the same feeling because... .you're too far removed from it."
Solberg and Burton share their travel adventures on their Instagram account @swirlthroughtheworld.
They also have a YouTube channel and blog, where they candidly talk about how they met and how they navigate the world together.
a solid foundation
Burton and Solberg, pictured in Greece, can't wait for future adventures together.
(Credit: Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg - Swirl Through The World)
Solberg and Burton believe that the openness and communication in the relationship stem from the fact that they were both happy with who they were when they met by chance.
"It's like the cliché: stop looking, stop trying to be someone you're not, just be okay with yourself, find yourself first," says Solberg.
"I said to myself, 'I'm happy. I like what I'm doing. I'm living my dream.' And I think that's what allowed me to be open," says Burton.
"People are going to make faces for that," he adds with a laugh.
"But that's what happened."
And for Burton and Solberg, an extended first date on the plane from New York to Los Angeles was the perfect stepping stone to where they are today.
"Because of the foundation that we laid on the plane, talking about so many things, and especially all the things that we talked about at the beginning, I think that's what paved the way or laid the foundation for what the expectations are, or what we are as people and how we match that," says Burton.