He now lives in Bago City , her home place. She stays most of the time in Luxembourg , his home country. Theirs may be a long-distance relationship but, thanks to technology and webcams, they literally see and speak to each other everyday through Skype, a Luxembourg-based software program that allows users to make free phone calls over the internet, video conferencing, instant messaging and short message service, among others.

“It's almost as if we're living side by side,” says Raymond Stoffel, 54, a retired company lawyer and a real estate businessman, who was also into financial and investment corporations. Raymond was also connected with an Asian airline which gave him the opportunity to frequently to Asia and eventually widen his international contacts.

His wife, the former Amie Apoyan, 42, says they may seem like a strange couple, with she, a Filipina preferring to stay in Europe while he loves the Philippines . “But we're a perfect team, loving and respecting each other,” said Amie, who has been living in Luxembourg for 14 years. “Raymond takes care of everything over there in the Philippines ,” she wrote StarLife in an emailed interview, while Raymond, who is now vacationing in Luxembourg , says “Amie takes care of our children and interests in Europe .

She comes home to Bago twice a year, including last month, while Raymond flies home and stays in Luxembourg once every quarter of the year. “Our rhythm of life is that I spend two months in Philippines return to Luxembourg for a month, come back to Philippines again for another two months, Raymond said with a laugh, adding: “A lot of miles spent in airplanes.”

While this previous jetsetter now admits he “is starting to hate planes”, he recalls their love story started in a plane where they met while on a flight from London to Manila via Frankfurt in August 1993. I jumped into the same flight in Frankfurt with a friend and, at that time, smoking was still allowed in flights, Stoffel recounts, adding they asked for seats where smoking was allowed but since they were late, they had to settle for two seats apart, one behind the other. “I happened to get the seat beside Amie and even asked her if she would mind to exchange her seat with my friend but she refused,” he further remembers. Amie, who was coming home for a visit, worked then with an airline and was assigned in Istanbul, Paris and London.

But that chance encounter allowed them to strike up “a very nice, intelligent and lovely discussion”. Because she had to look for her family's new address in Cavite, Amie upon arrival, asked Raymond if she could leave her baggage in his hotel for a while and pick it up later which she did. Stoffel admits that when he returned to Europe, he realized that love was blossoming that he decided to return to the Philippines “and bring her with me to Europe”. The time of separation was not too long – from August to January that time, but during those months, my phone bills really soared, he adds.

It was the same level of intelligence and compatibility in our ideas and concept about life that sparked the mutual attraction, Raymond says, recalling that they legally got married in Luxembourg first and, years later, made the church wedding in Bago on Jan. 2, 2000.

Family life for the Stoffels in Luxembourg meant Raymond handling their business while Amie took care of the house and their two children from their previous ties – Junjun, now 23, her son; and Sandy, 20, his daughter, who is studying to become a teacher for handicapped children. Junjun has a degree in aviation electronics.

They had not much common time “as I was unbelievably busy as I gave my business absolute priority – devoting 10 to 14 hours a day, even on weekends and sometimes Christmas, New Year and other holidays. I was a total workaholic,” Raymond recalls, adding: “We just met everyday in the morning, before I left for business and late in the evening when I came home but we later figured out a system allocating one evening per week with my wife and me alone – going to a nice restaurant for dinner and talk about family concerns in a peaceful and quiet way.” The Stoffels also scheduled to spend holidays together with the children. This, he says, helped us overcome problems and my daily long absence due to business, that I thank my wife for her patience and understanding.

Amie is true, straight, intelligent, serious and affectionate, Raymond replies when asked to mention his wife's appealing traits, and, in a light tone, added: “Shall I keep mentioning more because she has so many remarkable characteristics?” On her part, Amie described Raymond as “straight, industrious, serious sometimes very funny that at times, you would not realize he's already telling a joke as his face remains rather serious”.

Eventually, the stress and pressure took its toll that, after almost 35 years of devoting his life to work and business, Raymond suffered from a hart attack and had a five-bypass surgery. “I considered it a warning shot and decided to stop and I have never regretted that decision,” Raymond says, prompting him to decide to retire in the Philippines “where the climate is better than the cold temperature in Europe”.

What started as a five-day business trip for Raymond about 25 years ago started Raymond's interest about the Philippines which he promised himself he'd visit again “for real sightseeing and visits of interest.” He admits that his interest in Asia started when he was 6 years old, when he was very much into martial arts. For more than 20 years, he pursued that interest through judo, taekwondo, kendo and laido, prompting him to develop that mindset on Asian thought. “I was fascinated with the deep philosophical ideas and concepts of Asia, which I consider very useful for approaches in life in our modern world,” he says that he even studied the Japanese and Korean languages. Soon, however, he felt some barrier, realizing that the more he “understood that I was penetrating their mentality, the more they closed down” perhaps, either of reluctance, shame or the fear of aggression, he adds.

In the Philippines, he added, he has never felt that barrier because the Philippines, while it is in Asia, has a blend of the West and the East that, eventually “it was very easy for me to adapt and feel perfectly well here,” Raymond says, “especially with the natural kindness of Filipinos, the warm hearted and open-arm welcome for me from my family in the Philippines, the beauty of the country as well as the nice climate.”

Profuse in his appreciation of the country, Stoffel further says that the country's beauty matches with the beautiful and sunny condition here. It's sunny and warm, the people live with a smile and have warm hearts despite many things they may lack in life that for me, as a foreigner living here, I feel like a privileged guest that I consider it to give in return something in change for the hospitality that my family here and this country is giving to me with a smile,” he stresses.

Thus, the Luxembourg national has been actively involved today with the International Friendship Club Negros Island , as its vice president. Raymond admits that while he is in Luxembourg now, he is spending much time following up requests for assistance to the Philippines from agencies and organizations in his home country. “I am happy now to have the time to work on our government to extend help in Negros ,” he said, adding that his main pre-occupation during his European trips is to find ways to help Filipinos and make them feel happy. “Even when I'm in Europe, my heart remains in Negros ,” he underscores.

For the Stoffels, Valentine's Day is very memorable. We usually go out and have nice food in a nice restaurant,” the couple says as they also recall a Valentine's Day they spent in Palamunitan, where they had nice food and good ambience but eventually they felt it was starting to get cold – by Filipino circumstances that they decided to go home and watch television.

And this Valentine's Day? “We'll spend it in a nice restaurant here in Luxembourg ,” Raymond says.