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In days of old, the lonely traveler was stuck with the usual
ways of meeting people in a strange town: go to bars and
cross your fingers. For the hipster set, there was always
the hope that the person you met in the youth hostel would
be the short-term love of your life, complete with running
around Paris with stars in your eyes and having sleazy (but
hot) sex in the bathroom of Bob’s Youth Hostel.
But those methods were hit or miss. For today’s
adventurer, nothing can beat the hook-up power of the
Internet.
I’m not talking about personal ads, or stupid online
dating services like Match.com. If you want to get together
with people in cities other than the ones you live in, you
want to use online communities. You know, bulletin boards.
Usenet groups. But best of all, blogs.
How could someone’s online diary be the key to scoring
some hot monkey love in another city? It’s simple, my
friend: because many of the people writing them want to have
sex. Yep, befriend a blogger, and you may soon find yourself
picking trips based on nookie potential rather than any
foolish sight-seeing plans. And I would know: for the last
year, I’ve been blowing my disposable income visiting
people I’ve met online and having the kind of sex that
"Cosmo" readers only dream about. Forget “Kama
Sutra Positions He’ll Be Talking About for Weeks;” think
“full latex bodysuit with strategically placed zippers.”
Rar!
Part of the power of the blog is that it gives you a
chance to learn something about a potential partner-well,
actually, a lot about them-way in advance of a face-to-face.
Blogs can show you a person’s mental state over an
extended period of time, their ability to hold down a job,
their connections with their community. Even though it’s
never anything but a filtered picture, it’s still
frequently enough to determine if you’re compatible-or if
they’re a complete nut job.
A more important element of how blogs can help you turn a
lazy fishing trip on Xanga or Blogspot into a hookup is the
ability that it gives you to make connections before you
take your trip. This works through the “comments”
feature. If you take an interest in someone, start up a
dialogue with them! This works just as well on online forums
as it does on blogs, but blogs have the advantage of a
narrower audience. In both cases, over time you will develop
rapport and create a sense of trust with the person in
question. It’s like the Velveteen Rabbit… by “talking”
with them, you make yourself more real.
If you’re doing well, before your trip starts you
should be getting email, IM and perhaps some actual,
honest-to-God phone calls going to set things up to hang out
with your blog contact. But remember, the same kind of rules
that apply to non-out-of-town relationships are going to
apply here. Don’t come off like a stalker. Don’t come
off like a sleazeball. Don’t come off like you “expect”
anything to happen. You’ve put a lot of effort (or should
have) into not scaring off your blogger up until now: don’t
screw it up at the last minute. With any luck… with a
pleasant, low-key coffee shop or hanging-out-at-the-pub kind
of day… you could develop personal chemistry (the final
element!) and wind up having The Best Vacation Ever.
As a final note, oh seeker of love, remember to cover
your back. Someone should always know where you’re going,
who you’re meeting, how to contact you while you’re
away, and exactly when they should call the police. S/Mers
arrange for a phone call at a certain time just in case the
person who’s hogtying them for the first time decides they
want to keep them that way permanently… a safety practice
well worth following.
So get online, merry travelers! Go, make yourself some
contacts, get involved in people’s daily lives... and be
sure to pack the condoms when you buy those plane tickets!
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