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When Facebook randomly suggested a friendship with a white bearded stranger twice his age from Texas this student wondered what the man might be like.

But 24-year-old Victor Van Rossem, from Ghent, Belgium, was so curious he travelled 5,000 miles around the world to try and find the stranger.

All he had to go on were some hilarious photographs, his name Neal D Retke, his rough location in Austin, Texas, and an age of 49.

He did attempt to make friends with Neal first over Facebook – but he failed to respond.

‘Facebook suggested we become friends, and I thought that was pretty absurd,’ Mr Van Rossem said.

‘I became fascinated by him. He had a long beard and looked a little unusual. He did art performances and paintings of mythical creatures and strange beasts which only made me more interested in him.

‘He looked like someone I wanted to meet – a very eccentric person.

‘These days you can be friends with anyone anywhere just by clicking that friend request button. I wanted to take it back to the real world.’

So Van Rossem set off for Austin, Texas, with his friend Bran Van Bree, 27, and the pair decided to document their adventure.

They put up this poster around the town:

And wore T-shirts with the slogan ‘Neal D Retke for President’.

They asked around all the local shops and spent a week searching.

Mr Van Rossem, said: ‘At first we thought our chances of finding him were very slim, but then we visited some places in Austin that we knew he liked to go – and we eventually found someone who knew him.’

When they thought all was lost, a shopkeeper in a bookshop told them he knew Neal. He then pointed them towards a book signing, saying that it was likely he might be there.

And he was.

‘We were nervous when we first saw him,’ said Mr Van Rossem

‘We didn’t know how he would react – but after we explained the whole thing he just laughed and said “well, you found me” as if he was expecting us.’

They then spent the next three weeks together.

Mr Van Rossem said: ‘We had a lot of fun with Neal, and I consider him a real friend. We’re still in touch through Facebook, and he might be coming to visit us next summer.’