A modern day romance usually starts with signing up to an online dating site. Going through it myself as well as listening to stories told by my friends around the world, I have decided to share some of the more memorable dates that we had over the years. Hopefully, they will inspire you not to give up dating and look at each bad date as a great story!

Melbourne, Australia: 
Emma had received a very nice message from a 38 year old doctor. Being in her mid 30s, the age range was good, he did not have prior marriages, was single and wanted to start a family. This was exactly what Emma was looking for. So she agreed on a date not far away from a suburb where she lived. While Emma was excited to meet up, as soon as she saw the doctor she realized that he was far from being 38 but closer to 45 at least. He greeted her with kisses on both cheeks and while considered the norm in places like Italy, this was Australia and he was Australian! Thinking it was a bit odd, she continued the date with a positive attitude. The doctor, started telling her that he was a brain surgeon, who later turned out to be working in a nursing home, and was telling her that he was going on Business to Germany to buy medical equipment as he is in the business of selling this exclusive equipment in Australia. When Emma sked him if he was travelling around Australia, he said no only Melbourne. She quickly realized the story did not add up: a doctor who works at retirement homes selling exclusive medical equipment in only one city. Even if it was possible, he went on talking about his condo which is not in the best of areas, and which based on square footage, was smaller than Emma’s whose retail salary is much smaller than any medical professionals. The story did not end there,  as upon arrival at home, he sent her a text message saying that since they are both not the youngest he wants to start a serious relationship right away, as they do not have time to waste. Declining politely, she thought it was a done deal and she could continue to try to find Mr. Right. However, what ended up happening is that a few weeks later, she received another text message wishing her a happy 2014 and that he hopes she finds another handsome & educated man like him, as they are impossible to find!

Bavaria, Germany 
Gretchen was chatting for weeks with an engineer who worked about 200KMs from her town in Bavaria, Germany. After weeks of interactions, they decided to meet each other. The date went perfectly, they had a lot of similarities: both liked to hike, loved going t o art galleries and enjoyed the same movies. After the date, there were many text messages exchanged throughout the week since they could only see each other on the weekend as it was hard to schedule around events and prior plans. However, in two weeks they met up again, he showed up with a rose, and the conversation continued to be great. However, after a second date and a week of calling Gretchen on a daily basis, no date was scheduled. After another couple of days went on without a single text or call, not realizing what was going on, Gretchen asked if he was ok. He replied saying that he is in a relationship with someone else and they just became exclusive so he did not feel right dating two people at the same time!

Toronto, Canada
My friend Richard had a hard time going on dates. He found women to be unresponsive, his humour did not come out in the online space, and being a super nice guy he often found that his complements were taken in the wrong way. However, that did not stop him from trying online dating. He talked to a girl for months without scheduling a date as she was always busy. So time went by with a few emails exchanged here and there. After her exams were done, she decided to schedule a date with him. As they got along great online, they decided to meet up. After the meet up, he was head over heels with her, and the feeling did not disappoint after the meet up. On the second date, he was told of the dating rules that would follow the relationship. He was shocked at the fact that there were rules in the relationship especially since it was only the second date. But he decided to continue the relationship  as he really liked her and quickly realized that the rules were all dropped because the girl was simply afraid to get hurt and wanted to protect herself. Months later, they are still together and happy, with Richard saying it was worth all the months that he waited to meet up with her!

At the end of the day, no matter how many bad experiences, heartaches and moments of despair we go through, when we find the right person all those experiences were worth it! And where else are you able to see the person’s age, interests, education and religion in a spam of 5 minutes?

What is your worst online date, feel free to share it 🙂