Just graduated and on holiday in Malta with a friend. On May 23, 1999, Natasja Maas (24) from Oosterhout met Kevin Zarb Cousin, five years his senior, on the holiday island. He is having a drink in the Bamboo bar with a Dutch friend. To this day they are still together.
“My girlfriend lived in England at the time. We wanted to go on holiday. We grabbed the map and it became Malta. In the first pub we were approached by Kevin and then we started talking”, Natasja says about her first meeting with Kevin. “I wasn’t looking at all, but I did fall in love.”
“I wasn’t looking at all, but I did fall in love.”
After the Bamboo bar, the Footloose and the Havanna bar followed that evening. There the spark between Natasja and Kevin finally flew. “My girlfriend went back to England after a week. I stayed an extra week in Malta. That week I mainly spent time with Kevin. The fire of love was already burning then and still is.”
At that time, the opportunities to get in touch with each other were endless. “I was still a student and had to go to the school library to check my mail. Kevin had to go to an internet cafe in Malta. We had to make a lot of effort in the beginning to keep in touch.”
“Half a year turned into nine years”
After traveling back and forth for six months, Natasja decided in November 1999 to go to Malta for a longer period. “I had bought an open plane ticket. As a result, I could return to the Netherlands within six months. I would see where the ship would strand. Some thought: it is a holiday love, that will pass. But my girlfriend from England had seen that there was a good click. The six months turned into nine years.”
Natasja soon found work in the tourism industry and Kevin already worked as a restaurant manager at a star hotel.
Natasha’s parents had some reservations in the beginning. “Logically, they saw their daughter move to Malta after six months. But I was 24 and they couldn’t stop me either. They also knew that I could possibly be back soon. They have been to Malta many times to My parents even went to English classes to communicate well with Kevin and his family.”
“After the birth of our daughter, I got homesick for the Netherlands.”
Natasja and Kevin got married in 2004 and daughter Emma was born shortly after. “After she was born, I started to miss the Netherlands. Family, friends, but the possibilities you can offer your children in the Netherlands. We talked a lot about that together. That was quite difficult for Kevin. At a certain point we hit the button cut through.”
In 2008 Malta was exchanged for Oosterhout. Kevin initially worked as a car cleaner, parcel deliverer and in a restaurant. He is now the manager of a catering business. Their children Emma and Jayden are now seventeen and fourteen.
Sun, sea, beach and party. The perfect backdrop for a holiday romance. Do you have a special love story? Let us know!