A COUPLE who met when they became pen pals as kids 7,000 miles apart are celebrating 30 years of marriage. Alena and Chad Benson first wrote to each other in 1986 with no idea it would blossom into a life-long love story.
Alena, from Singapore, then aged 17, initiated the exchange, writing to several people overseas - including Chad from Plymouth in Devon.
Their letters continued through the 1980s and they also started exchanging cassette tapes of each other chatting - with more than 100 tapes sent between them.
They eventually met and after love blossomed they married and now have three children. Speaking of the first letter she sent, Alena, 55, said: "I just sent it for the fun of it, not thinking that I was going to get a reply." Gardener Chad, 56, added: "She is my best friend. We do everything together. She is an amazing woman." After exchanging letters for years nurse Alena decided to visit pen pal Chad in the UK in 1993 - seven years after their first ever letter.
She said: "I was 23 and I was travelling around Asia so I said to my parents that I have been writing to this boy from England and I want to go and visit him.
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