Emily sent me a link to this article that ran in The Daily Mail, "Would You Allow A Wealthy Stranger to Fly Your Away for a First Date" because well, I almost did. Sort of.

While author Joanne Hegarty uncovers the inner-workings of a relatively new online match-making service called Miss Travel, that offers “attractive” women free access to paying suitors looking for someone to spend their air miles on, my experience didn’t begin online. 

Here’s what happened: I met K at a sports bar after one of his girl friends introduced me.  First she bought me a shot because I'd been dropped by the couple I was third-wheeling on that night and I needed it. K was tall and friendly and we talked easily. And the fact that a cool girl co-signed on him also was a huge plus. We exchanged numbers and he texted me the same night to make plans.

Unlike the other dudes I have met in my new life of singledom, K was really funny. The only drawback? When he wasn’t being hilarious, K switched to showing off about something expensive. From his two cars to a recent jaunt in Milan, K wanted to make it clear that he had money.

When it comes to income, I like a dude who keeps it discreet, but I didn’t let it get to me. Just have fun I thought, just give it a try.

The second time that I went out with K, we had dinner followed by a night of wandering from bar to bar – standard protocol on a good date. At one point we stopped at a kitschy Tiki spot in Alphabet City where the cocktail menu looks like that of a cheap resort. I'm totally into this kind of thing and it sort of negated the bragging from before.

A few drinks in, we noticed that the couple accross the bar was dressed in military gear from the 1940s and made a bet on whether they were in costume or just really loved Pearl Harbor. The loser had to take the winner to Mexico. You know, because that’s extreme and no one would ever follow through on such a promise, right? 

In Hegarty’s investigation of Miss Travel, she comes to find that most of the so-called jet-set daters using the site talk a big game, but rarely follow through.

This is ‘Nomad’  a ‘well-groomed, well-travelled’ marketing director from Central London who claims his annual income is up to £800,000. Not surprisingly, he says he likes ‘the finer things in life’ and his favourite drink is Krug champagne. Sadly he’s single because ‘these days Terminal 3 at Heathrow seems to be my second home and my suitcase my best friend’.

But, just like the last Englishman, Nomad seems to have a problem opening his wallet. The best offer he comes up with is ‘a drink’ in London before he jets off again.