A foreign groom. A whirlwind love affair in a far off country. A young bride so in love. Sounds like a recipe for your standard romance flick, right? The problem is that the real world is no movie set and some decisions are harder to unmake than others.
The story of Cumbrian newlywed Amy Robson can be a sweet one or a kind of scary one depending on how you frame it. According to the Daily Mail, the 18-year-old bride ran away to Egypt to meet up with a married boatman she’d met on a family holiday a year prior. When he stood her up, she attached herself to an unmarried Internet cafe manager named Noby. She can’t speak Arabic, and he can only speak a tiny bit of English, but that didn’t put a damper on their infatuation.
It still sounds pretty exciting! They’d planned to marry quickly, but Amy’s parents tricked her into coming home to England. That couldn’t stop her, though… She used the meager pocket money she was given to buy a plane ticket back to Egypt. Noby had moved on, but she tracked him down, and their love had transcended the absence they’d both endured. The two lovebirds tied the knot lickety-split, over what I imagine were Amy’s parents’ objections.
But here’s where this love story dips into darker territory: Noby took Amy’s passport from her. He also doesn’t want her to work, which means that she will have to spend her days indoors with other married women. She can’t even walk around without Noby at her side because it’s considered improper and she attracts a lot of attention with her fair skin and blond hair.
I’m not one to poo-poo anyone’s choices…after all, it’s Amy’s life to do with what she pleases. But what sane woman gives up her passport?