Outsite's First Member Marriage | Interview with Andra and Alex

Meet Andra and Alex: tech entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and the first Outsite Member couple to get married. In this interview, they share how a chance meeting at the Pacific Heights House in San Francisco became a date that never ended, where they are now, and what advice they have for fellow nomads looking for love.
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Tell us a bit about yourselves.

Andra: I've lived all over! I was born in Romania, my family immigrated to Toronto when I was 5. Toronto was where I grew up, studied, and got my first job. In my early 20s, I took a 6-month backpacking trip which ended with me living in Australia for 6 years. Towards the end of 2019, I started working for myself in client services which meant I could work remotely, so I sold my things in Australia to hit the road. My first stop? San Francisco.

Alex: I was born in Buffalo, NY, and ran my business out of my bedroom for 10 years before getting a 1-way ticket to SF to surround myself with more of the tech scene. While I lived in Buffalo, I was running a remote business and essentially a digital nomad. I just didn't travel outside of New York very much. Up until just before COVID.

So, how did you meet?

Andra: So I had gone on a date, and it was such a bad date that I ended it early. I saged myself in the backyard and then sat down on the couch, put my hair up, and was like, Well, I tried dating in SF, that was horrible. I was waiting for my third roommate to move in, and I was nervous thinking, who else am I going to live with? And I see this guy walking in…

Alex: So the guy that introduced me to Outsite, Evan was moving to the other house and he had five suitcases to move so I offered to help him. We get there and he walks into the living room and Andra is sitting on the couch. She asks, ‘are you Matt, the new roommate?’ and he says no. Then I walked in behind him and she asks ‘well, are you Matt?!’ And I was like ‘I could be!’  

So we all just talked as a group for an hour or so. And then it was just Andra and I talking about our background, what we do for work. And we just kept talking and talking and talking till five in the morning. 

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Where did things go from there?

Andra: I woke up late the next day and picked up my phone and there was a text from him saying something like ‘so much fun, we need to get coffee ASAP’. So we met for coffee, and he bought my coffee. And at that point, I was like, oh is he interested in me?!

Alex: In my mind, it was kind of businessy! I thought ‘she has a laptop, I have a laptop’. But the wifi sucked so we came back to the house and were planning on working. That’s the interesting thing about Outsite - we could say, let’s go to my place and it wasn’t weird or awkward.

Andra: We were connecting on a bunch of stuff and we were talking about dating people you work with and he said ‘hmm, well, I don't know if I want to date you or I want to work with you! I said, ‘why not both? And then he kissed me!

Alex: There was no hiding anything because it wasn't like hey, we're going on a date. It was very much like, here's my history, what I've looked into where I struggled. It felt like a real person. From then we started hanging out every day.

Andra: We moved in here, it just made sense because I was sharing a room with two people I had just recently met. I thought, well at least I have a crush on this one! And everyone was so welcoming. It was really nice to be in a transient home in a new relationship because there was no baggage.

Andra: And then COVID hit. Our roommates were dropping like flies going back to their home countries. And seeing the borders closed in Australia, then Spain, then Canada. And I said to Alex, I have to go home.

Alex: I'm just like, wait what? I've been living in Buffalo my entire life and I finally got out to SF. I'm building relationships, friendships, growing business-wise. It was the most growth I've ever had in my entire life and there's this girl that I'm growing with.

Andra: So he said ‘Well what if I came with you? I remember thinking oh, my god, this is huge but there was just something inside of me. So I texted my parents and the next day we were in Toronto. We lived with my parents for 16 months, during COVID. We were together 24/7.

Alex: So there was a lot of talking. Our relationship was built on communication. If anything came up, we just talked it through. The difficulty we got into was, if I went over to the US, they would not let me back to Canada, and she would not be able to come over to the US. So we're in this weird boat where I really couldn't leave. We eventually bit the bullet and she booked a flight for $1,000 to fly from Toronto to Chicago to Buffalo.

Andra: It was worth it, because in the end, I got to finally meet his family in Buffalo, and we got to live with his brother for a bit. And we convinced his brother to come with us to Outsite!

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Where are you now and what’s next for you both?

Andra: We left Buffalo in September, and we had initially booked Outsite Austin. But COVID was bad at that time. So we thought why don't we just go back to SF in the original house. So the three of us came out together, and we've been here ever since. His brother is here and he’s continuing his stay. He loves Outsite.

Alex: Yeah, we’ve met so many incredible people through this company. We’re planning on spending the year hopping around two different Outsites. It’s a great way to get the built-in community, and travel as a couple. It’s great value as a couple.

What advice would you give fellow nomads looking for love?

Have an open mind. Be yourself. Don’t have any expectations. The beauty of this environment is that you just get to know someone over the kitchen table or on the couch in the living room. There’s no pressure, so lean into that. Let people get to know you. 

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Hear more from Andra and Alex in their new mini-series, A-Team. Book your next stay with us in San Francisco and see who you meet.

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