She arranged a date with a guy she met on a plane. When he didn't show, she unexpectedly met her future husband

Cristina Farina was disappointed when she was stood up in London, but then she got chatting with stranger Matt Reinecke, changing the course of their lives forever.

When the guy she’d met on the plane asked her out, Cristina Farina said yes without hesitation.

Cristina had spent much of the flight to London from her Italian hometown Florence deep in conversation with this stranger. He seemed friendly, interesting, interested.

“Why don’t we meet tomorrow, go have a coffee, spend some time together?” he suggested. “Let’s meet at 11 on Trafalgar Square.”

Upon landing at Heathrow Airport, Cristina and her plane crush went their separate ways, vowing to meet the next day. It was August 26, 1984. They didn’t swap addresses or contact numbers. Texting wasn’t an option. They just had to hope they’d both keep their promise and be there the following day.

Cristina grabbed her bag from the luggage carousel and headed into central London, feeling invigorated and excited. She was 18 years old, set to spend three months in the U.K. studying English. It was Cristina’s first significant period away from home. Possibility stretched out before her.

“I loved London,” Cristina tells CNN Travel today. “It gave me a lot of energy. I felt free to do what I wanted.”

The next day, shortly before 11 a.m., Cristina climbed the steps out of Charing Cross tube station and arrived in Trafalgar Square – an open, pedestrianized spot home to fountains, the U.K.’s National Gallery and the imposing Nelson’s Column, guarded by four large bronze lions.