Recently getting to spend time with Tayana Yarkaya and Bet while on the Somewear Elsewhere influencer trip, little snippets of their relationship past had me intrigued into discovering their whole story. From changing flight plans six days into the relationship to deciding to move in together after 12 days, Tayana and Bet’s love story isn’t your typical boy meets girl and then waits 2 years to take it to the next step type of story.

Originally from the Russian Republic, meeting in Thailand, and now living in Bali – we pull the two aside to find out a little more about their relationship journey.

How did you first meet?
Tayana: He commented on one of my Instagram Stories and we started up a conversation in Direct Messages. After that I gave him my phone number and we started writing to each other in Whatsapp. From there, we started talking about everything – he told me that he’s a vegan and I saw that we have a lot in common. He lived in Pengang, Thailand and I lived in Phuket – which are about 12 hours apart. After six days of our conversations in WhatsApp, he changed his tickets to come to Phuket.
Bet: I had tickets to go to Bali but I wanted to meet with Tayana, so I changed my ticket. We met in real life on March 17 and had been messaging in WhatsApp since the 12th of March.
Tayana: I actually had a boyfriend at the time, but we were almost broken up. So Bet came to Phuket and we had some of the most amazing days there – we spent six days together. After just six days of conversation in Whatsapp and then six days in real life – Bet offered for me to come with him to Bali. So that’s how I moved to Bali and started to live here with him. I’d had other plans! I wanted to make a visa for 3 months and stay in Phuket for a longer time – but after just 12 days from our meeting, I decided to go to Bali with him and live there in the one villa.

What was it about those first six days in Thailand that made you want to be together?
Tayana: On the first day he arrived at my home and then we rented a motorbike to go around the island all day long. I came back home around 11pm and we’d met around midday!
Bet: We then slept for five hours and then met again early the next morning around 5am to begin our day again until 11 pm. And then the next day the same – five hours sleeping and then I came back!
Tayana: All six days we spent our time together from early morning until night. We just went to the beaches and walked around.
Bet: We were only friends though. No touching!
Tayana: We talked a lot about life and the future…
Bet: And relationships and the world and what we think about Russia and Bali and living in Bali…
Tayana: We talked about our plans, we built our plans.

What do you think it was that made you both connect so strongly so quickly?
Bet: Our first main connection was that we both live the vegan lifestyle.
Tayana: That was the first thing, and then after that – it was because he is a real man. He cares about me all the time. I feel safe with him and I believe in him. I know that he can do great things. And he helps me a lot. If I need something, he’ll help me – and I really appreciate it.

I feel like you two have a similar ethos on life…
Tayana: In our vegan lifestyle and blogging, we do. We want to start to make different channels about our lifestyles living in Bali and nutrition.
Bet: But our age is not similar!
Tayana: He is now 34 and I’m 21.
Bet: She might be young in age, but she’s also very smart. Her mind is much older. She reads many books. And she is very beautiful!

Do you often tell each other that you love each other?
Tayana: Every day. He told me he loved me first! He told me he loved me in his own native language, not in Russian – he’s from Tatar, a small republic that is included in Russia but they have their own language. He told me the words in his own language but I understood what he’d said because of his eyes – they told me! It was after about 2 months. But when I really realised he loved me – it was maybe 3 or 4 months together.

When you first met, did you realise the relationship was going to be special?
Tayana: When I ended my last relationship with my ex-boyfriend, I told Bet that I want to feel safe in the relationship. I didn’t want to change boyfriends all the time – it’s not for me. I wanted something serious and to get married in the future.
Bet: We talked about this before we started the relationship.
Tayana: We had a conversation about our future while we were still in Phuket, how we see our future.

What was it like moving to Bali together?
Tayana: We first started living together in Ubud – we moved into this amazing private villa just for the two of us. It was my first time in Bali and it was so calm. We visited a lot of amazing places together. Living together was so strange for me to start with. I didn’t know him well, but we started to know about each other more.

Do you think you’ll stay in Bali for a while now?
Tayana: We are planning to live here for a while, but we don’t know for how long because it’s life and we don’t know what we’re going to do in the future. But for now, we want to stay and live here. We love Bali and this lifestyle, this atmosphere. We want to travel to other countries and then come back to Bali because we feel like it’s home here. I want to go to Australia and California and then decide where I want to live, but with Bali – I’m sure that we will come back all the time, even if we decide not to live here. I have really fallen in love with this place. I knew that before I came to Bali, it was my place. It was exactly my place. I was already feeling it, and then when I arrived here – my expectations were met.

Do you think you are living the dream life?
Bet: I’m grateful for what we have today but I have plans for the future – for growing – but we are grateful for everything that is happening now.
Tayana: I think that everyone should be grateful for every day – for every opportunity. I’m so grateful that I am here.

Are there any hardships that come with the relationship?
Tayana: We do have quarrels, but then afterwards, when we make peace – we feel so close to each other. Sometimes a quarrel is good for a relationship.
Bet: It’s needed for a refresher. Sometimes I forget that I have a beautiful girlfriend…
Tayana: We forget our advantages and concentrate on our disadvantages. When we discuss our problems, it’s much better.
Bet: Sometimes books are helpful too…
Tayana: We’ve been reading ‘The Five Love Languages’. We all have different languages of love. For me, it’s time for caring, and for him – it’s to be grateful and for me to support him. When he works all day long, I feel so upset – I need his time! I think the most important part of a relationship is time together.

Do you think you will be together forever?
Bet: Yes.
Tayana: Yes, but you know it’s life – anything can happen… we’ll see!

All images: Tayana Yarkaya and Better Bet Now

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