For some, Tinder is a hookup app.
But for users like me, it’s how you meet locals and like-minded travelers.
I won’t argue about healthcare, climate change, or politics even during an election year.
Credit: Courtesy of Katie Jackson
I will debate it’s more than that to the death.
I started using Tinder in 2015 after my five-year relationship ended when I moved across the country.
My parents never said anything about not getting into planes with strangers.
Courtesy of Katie Jackson
Brad and I didn’t last, but it wasn’t my last time using Tinder.
In 2016 I wrote aFox Newsarticle titled “10 top tips to up your international Tinder game.”
In 2018 I met my long-term boyfriend (and my best friend to this day) on Tinder.
But even when we started dating, exclusively, I didn’t stop swiping.
I was still traveling for a living.
This app was my Aladdin.
It could show me the world.
But there are plenty of things a local knows better thanLonely Planet.
I had this epiphany in Spain, shortly after matching with a sexy Spaniard.
Carlos was a kite surfer and my key to unlocking doors I didn’t even know existed.
They opened onto beautiful secret beaches and into the best off-the-beaten-path tapas bars.
He took me to places so authentic that if I didn’t order in Spanish, I starved.
But it was Toby, a hotter-than-a-Hemsworth Australian who took my oyster virginity at a fancy raw bar inBrisbane.
I grew up in Montana where seafood is synonymous with Red Lobster.
Toby and I never even held hands.
But our relationship, still going strong three years later, is as intimate as platonic gets.
We’repen pals the snail mail kind.
The best card he sent me is basically an Aussie slang dictionary.
I plan on using the lexicon the next time I visit him down under.
He was a godsend when Mount Agung started spewing ash and closed the airport, leaving me stranded.
I don’t think it ever took off as much as Tinder did.
Tinder is even faring well despite the closing of borders.
In April, the company madePassport free for all members.
It helps me to lock in dinner plans even days before touching down.
I believe in the law of attraction.
I don’t have a single scary stage-five clinger story to share.
I have dozens, if not hundreds, of success stories.
I never saw him again, but I took every subsequent Tinder date in Chiang Mai there.
I left with two new much-needed female friends.
Plus, now I have a place to stay in three different countries.
We didn’t win.
But for five years he’s been a serious source of inspiration when I’m looking for new destinations.
He’s also the first person I reach out to when I have camera questions.
Then there’s Lian, a Matthew McConaughey lookalike from South Africa.
We spent less than 24 hours together before going our separate ways.
Nothing romantic happened for months.
However, we stayed in touch, texting every day.
We even started a book club.
Our first book was Malcolm Gladwell’s “Talking to Strangers.”
The last book was his doppelganger’s debut memoir, “Greenlights.”
Unfortunately, coronavirus put the kibosh on our budding romance.
He went home to quarantine in Cape Town.
Statistically speaking, I have the best chance of running into Bryce, an artist who lives near me.
He’s now engaged.
I also believe Tinder belongs on any list of top travel apps.
For some users it’s a hookup app.
It’s also a tool for meeting like-minded travelers.
All you have to do is swipe right on the right people.
