“I fell in love and married the pilot who helped fly my dog and I home”

A woman fell in love with the pilot who helped fly her and her elderly dog home after a break up – and married him eight months later.

Adri Pendleton, 30, was living in Amsterdam when her six year relationship ended.

She needed to get home to Redding, California with her two dogs Loki, two, a Smooth Coated Collie, and Nelly, 15, a Border Collie.

Loki was able to fly in cargo but Nelly was too old – and was also too big to go in the cabin with her.

Desperate, Adri posted a video about her situation on TikTok to see if anyone could help her – and pilot Niklas Stoeterau, 27, from Hamburg, Germany reached out.

He was able to get her on board a cargo plane as his plus one to get them back to the US.

The pair hit off as friends but realised they liked each other romantically and began video calling everyday.

They spent a year long distance before moving to a town near Zurich, Switzerland together – for Niklas’ job in January this year.

To live together they had to be married and tied the knot in August 2024.

Now they say everyday still feels like their “honeymoon”.

Adri, who is studying canine behaviour science, said: “The first few months were such a whirlwind.

“I was quite confident it wasn’t just a rash decision.

“It’s still so crazy to think about [how we met].

“It’s cheesy but it feels like a fairytale being with him.”

Adri needed to get home to the US after the breakdown of her relationship in November 2023.

She suffers with fibromyalgia which meant she struggled to hold down a job and support herself.

But Adri found herself stuck when she couldn’t find a way to get Nelly home.

She said: “Loki was easy. He was very young and in good health so I could fly him in cargo.

“Nelly was too big to fit in the cabin for any airline.

“She had developed epilepsy and she could be triggered by stress.

“Putting her in cargo was way too stressful.”

Adri put out a video on TikTok to see if she could share a private charter with anyone and Niklas saw the post and commented to say he could try and get her on an empty plane.

The pair started messaging back and forth and Niklas then suggested flying them back on a cargo plane – which he was able to sort through his work.

On January 4, 2024 the pair met for the first time in Milan, Italy and flew back on a 15 hour flight to Newark, New Jersey – with both Nelly and Adri in the cabin.

Niklas did not fly the plane he was a courier on it.

Adri said: “I was blown away.

“My family googled him and checked him out.

“It was hard to believe that someone could put me on a private jet for free.”

Adri’s mum, Robin Cheeseman, 60, flew out and drove her and Nelly back to California – a six day trip.

But Adri couldn’t get Niklas out of her head and the pair continued to chat after the flight.

She said: “We just started chatting and never stopped.

“On the flight we were just friends. I was just out of a long relationship it wasn’t something we were really thinking about.

“But a few days later I thought ‘I really like this guy’.

“I told him ‘you’re quite impressive, if you’d like to come out to California I’d love to take you on a date’.”

Niklas wasn’t able to get out to California until March 2024 but the pair hit it off – video calling everyday.

When they finally met, Adri said it didn’t go to plan when she had a panic attack, but they way Niklas dealt with it made her certain he was the one for her.

She said: “We got on insanely well.

“By the time he left I was sure he was definitely my person.”

Adri spent two months in Hamburg, Germany and decided to look at living together in Switzerland when Niklas got a job there.

They hired an immigration lawyer to help them.

Adri said: “We said if this lawyer says we have to be married to live together we’ll do this.”

The lawyer confirmed this was the case and the pair planned to get married in Gibraltar in August 2024.

They were unable to get legally married when they found out Niklas’ birth certificate wasn’t an original copy but still had the ceremony and consider themselves married from this date.

They had an official legal ceremony in California in September and eventually moved – after lots of paperwork – in January 2025.

Sadly Adri had lost Nelly in February 2024 but Loki has joined her in Switzerland.

Adri said: “Everyday is like our honeymoon.

“He’s my biggest cheerleader.”

Niklas said: “I saw the video she had posted and I just felt so incredibly sorry for someone to be in that situation. I thought maybe I can help.

“I definitely didn’t expect any of this but I don’t regret any of it.”