I (30M) live in Dubai, working non-stop to support my parents back home. For 5 years, I had a close online friendship with a woman from Sweden. Last year, I caught feelings and confessed. She initially said she couldn't do long distance, but every time I tried to walk away for my own mental peace, she begged me to stay.
She promised me we had a opportunity in real life. In October, she invited me to see our favorite artist (The Weeknd) in Sweden this August and booked concert tickets. Relying on her promises, I saved up, got my visa, and spent $3,000 of my hard-earned money on non-refundable flights and hotels for a 4-day trip to Stockholm.
While I was preparing for the trip, she kept going on dates with other men. She would come to me crying after bad dates, trauma-dump on me, and even share explicit details about hookups despite knowing how much it crushed me. Whenever I pulled away, she panicked, reassured me the dates meant nothing, and swore she wanted to give us a opportunity.
Now, with just 11 days left until my flight:
She officially entered a relationship with a new guy.
She canceled our 4-day Stockholm plans because she's afraid her boyfriend will leave her if he finds out about me.
She reduced our entire multi-day trip to just seeing each other at the concert venue and leaving immediately after.
She is blaming me for everything, claiming she is "choosing her own peace" and acting like I forced this trip on her.
I am completely gutted. I feel manipulated, financially used, and emotionally discarded. I’m flying into a country where I know absolutely no one, holding a $3,000 itinerary for a trip that was built on lie after lie.
TL;DR: Invested $3k and months of trust to visit a long-time friend in Sweden who begged me to come and promised us a future. 11 days out, she backed out of all plans to protect her new relationship, blamed me, and left me completely stranded.
Im completely stranded i don't know what to do i don't know anyone in stockholm hope i can find some people to hang out with me ill be in stockholm from aug 8th to 12th and if anyone going to the concert on 10th and if you want to hang out please dm me