We first met each other as colleagues while working as engineers at Delta Air Lines in our first jobs straight out of college.  Although we never met at Georgia Tech, we did share the same alma mater and later found out that we shared many things in common like football, traveling, and food.  Over the next 9 years, we remained the best of friends but always made it a point to trash talk each other’s college football teams – “The” Ohio State University (Ariella) and Georgia Tech/UGA/Florida (Phong).  We finally started dating each other in Summer 2021 after we were both single and realized that we had even more in common as a couple than we had as friends.  

 

In November 2022, we decided to take an exciting trip to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Qatar to see the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and 2022 World Cup. Before the trip, Phong visited Ariella’s dad at their family restaurant, Chris’ Pizza, and Ariella’s mom at their home in Peachtree Corners to ask to marry their daughter.  Happily, they both said yes! After seeing an exciting F1 race in Abu Dhabi, we headed back to Dubai the next day where we first spent time together as a couple in our first international trip during the pandemic in Sep 2021 during Phong’s MBA international residency trip.  It was a Monday night when Phong finally got down on one knee in front of the Burj Khalifa, and the rest is history (she said yes!).