A husband and wife who love to travel and who took a yearlong honeymoon across the world to talk to other couples about their experiences with love have reported seeing “the same spark” in all of the cultures they visited.
Davor Rostuhar, a photographer and writer at age 40, and his director wife, Andela, at 36, travelled the world for a year, visiting 30 countries and meeting other married couples from different walks of life.
Andela and Davor met in Antarctica, where Davor, a native of Zagreb, Croatia, proposed to her.
Davor’s earlier project, The Polar Dream, is where the two of them first crossed paths. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
Davor added, “After travelling to roughly five or six countries, we immediately discovered that love is ultimately the same all over the world,” referring to the couple’s year-long love tour that took place in 2019 and 2020 but will be released as a film this month.
Nonverbal cues reveal that lovers share the same chemistry despite cultural or historical variations.
An endearing duo we met in Namibia’s Kalahari Desert was a Bushman and his wife. As storytellers, they were superb, and their tale was refreshingly straightforward and uncomplicated.
Davor and Andrela interviewed married couples from all around the world. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
They have nothing but the clothing they’re wearing, and they’re the most modest individuals I’ve ever met,” he continued. They were stunning, and their love for each other shone brightly.
Their personal love story began when Davor and Andela met in 2014 while filming Davor’s previous movie, The Polar Dream, which chronicled his 47-day solo walk from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole.
Davor and his team reached Antarctica in 2017; before going out on their adventure, Davor proposed to Andela.
We’ve been planning our honeymoon destination since we got engaged. We all agreed that it needed to be a major event.
He remarked, “She was working as my assistant, and very soon after we started working together, we fell in love and started dating.”
Both of us love to travel, and she had spent a year volunteering at an orphanage in Africa, so we immediately hit it off. In the end, we decided to go on a world tour together.
According to Davor, after the proposal, the couple started talking about planning their honeymoon.
Together, they talked to people from all around the world about their romantic experiences. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
He elaborated, “Ever since we got engaged, we’ve been planning our honeymoon. We knew we needed to do something spectacular.
“Because we both enjoy exploring new places, we sometimes wondered if we would have met and fallen in love in the same way had we been born into different cultures. Would our affection for one another be the same?
Our honeymoon gave us the chance to see the world and learn about other ways of loving from individuals all over the world.
Davor says that a Bushman and his Namibian wife were the kindest people he’s ever encountered. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
After he returned from his 2018 South Pole journey, he and his new bride had a quiet wedding in a forest outside Zagreb, Croatia, where they were joined by their friends and family.
Davor explained, “After the wedding, we toured our documentary, The Polar Dream, around Croatia in order to generate money for our next project, Love Around The World.
After much deliberation, we settled on a honeymoon that would span the entire year between the New Year of 2019 and the New Year of 2020, during which time we would tour the world and learn from other married couples about their own romantic adventures.
Davor and Andela devoted an entire year to filming their latest documentary, Love Around The World. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
To elaborate, he said, “We sought to paint a depiction of humanity via love.” We wanted to include various varieties of relationships and cultural contexts since love is something that everyone can relate to and comprehend.
Before continuing on to Oman, the two departed for Paris. A polyandrous couple from India and a Saudi Arabian pair in an arranged marriage were among the couples Davor and Andela interviewed during their trip.
According to Davor, “We wanted to communicate to those who had distinct experiences of love and marriage because of their culture. We wanted to talk to a couple who had been through the experience of bride kidnapping, when the bride was pushed into the marriage despite her refusal.
I believe we have discovered that love is, at its core, universal; the spontaneous attraction we saw in the interviews, the way two individuals are drawn to one another, these things are all quite similar.
We also spoke to a lesbian couple in Iran, where homosexuality is still a capital offence. We visited nomadic groups of hunters and gatherers in Namibia.
All of these discussions began with the inquiry, “What is love?”
While I wouldn’t say we were surprised by the responses, I can say that learning about how others define love was fascinating.
Davor and Andela chose to extend their honeymoon by a full year. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
It was incredible to see how candid people were about their lives,” he continued. As they shared their deepest, most personal secrets with us, we laughed and cried alongside them. The unexpected candour was very refreshing.
“I think we’ve found that love is essentially the same,” one interviewee said, “the little spark between people that we watched is universal. The way a person is just called to another is universal.”
The trip’s human element also left an impression on Andela.
The couples shared stories of their romantic encounters from all around the world. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
She remarked, “It was fantastic, and the documentary evolved into a straightforward and personal examination of romantic relationships throughout the globe.
I was familiar with Davor’s writings and projects long before we ever met. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best travel writer Croatia has ever produced, and he’s a true inspiration.
As a reader, I found myself saying, “I really appreciated the way he perceives the world and how he depicts it.”
Davor and Andela visited 30 different countries. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
He elaborated, “Therefore, when I saw the ad to become his assistant, I instantly applied, and I felt I would be the right person for it because of my travelling experience and the fact that I really appreciate his work.
I was caught off guard when he proposed to me in Antarctica because we had been so busy planning the trip, but the proposal was lovely, and we have been travelling the world ever since.
Now, beginning on September 25 with three showings in London, the duo plans to travel the UK with their film.
Both of them wanted a large, memorable honeymoon. (PA Real Life/Davor Rostuhar)
In her own words, Andela announced that the film would be screened in 22 places across the UK over the course of the next two months, followed by Q&As with the audience.