Can I make it work after 10 years?
12 years ago, when I was 20, I met the girl of my dreams. I was on holiday in a foreign country and we spent pretty much all day every day together for a month. After I came back to the UK, we stayed in touch, but we never really talked about trying to maintain a long-distance relationship - we were young and 8 time zones seemed like a big obstacle. We stayed friends, chatting online from time to time.
I travel quite a lot and was visiting her country again 10 years ago and we agreed to meet up. The details are complicated, but basically everything felt the same for me - this girl was perfect. She got very drunk and poured her heart out, saying she hadn't been able to forget about me (I don't think she remembers any of this). However, we still lived in different countries, so I still couldn't see how we could make it work.
Not long after that, she started dating a guy who she ultimately stayed with for 7 or 8 years. She moved to Europe to live with him and for years I actually thought they were married. During that time, I also had serious relationships (lasting up to 3.5 years) with some really wonderful girls, but I seriously struggled to fall in love.
Anyway, trying to keep the story short, we've been chatting more and more and more online, and we recently met up again (in Europe) after 10 years. We are finally both single and she's only 1 time zone away now, so it's much easier to stay in touch. We had an amazing weekend hanging out together and my feelings for her haven't changed at all. I am absolutely crazy about this girl. Nothing happened between us, but she's flying to the UK in a couple of weeks to hang out again for a few days.
I guess my question is can I make this work? How do I win her over after all these years? Does anyone here have any experience of something like this working out? Do I have any chance at all? I guess it's relevant to add that I don't have any attachments in the UK and would have no problem moving abroad in the future if it could make things work out in the long run with her.
Please help! Any advice is very welcome.