Drinks With A Dexterous Travel Writer

Tuesday night, I headed over to the Empire Hotel’s swanky lobby bar for drinks with Michael, a producer on Showtime’s irresistible hit “Dexter” who moonlights as a travel writer.

The Empire Hotel’s lobby bar: cozy chic on NYC’s Upper West Side

Michael was just back from visiting my Paris client, the fabulous Hilton Arc de Triomphe. It turns out his travel writing career began in France’s capital, when a friend of his randomly dispatched him there to go shopping and write about it for NY’s Daily News. And so began a “hobby” that has led to regular bylines in the News and top lifestyle publications like Spa Magazine.

We talked a lot about travel – I did my usual raving about Australia and how it’s a must-see – and about our beloved hometown. Michael and I agreed that living in New York ruins you for any other city, London being the glorious exception.

We also got onto the topic of online dating. Michael often signs on to a female friend’s Match.com account as her, using “guy speak” to attract potential suitors. He told me “she” has been chatting with one guy for two years who’s never attempted an in-person date.

I admitted I wasn’t surprised – online dating sites seem to be a veritable breeding ground for men who prefer cyber communicating to anything else.

My response to those inclined only to be pen pals? Delete.

Up next…a gala preview of NYC’s Auto Show and a musical jaunt to Jersey City.

By The Numbers: Long Distance Edition

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve run into two old friends who have managed to finding lasting love in a bicoastal relationship. As I listened to their stories, I couldn’t help thinking about the role that geography has played in my own romantic fate.

I’ve written often about my California-based long distance love Mark (a.k.a Sparky). But there have been many other times that I’ve felt the impact of geography -- an occupational hazard, no doubt, of having moved away from New York about half a dozen times. Here are some of the more memorable zip code-related benchmarks in my love life -- By The Numbers:

Number of major romances that began in one state two weeks before I moved to another: 1
Number of unexpected flings abroad (with the potential for more) that occurred within days of returning to the US: 3
Number of Toronto high school crushes who didn’t make a move on me until after I moved back to New York: 1
Number of New York boyfriends who resided about an hour away: 2
Number of New York-based beaus that I met on a cruise to the Caribbean: 1

My shipboard romance with Yonkers native Jimmy had both of us appreciating the intervention of serendipity. It turned out we were both on Match.com at the time. Jimmy and I agreed we would never have found each other online because neither of us were willing to explore people in one another's zip codes.

That our paths even crossed was a reminder that sometimes, for as much as it can be a foe in affairs of the heart, geography has the magic touch.