I met a French lady on my last trip. We dated a couple of times in Paris and have stayed in touch daily since. I recently visited her while she was in Miami. She will come to visit me in Virginia for a couple of weeks in December, then plans to come back in Feb/Mar, before I fly back to France in April/May.
It's definitely serious. We're making plans to meet family on both sides of the Atlantic and discussing personal details we'd have to manage before being together permanently (our adult children, retirement, care of parents, etc.). We'd likely wed in Tours, where her parents reside, first, then renew our vows, with a pastor, here in the US afterward.
Any lessons learned you can share? This was unexpected for me. My only real desire is to be able to travel to either country, when we want, without worrying about visa limits - which will make any other issues easier to deal with. I hadn't seriously considered retirement for at least five, and maybe ten, years but I now want to accelerate that to give me more freedom to travel.