What is it With Women and Travel on Dating Profiles?

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I had spent hours looking through nearly every online dating profile in my city, and I am not too optimistic. Of course there are the usual complaints (cliches, bad attitudes, snobbery) but the one thing I have found consistent is that nearly every single one of the non-crazy women on dating sites are 'world travelers'. It's almost like someone hacked into every profile and added the words "I have been to XX countries and plan to visit X more this year." I don't mind if someone has been on an international trip, but all I can think is "how in the f*** can they afford all that travel?" The job market around here is beyond dire to the point most graduates are unemployed yet it seems everyone has several big international trips planned. I can only conclude they are either a)liars or b)up to their eyeballs in debt (another big turnoff). As someone who detests travel and prefers to vacation close to home, I gotta admit it's disheartening to see how almost every women is obsessed with traveling the world. Is Canada really that bad of a place? Is there any woman left who just want to create a stable home and not travel the world? Am I the only person in the world who doesn't have or want to get a passport? What's with this nearly universal obsession about travel?

Travel is a sign of socioeconomic status usually paid for by schools for a study-abroad program or by parents/grandparents. You can do it for a few thousand dollars or even get a job in another country. A lot of people who travel do so cheaply, basically going to another country to be a homeless vagabond for a week or two.

I would also like to point out that people who are travel-oriented are over-represented on dating sites because they don't spend the time to form close connections to their community in any one place. E.g. Chronically single. That said they also are likely looking for people with the means (i.e. family wealth) to fund their habit. Furthermore they might just be trying to make themselves look interesting and diverse rather than people who really spend most of their time watching netflix.

I agree, and am glad I am not the only one who has noticed the seemingly pervasive love of travel. To me it is a near-immediate exclusion when I see travel listed as an interest. I am a happy and proud homebody, thank you very much.

I suspect many of them are lying or grossly exaggerating because they are stuck for something interesting to say, and there is a perception that travel makes you interesting. When I was in my teens this was a favourite for application forms - uni and for jobs.

A lot of the female profiles are fake. The sites put them there to make it seem like there are a lot of women on the site to attract men.

Gosh, I can relate to this. I tried match.com for a couple months and every single man said one of these things: "I love to travel" or "I plan to travel here" or "I want a driven woman" or "I love my career" or "I love an active lifestyle and want someone that does too".


Turned off immediately when I read those comments. They are admitting why they're single with those comments. They are in love with their career, they are in love with travel, they are in love with being active. How can someone have time to love a person when they love all those things and have no time for anything else?

It's very simple really. They want someone to experience it with.

I am a pretty active person, I snow ski, jet ski, work out, go on rollarcoasters, all that fun stuff, but it sure would be hella more fun to not go by myself.

I also love my job, but I am at my job 40 hours a week, there's plenty of time outside of work.

Amazing how the very things you describe as immediate turn offs, are things that I look for.

It's a turn off because you sound way too busy to have a girlfriend. I also am a homebody.

If you find someone that can fit into your lifestyle though, that's great! But I grew up with 2 parents who are obsessed with their jobs and usually neglect me because of it. Both of my parents still travel the world for work and again, forget about me at home. They use to have other parents take care of me when I was young. I'd rather have a man who says "family is first, my career is second". I want him to work, but I don't want him neglecting his family for a job. It's a balancing act.

I understand that, I have met plenty of people who are like that.

I do think though there is a difference between obsessed with a job and loving a job. I think your happier people are going to be those who are happy with their jobs because hell, you spend 1/3rd of your life at work. If you hate every minute of that, it's going to rub off on your home life. There def are those people who do place work above everything else, but I wouldn't group everyone who loves their job into that.

Dudes take them. This is what that translates into from girl speak. At first it's "I'm a world traveler" then it becomes "I went out with this one guy who took me here, than another that took me here, then another who took me to this place, but he left me there and I had to call my parents to wire me the money to get back and he stole my passport. Where you gonna take me. Ballers only apply here"

And you asked if Canada is such a bad place. Well, I've been there once. LOL for real i have. Regina. It's cold, people don't know how to talk, the money is wierd. So, I'd say yeah. It is not Alabama. So to me, it is. But I'd assume that for you, Alabama would be horrible. It's all in what you are used to.

