Rachel Allen, 28, shares her real life story;
I dashed around my room, running through my mental checklist one last time.
Passport, sun cream, a book to read by the pool… I didn’t need much more than that.
Where I was off to, I could pack light.
Very light.
And, with the beep of my taxi arriving to take me to the airport, I was good to go.
I’d never been to the Greek island of Rhodes before.
On arrival, I was ushered into a welcome meeting at my resort with fellow holiday makers.
Immediately, one bloke caught my attention.
He was handsome, had a twinkle in his eye and a bright smile.
And not much more.
You see, he was completely and utterly in the buff.
And so was I.
We were all on a nudist holiday and everyone was starkers.
Across the sea of wobbly bits, this bloke stood out to me.
There’s just something about him, I thought.
As the other naturists headed towards the beach, I decided to take my chance.
We love our nudist getaways. Photos exclusive to Take 5
“Hi,” I said, grinning, marching over. “I’m Rachel.”
“Nigel,” he replied warmly.
We started chatting. At 57, he was much older than me but was young at heart.
I didn’t notice the age gap.
“How about a game of ping pong?” I said, grinning.
“You bet,” he chuckled.
As we played, the ball wasn’t the only thing flying between us.
There were sparks too.
I told him how my parents had been naturists so being naked was completely comfortable for me.
I did virtually everything starkers – even cooking.
Although I had to be careful of fat spitting out of the frying pan!
To me, there was something liberating about getting my kit off.
It made me feel so… free.
“Truth is, I feel way more judged in clothes than out of them,” I admitted.
Nigel agreed.
“I was teased at school for being overweight, so never felt body confident,” he confided.
When he’d turned 40, he’d decided to do something about it and gone to a naturist spa for the day.
It worked!
“I haven’t looked back since,” he said.
I thought he was brave.
Clothed or not, Nigel and I couldn’t be happier.
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My hobby had made it difficult to meet men in the past.
It was refreshing to meet someone who shared and understood my passion.
For the rest of the holiday, we were virtually inseparable.
Being with Nigel felt right.
Parting at the airport – fully clothed for the first time – I felt a pang of sadness.
I hoped it hadn’t just been a holiday romance.
Nigel lived in a town 170km away.
“Don’t worry, we’ll meet up soon,” he soothed.
Within a month we’d gone on our first date for dinner and drinks – this time with clothes on.
And thankfully the spark was still there.
After that, we went out more often and also visited nudist spas and resorts together.
Completely smitten, it wasn’t long before we were a proper couple, eventually moving in together.
Not long afterwards, we went for a nudist weekend away together.
On the final night, everyone gathered in the dining hall to watch a live band, when all of a sudden, Nigel leapt up and began heading to the stage.
“What’s he doing?” I said, puzzled.
Nigel grabbed the mic and cleared his throat.
“Rachel, could you come up here?” he asked.
I was confused but played along.
Then, on stage, Nigel lowered himself to one knee.
“Rachel,” he said, holding out a beautiful sparkling ring, “Will you marry me?”
Nigels indecent proposal was a complete shock.
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My hands flew to my face as I gasped and started giggling uncontrollably.
“Of course I will,” I squealed back in delight.
As we embraced, a chorus of cheers went up around the room.
To most people, popping the question in the buff in front of 400 naked strangers would be a nightmare.
But to Nigel and I, it was a dream come true.
“To the happy couple,” someone cried, as we clambered off the stage, before handing us flutes of bubbly.
“Bottoms up,” we grinned, clinking glasses.
We were thrilled to discover lots of people had captured the happy moment too so now we have pictures of our indecent proposal.
We have no wedding plans just yet but are considering holding two – one clothed and one naked.
For now, though, we’re happily engaged.
Some people don’t understand why we like being naked.
I’ve even been called names in the past, like ‘tart’ or worse!
But I always say the same thing… if you don’t like it, don’t look!
We’re just like any other couple – madly in love and looking forward to spending our lives together.
With Nigel, whatever the future holds will be an adventure. Because we’ll do it all in our birthday suits!
There was a spark from the start.
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Nigel told Take 5;
“Being naked just feels normal. It’s done wonders for my confidence. Whenever we go to nudist resorts, we’ll chat, make friends, sit and have a drink. It’s just like any other trip away, except we happen to not be wearing clothes. Plus, there’s not chance of getting pick-pocketed!”
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