From August 2020 to February 2021, I travelled to six countries and twenty-seven cities. Not physically, of course, since we were on lockdown during a pandemic and I’m broke. Instead I took advantage of Tinder’s Passport function and left my locale to explore other areas and see what they held for me. Nothing against the people in my area, of course, but there are only so many fish pictures a girl can take before she has to see if the grass is greener on the other side of the ocean. Now that my little quest is thoroughly finished, I thought it would be fun to share some of the results for curious eyes and for any who have been debating doing some traveling themselves. I’ve already discussed some of the pros and cons, so keep that in mind, but, at the very least, having fun is the key thing here.

For the purpose of clarity, I was using Tinder Gold and *choosing* who I matched with. So the numbers could have been higher if I was less selective.

TOP 3 CITIES FOR MATCHES

1. New York City, New York. Did I purposely google which were the best Tinder cities before traveling? Yes. Was this a perfect example? Yes. Not only did it have a wide variety of people such that I could feel my own tastes and aesthetics evolving, but I also found more people of my own ‘type’ than I did in my area. So I came away with over 220 matches over the course of 5 days, a handful of decent conversations, and a few connections too.
2. Los Angeles, California. Similar to the above. It makes sense that a big and busy city would have plenty going for it and since my location is a bit closer to L.A. they might be more inclined to match, although I’m sure my profile was not quite the right aesthetic. Lots of headshots and model vibes. I matched with over 100 people in five days and had a few conversations as well.
3. Phoenix, Arizona. In hindsight, this should have been obvious but I really wasn’t thinking when I went on my Western tour and rolled into town. Phoenix is a pretty active city and full of relatively young people so I had a lot of potential matches. The conversations weren’t too bad and I stayed for three days, leaving with about 70 matches.

TOP 3 COUNTRIES FOR TOURS

1. United States. Yes, I am biased here but I also, relatively, haven’t seen a lot of my own country so I took this opportunity to explore, talk, and learn about bits and pieces of the unknown to me. Most of my Passport usage was within the States for ease of language, similar culture, etc. but it was also a fun way of seeing places I could potentially travel to or had learned about in the past.
2. Australia. I traveled to Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane during my ‘tour’ of the country. While it was a country I was loosely familiar with (as a Kiwi), it’s not something I was intimate with. I matched with about 100 Aussies during my week-long tour, had a handful of conversations, and made a couple of decent connections. Obviously, one of these was better than all of the others since Soleil and I are still dating.
3. Canada. What with everyone saying they were going to run away to the great white North, I decided to give it a digital chance. Over the course of about two weeks, I traveled to Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary. Most of my general knowledge about Canada is either stereotypes or very vague statements about things so it was kind of cool to see or hear about other things through people or their profiles. I made about 80 matches during my tour, but no lasting connections. I am still, however, very intrigued by the country.

Overall, Passport was a fun way to pass the pandemic and kept me busy and distracted. I had some fun conversations and learned new things about myself, other people, and countries. Eventually, maybe I’ll share some stories about my misadventures, those conversations, or the ups and downs of virtual flirting. At its peak, I had 740ish matches: this proves you don’t need to be a supermodel, superficially perfect, or whatever to get those numbers. I’m weird, I’m curvy, I’m neurodivergent, and I have trauma (doesn’t everyone?). There is someone out there for everyone; they just might be in another country, apparently. Recently, my matches dipped to around 600…Which just proves you don’t have to talk or be active on Tinder and people don’t care enough to un-match.

For now, Passport worked for me and that seems as happy an ending as any.