The Holiday tells the stories of two women who cross paths on a house-swap website. Photo / Columbia Pictures
OPINION:
A few weeks ago I sent a message to a random woman in New York City, asking if she wanted to swap lives with me. Homes, friends, dates – everything. Within hours, she said yes.
If this sounds familiar, it's because that classic Christmas film The Holiday follows a nearly identical plotline.
It's been 15 years since the rom-com came out, and I've probably seen it a dozen times. The story follows Kate Winslet's Iris from England and Cameron Diaz's Amanda from the US as, both freshly heartbroken, they find each other on the HomeExchange website and agree to swap places and escape their respective realities for Christmas.
Like Iris, I am a journalist at The Telegraph, single in the lead-up to the festive season and, before last week, seriously lacking some spontaneity in my life. Oh, and like Iris, I'm still hung up on someone who it will probably never work out with. Someone who texts me and my heart thuds a little louder. Someone who makes promises that never materialise. Apparently, the answer for getting over this is a new continent. It certainly worked for Iris.
I'll admit my Tooting abode doesn't quite offer the same charm as the snowy Surrey cottage that stars on screen, but somehow I convinced consultant Camille Wyand from Ohio that it was a good swap for her one-bedroom apartment in the West Village.
Camille came into my life by way of dating app Thursday, which has users in London and New York, and this year partnered with the HomeExchange website used in the film to create a community of house swaps exclusively for singles in the two cities. I trawled for hours, but kept coming back to Camille's ad. I knew if I was going to do this, it had to be with a kindred spirit. Plus, what can I say – the blonde bob in her profile pic reminded me of Cameron Diaz.
Within 48 hours our flights were locked in. Both Camille and I would have five nights in the opposite's city, bookended with a night together at either end.
However when I asked Camille if she had any eligible single male friends, her answer was a flat-out no. My answer was the same. Maybe that explains why we were both so eager to do this …
So we decided to use the Thursday app that had brought us together to try to find our own Jude Law or Jack Black (the romantic interests in The Holiday). The fact the app only works one day a week (yes, Thursdays) for those looking to go on a date that very evening, was the perfect fit for our spontaneous holiday.
First things first, the two of us needed to meet and swap keys in south London.
When I opened the door it was the first time I had seen Camille in person, but I already felt a sense of familiarity. That click-clack of puzzle pieces fitting together, after seeing a best friend you've missed for far too long. Maybe because we had both agreed to do this crazy thing, I felt like we had already shared so much. That evening I took Camille to Tooting Market for pizza and wine, and the conversation had the energy of a pinball shooting from one end to the other. We had a whole life to catch up on, after all.
The main topic, however, was dating. What it's like to be single in a big city. Differences between American and English men. Commitment red flags. And anecdotes from our own dating lives: the film director who took her to the Hamptons. The next-door-neighbour date who I still bump into. Her best friend she had an ongoing fling with. My French flame that got away. There were common themes in both of our tales of woe, and love lessons we had failed to learn.
The next morning as I joined the check-in queue at Heathrow, I chatted with two midlife women from Hertfordshire and told them about the adventure that awaited me. They couldn't believe what I was doing. Neither, in many ways, could I.
As the conversation developed, Nadia confided that she was newly single again, and solo travel hadn't crossed her mind. I suggested that if ever there was a time, now was it. A few days later, she found me on Instagram to say, "We met at the airport and I was totally inspired by your go-get attitude. Starting to feel like I have been given a get-out-of-jail-free card. Definitely an opportunity to live life. Not wait around. This trip is the start of many."
Inside, however, I wasn't as confident as my facade suggested, and as the plane came in to land over New York City, and tiny yellow school buses and postage stamp baseball fields came into focus, I began to feel the tingle of butterflies somersaulting in my stomach. What on earth had I signed myself up for?
It was a Thursday when I landed, so I quickly switched on my app and hoped for the best before hailing a cab to Camille's apartment in the West Village. I am used to staying in the anonymity of hotels when I travel, and walking directly into someone else's life felt very strange, with an uncanny intimacy about it. By the books on Camille's shelves, and the coats in her closet, I felt like I suddenly knew even more about my new friend. Her copy of my favourite anthology of Rupi Kaur's poetry, and a similar Diptyque candle to one of my own caused me to smile at the serendipity of it all.
