Recently, I read a post where a young lady met a person on Tinder(online dating app) in Malaysia. She had the person pick her up at her hotel/Airbnb. Long story short, the “date” took her to a bad part of town and robbed her. Fortunately, she was not physically harmed but emotionally bruised.
The post brought up a lot of questions about our safety and common sense. I’ve done online dating and I make sure that person is vetted out before meeting them at a public location. Do we think that when we are traveling abroad that it is “safer”? Are we just having a traveling fling and no harm can happen? Why are we not taking the same precautionary measure we have at home abroad?
My question is are we traveling for the experience and the adventure? or Are we hoping on meeting that person of our dreams and riding off into the sunset? There is no right or wrong answer to either of those questions, just make sure that your safety is your number one priority when traveling abroad.
Below are several tips to consider about online dating abroad:
- Never have the person pick you up. Meet them at a public location.
- Don’t let them know where you are staying.
- Send a friend or a family member the person information (i.e. pictures, what online dating app, username, real name) and where you will be meeting that person.
- Try to limit your alcohol consumption to one drink. A clear mind always makes great decisions.
- If the place you are meeting has WiFi, connect to and let your friends know that you are there. Whatsapp is a great tool to use.
- Make sure your phone is fully charged.
- If this is the meeting location, make sure it stays. Don’t go somewhere else with that person.