We've been together a year, never met in person, and now his family just said no to me. Should I still go meet him next month?

I don't even know where to start, so I'll just lay it out.

We've been dating for a year. We live on two different continents, we're from two completely different backgrounds, and in all this time we've never actually met in person. Just calls, texts, timezones, and somehow it still turned into real love. Our jobs have made it almost impossible to align our schedules, but after a year of trying, we finally have a trip planned next month where we'll meet for the first time.

Except now I'm sitting here wondering if I should even go.

His family is very traditional and close-minded about this they only marry within their own culture. He's always known that, and he's always told me not to worry, that we'd figure it out, that he'd talk to his parents when the time was right. Well, he finally did talk to his dad recently. And the answer was no. Not "let's discuss it," not "we need time" just no, because I'm not from their culture. Also because the logistics is almost impossible

He's still telling me we'll work through it, that this isn't the end, that his dad's first reaction isn't the final word. And I want to believe him. I do believe him, honestly, when it's just the two of us talking. But now there's this trip next month, the first time we'd actually be in the same room after a year of loving someone through a screen, and I can't stop asking myself: is it worth it?

Part of me thinks meeting him is exactly what we owe each other after everything we've built. We've never even hugged. We've never had a normal conversation without a camera between us. Don't we deserve at least that, regardless of what his parents decide?

But another part of me is terrified I'm about to fly across the world to finally meet the person I love, only to fall even harder for someone whose family has already closed the door on me. What if meeting him in person just makes the "no" hurt so much more?

I don't want to base something this big on fear. But I also don't want to walk into this blind.

Has anyone been through something like this? loving someone whose family won't accept you because of culture, meeting for the first time under that shadow? Did you go? Did you regret it, or was it the right call regardless of how things turned out with the family?

I just need some outside perspective right now because I genuinely can't tell if I'm being naive or just scared.