Later that night I had a date with Wade who offered the perfect introduction to my new block with Old Fashioneds at Wilfie and Nell, Bleecker Street Pizza by the slice and Broadway show tunes at Marie's Crisis Cafe – a piano dive bar where you never know who will burst into song next. The Thursday founders had helped set us up a few days before I arrived, as I was nervous about not knowing anyone in the city – I need not have been, within an hour of landing I had more than a dozen matches on the app. Wade was outgoing, entertaining and above all, kind, but like many of the dates I've been on in London over the past couple years, I left feeling like I'd started a new friendship, rather than a relationship. Why had I thought New York would be any different?
The following night, I met Evan Word. We had matched on the Thursday app, and broke its rules to meet on a Friday after he asked if my ex had just got engaged. I double took, before realising he was referring to Kate Winslet's character and the slimy Jasper, her colleague at The Telegraph. Full marks for creativity!
We began on the rooftop of the Brass Monkey bar in the Meatpacking District, and the fizzle and sizzle of mutual attraction was instantly there. But it was as the minutes ticked on that I really felt the flutters of first date intrigue. An LA native, Evan had moved to New York just this year. An accountant by trade, he really piqued my interest when he talked about his stand-up comedy work, his screenplay for a coming-of-age kickball movie, and his regular volleyball crew who meet by the Brooklyn Bridge.
Neither of us wanted the evening to end, so we went dancing in Greenwich Village. Being far away from home seemed to set me free from the shackles of overanalysis about who this man could be in my life. Not to mention the fact there was no time for playing games. So boldly, I asked him if he wanted to see me again the next day. He said yes. I quickly cancelled the other dates I had lined up that weekend.
Cue an intentionally romantic walk through Union Square and past The Whitney to the green space Little Island. As it poured sideways rain and our umbrellas turned upside down, I suggested we dip into a bar. But no: we pressed on. Around 11pm, as we walked hand in hand down the West Side Highway, the rain finally cleared and the city lights of Jersey glinted across the water. A different kind of butterflies flitted in my stomach this time, the kind where you can't stop smiling as you look at the man in front of you, hoping you will see each other again.
On our final date we sat in Washington Square Park, Murray's bagels in hand. A saxophone player filled the crisp air with jazzy notes, a Christmas tree sparkled in the unseasonable sunshine, and an artist displayed his colourful wares. Over the past 24 hours, we had both shared more about our romantic histories and how this was the first time in a long while we had connected so much with someone from an app. Evan said, "Of course you live in London, there has to be something. Everything else is perfect." When the time came, we both told each other that this was not goodbye.
Soon Camille was back from London, and we settled into a booth at the scene-y American Bar supping dirty martinis and discussing dates.
The Holiday starts with a monologue from Kate Winslet, where she talks about love and it's "sheer power to alter and define our lives". She talks of faded love, and love lost, and her own unrequited love – but she misses a vital type: the love that two women spinning on different but parallel life paths around the globe can share.
That's the love I found on this trip, and it's better than I could have expected. As for the romantic kind, we'll see. Did I mention Evan is looking at flights to London for January?
I was really flattered by all the messages I received from men asking me out as soon as I landed in London, but there was one in particular, Paddy James, who caught my eye with his witty line about wanting to be my Jude Law.
We met for the first time at Mr. White's in Leicester Square – on a Thursday, of course. I was so nervous: despite our chemistry over text, would there be any in real life? I realised very quickly I had nothing to be worried about. We bonded over our love for travel, our shared experiences working in consulting, and the wild circumstances that brought us together. In fact, I'd say it was one of the best first dates I've had.
We continued to hang out over the weekend and two guys I know from NYC who were also visiting London came with me to a party and met Paddy – they quickly approved!
That Sunday, we decided to take the train to Surrey for a date at The White Horse, a pub where a scene with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law from The Holiday was filmed. We laughed, shared more about our lives, and talked about how sad we both were that I was leaving the next morning (and even talked about plans for Paddy to visit me in NYC).
I had very little expectations going into this trip, thinking I would just leave London with some funny dating stories, but I ended up meeting Paddy, and had the best weekend with him.
Back in New York City, I filled Lizzie in on all the details, and she hers. I knew that no matter what happens with Paddy, I had made a new friend. We're already planning a trip to the Hamptons next year. - Camille Wyand
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