Hinge couple stuck in Costa Rica after going for third date

Pair have been in Central America for 67 days

Hinge couple stuck in Costa Rica after travelling to Central America on third date (YouTube)

A couple that met on a dating app has been stuck in Costa Rica for more than two months after travelling to the country on their third date.

Matt Robertson, 31, and Khani Le, 29, from New York City, met on Hinge in early March. After their second date, during which they both joked about needing a vacation, they decided to book a trip to Central America.

“We were just joking about how we both needed a vacation. 'Let's go someplace warm. Let's get away,' stuff like that, but very much kidding around," Robertson told People. "Then it turned real because neither one of us backed down. I'm always testing people, and when she wasn't backing down, I thought: 'All right, I'll keep going.'"

At the time, the flights were cheaper than normal as coronavirus spread across other parts of the country, but according to Robertson, it was not yet “that crazy” in the US.

"This was at the time when it wasn't that crazy. I remember you kind of heard about it in China and we were just starting to hear about it here," Robertson said. "Trump was still saying: 'It's not that big of a deal. It's the flu,' or whatever."

According to the couple, their first few days on vacation involved fun activities such as zip-lining, but they realised soon after they arrived that their hotel was becoming increasingly empty.

On day four of what was supposed to be a five-day vacation, the US announced the level-four travel advisory, which is when Robertson said “everything started to really shift”.

The next morning, the pair’s flight home was cancelled. Since then, all of the subsequent flights they have tried to book have been cancelled as well, with the couple now stranded in Costa Rica for more than 60 days.

According to Robertson and Le, they have been staying in hotels and Airbnbs, but worry about what will happen when they can no longer afford it.

However, the couple told the outlet they have enjoyed the time they’ve spent together on what would have been their third date.

“I don't think we really had expectations about what it would be like," Le said, adding that she and Robertson are similar because they both “kind of go with the flow”.

“I feel that we have a pretty similar approach to dating. We weren't looking for anything serious, to have a good time, and we were both pretty independent,” she said. "So we've had a good balance of having your own space and then coming together, doing activities, stuff like that.

“But so far, I'm very much going with the flow, and so far, the flow's been good."

To mark their time on vacation together, the couple has plans to get matching tattoos of the Costa Rican expression Pura Vida, which means “simple life”.