Colsterworth man to be reunited with American partner for the first time in 4 years
A transatlantic couple that met online are set to reunite this week for the first time in four years.
Michelle Goggin, of San Diego, California, will visit her partner Rob Trevor, of Colsterworth, this week, as the couple reunite for the first time in four years.
Rob and Michelle initially met online on the social media site Twitter when they were both competing at the top of the rankings on The Tweet Quiz, and, after privately chatting together, they discovered they had uncanny things in common with each other.
Then, shortly after meeting in person, Michelle got involved in podcasting and successfully auditioned for a well-known show dedicated to the TV show Lost.
This fitted in with Rob's own professional radio ambitions and subsequently, in 2016, the pair launched their own podcast named Grog 'n' Prog that has since interviewed members of the prog-rock acts, including IQ, Mostly Autumn and Panic Room.
They also interviewed Tom Cruise's cousin, William Mapother, who starred as baddie Ethan Rom in the show Lost.
Back in September, after Rob fell ill, Michelle was able to alert his neighbours over social media that he was in imminent medical danger.
As a result, Colsterworth villagers Richard Chapman, Suzanne Verrill, and Neil Griffiths, the rural area's resident rector, came to offer Rob aid and Richard stayed and looked after him while he was waiting for an ambulance to transport him to Peterborough hospital.
Suzanne has also offered to walk with Rob because his agoraphobic tendencies make it difficult for him to physically leave the safe confines of his home.
Rob, now on the mend, hopes to next tick off his final radio ambition by transferring his natural-born podcast skills to hosting on a community FM station.
After her latest stay in Grantham, Michelle is treating Rob and is financing his bucket-list ambition of travelling past the former Battersea Power Station in a pink Hummer limo in homage to Pink Floyd, one of his favourite music groups.
This will take them both to their night stay at The Shard.
Rob said: "I owe all that I am now to Michelle and wouldn't have succeeded to the high quality I have done without her as part of my life, and I feel extremely lucky to have her as my guiding soulmate."
Following this UK trip, Michelle will return back to the USA in order to plan her next journey to visit Rob and escort him to observe a total European solar eclipse.
Rob has high functioning autism and has topped the rankings of two music quiz games on Facebook and was known for achieving the highest recorded score on another popular quiz game on the site.
He said: "I feel that as someone higher-achieving on the spectrum, it is my duty to prove to less confident autists that they too can follow in my footsteps and make their own successful mark on the world."
