Man refuses to fund girlfriend's extended solo trip, later learns she was cheating on him

When trust and mutual respect erode in a relationship, staying happy together becomes challenging. A man, u/Fabulous-Plenty-5465, shared on Reddit how his girlfriend of two years made an unreasonable request on their last day in Italy, which he refused. The post has gained a lot of traction on the site, with 14K upvotes and 2.7K comments. 

The 28-year-old man first discussed how he had planned a two-week vacation with his 27-year-old girlfriend in Italy. He wrote, "I paid for the flights, hotels—everything because I make more than she does, and I wanted it to be a stress-free trip for both of us." The trip had gone smoothly until that point. But on the last day, his girlfriend said she wanted to stay back in Italy a bit longer without him to "find herself" and think about their relationship. Her request completely "blindsided him and hurt him." The boyfriend wrote, "I was hurt and told her that if she feels she needs time alone, then she should also be independent financially during this extension of her trip."

He shared, "Now, she's upset, calling me unsupportive and selfish, and some of our friends are saying I'm being an a****** because I left her stranded in a foreign country without financial help." The man turned to the community to get their take on the situation and to know if it was wrong of him not to fund her extended stay on vacation. The majority sided with the man, applauding his decision not to cover the additional expenses for his girlfriend. u/deshi_mi said, "She left herself stranded in a foreign country. She had the return ticket. It was her choice not to use it." 

Another individual, u/Kufat, pointed out, "She pretty much dumped you, and then she expected you to spend additional money out of pocket so she could extend her vacation." u/Apart-Ad-6518 commented, "'She tells me she wants to stay longer to find herself and think about our relationship without me.' She can do it on her own dime then. Why should you be expected to fund her? You sound like a decent sort of dude who deserves better in my humble opinion." u/introvert_bean highlighted, "She's the selfish one. It sounds like she's taking you for granted and who knows what she'd do during her extended stay? I hope you're alright because that's a very painful move."

In an update, the man revealed that he ended the relationship following the incident. Back home, she packed her things to stay with her family. He shared that she had met somebody while they were in Italy and probably wanted to stay back to see "if it'd go anywhere." This prompted him to end things with her as he did not want to be with someone who kept her "options open" after being in a monogamous relationship for two years.

This article originally appeared on 4.19.24.