Relationships

Get Out and See the Sights

By Rachel Pomerance

I'm pretty sure it's the restlessness of spring — or the fact that the pollen here is sickening — but I'm sure I'm not alone in the urge to travel.

And I suspect that's a very good thing for dating. New sights mean new people. And vacation can help you become relaxed and aware enough to actually notice them.

A friend of mine is convinced that "all the good men" live in Chicago. I don't think she's even been to Chicago, but she's got a sound argument based on the theory of "Midwestern Nice."

So maybe that's a good option for you single women. However, if you can't jump on a plane anytime soon, just go somewhere new. Drive to Decatur.

The goal is to go somewhere different enough that you feel a little different. In other words, if you live in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody doesn't count. Toco Hills might.

Personally, I'm headed to California this month and hope to simply hop around enough to feel my world expand.

But there are oodles of organized vacations that are worth checking out, because the shared experience of group travel breeds common ground, which I'm pretty sure is why any of us does anything.

But with Jewish travel, you have a head start.

Take, for example, Amazing Journeys, a Pittsburgh-based company that has made 50 marriages over the course of about as many trips, according to its president, Malori Asman.

"They're all Jewish. They're all single and they all love to travel, which is why they're taking trips, so all of a sudden you have all that commonality among people," Asman says. "It takes the edge off a first meeting." Also, unlike regular dating, which takes place against the backdrop of picking perfect outfits and venues, "on a trip you kind of let go" and "see people in their natural state. You're seeing them when they first wake up and after they've been hiking in a waterfall and when they just get out of the pool and when they look really great at a formal night."

Finally, these trips provide a solution to the problem of timing. It's not always easy to find a travel buddy whose vacation time or expense account matches your own, Asman says.

Her group, which caters to singles in their 20s through 50s, offers a cruise from New York over Memorial Day. That same weekend, JDate has a vacation at Club Med in Ixtapa, Mexico.

Premier Jewish Singles, out of St. Louis, actually states on its Web site that it is "NOT a matchmaking organization."

The group, which caters to singles in their mid-30s to late 50s, doesn't discourage romance, but stresses the camaraderie of traveling with like-minded people, with vacations to South Africa and Central Europe, for example, that include visits to Jewish sites wherever possible, says the group's president, Roxanne Weisman.

In other news, there's a new singles network under way for Atlantans 45 and up "who are basically tired of" internet dating and want to meet "the old-fashioned way," says founder Debbie Wolf. She's holding the first brainstorming and event planning meeting over lunch on May 4. If you're interested, contact her at chailifeatlanta@gmail.com.

Happy dating (and traveling) !

You can reach me at rpomerance@gmail.com.