Dear Claire and Andrea,
I travel a lot for work and have met great people in some of the cities I’ve been to. Lately I’ve been dating two people – each in a different city – but I can’t see to find anyone in my own town. What am I doing wrong? Am I destined to have to travel for my treats?
Dear Travel for Treats,
One of the great side effects of travel is the ability to shed the minutiae of our lives. There are no plumbers to call, no dry cleaning to pick up, no cat litter to scoop. We become a less stressed version of ourselves, less likely to walk down the street ignoring the world, in a cloud of to-do lists. Result? We’re more open to the people we encounter. And once we do meet someone interesting, the mental checklist we usually subject a potential fling/mate/partner to is that much shorter. The fact that the hot Uzbeki waitress has no chance of becoming your hot Canadian girlfriend means that you can enjoy her for who she is and be spontaneous. But at home, we’re either too distracted to notice those who notice us, or once we meet them, we question whether they should be allowed into our world, and if so, in what capacity. Spontaneity is exchanged for mind games, openness for caution. It’s enough to make Up in the Air look like a fairytale.
Dear Travel for Treats,
I envy your position because that you don’t have to deal with those really boring days, the fat days, the PMS days. You only get the good stuff because time is short, and your girlfriends try to make it count. The downside is that it has probably warped your relationship standards, which makes it really hard for ladies in your hometown to please you after a while. Being in a long term relationship myself, I can say that you’re missing out on some seriously hot stuff: sweet wake-up calls caressed with morning breath, romantic rendezvous in the frozen dinner aisle, elegant repartee over broken washing machines…but also, a guaranteed hug when you’re in a bad mood, having fun doing the mundane tasks, and you know you’re going home with a hottie after that party. Even if you don’t get five-star treatment all day every day, the little things really do add up.
Two sisters, 20-something Andrea and 30-something Claire, offer their differing views on your relationship issues.