Well if you went to Regina that's your problem right there No offense to anyone from Saskatchewan of course but it's not exactly the best the country has to offer. I went to Maine once and it was horribly depressing: like I was in an alternate reality of semi-zombies and my brother went to Tennessee and told me it was scary how people openly talked about religion and guns on the street literally on every corner and how fanatical they were about it. Still, I'm sure the USA is a decent country overall with lots to see and do if I lived there but I digress.


I actually saw a profile which stated they just to watch netflix on Friday night and only want to talk to someone who can accept that and doesn't party. Even though she is in another city, I am going to write her and thank her for her honesty. These "travelers" probably think they are being hip, modern and original but don't seem to clue in everyone is saying the exact same things and as a result, men are going to look at bodies to make a decision on who to contact. It's almost like the women are trying to be everything to everybody and that's as dumb as shooting generic resumes out of a cannon towards every business in town hoping to land a dream job. I make my dislike of tattoos/piercings/hair dye known and if someone doesn't like it they can keep moving because we will never get along in a relationship and I am done wasting my time and energy on dead ends.


They may or may not be but the fact I don't know should tell you something. Most women's (decent) profiles are so damn boring, cliche and unoriginal they tell me nothing and might as well have been written by a robot. In fact, one real profile said something almost word for word (something like there's nothing like getting off a plane and smelling a new country) that an obvious fake profile had. Another thing I am finding it that nearly every girl paints herself as a left wing hipster type who saves the planet and is vegetarian yet McDonalds and Walmart are still going strong. Online dating is once again proving to be a monumental waste of time and energy because nobody will just present themselves honestly and professionally like I try to do.

Note to any single women reading this thread: if you even ATTEMPT to show how you would make a great Girlfriend (and at my age eventually Wife and Mother) you WILL get plenty of interest from decent men like myself. I literally have NEVER seen a single profile that actually said what the woman will bring to the relationship. Hate to say it, but with all the interest in travel, saving the world, etc I wonder how the heck they will ever find the time to care for a child(ren). Most of them look like they would be terrible mothers and at my age that is one of the biggest properties I am looking for in a mate. I'm so sick of the "I'm-so-independent-and-perfect-and-backpack-around-the-world" profiles my eyes just glaze over. The woman who wants to settle down and start a family cannot be extinct, can they?

FWIW, virtually all the men do the same. As well as bragging about all their world travel. I *want* to travel, because I haven't seen all that much of this world (or even this country) yet. But that doesn't mean I want someone to scoop me up and fly me to Paris. My ideal picture of travel is to buy a nice travel trailer and take my home with me. As I'm approaching retirement age, I'm realizing that with just my retirement income, I won't be able to afford my house payments by myself.

So, in lieu of hooking up with someone that I can mooch off of (which is a concept that is inconceivable to me), I plan to buy a travel trailer and live in it. I might park it in a nice RV park somewhere, or in a National Forest, or I might park it in a friend's or relative's driveway, or I might take off and visit various parts of North America. The thing I like about it is that "home" is always with me, but I get the stimulation of seeing new places. And, yeah, I'd love someone to travel with....not to foot the bill, but as a companion. This is something my late fiance and I were planning to do together after I retired, and I haven't lost the desire, just the companion.

And, one other thing factors in: if I ever get to the point where I want another relationship, the odds are about 10 zillion to one against finding someone suitable where I live now. I want the freedom to be able to go to where the odds are a bit better.

In any case, I think someone must have published a "how to write a profile for an online dating site" and sold tens of millions of copies. Most of the profiles I come across are very "cookie-cutter," just as you describe, HockeyFan. Both male and female profiles (since I moderate, I see a lot of the female profiles, too). Sometimes I get bored, sometimes I get amused, sometimes I get irritated when I run into 10 or 20 in a row that sound exactly the same. They all sound like boy scouts or effin' golden retrievers!

Last edited by Eureka13 on 20 Feb 2014, 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The problem is that you're on OKC which happens to be dominated by the very type you despise (i.e. left wing vegetarian hipsters).
You're shopping in the wrong store.
I think eHarmony would be more suited for a conservative type like you.

Yuzu is correct about OKC being loaded with left-wing vegetarian hipsters. I'm pretty solidly left-wing, but neither vegetarian nor hipster. And my world-saving tendencies are severely limited by my sensory processing issues.

I'm the same way as you, except my outdoor activities circulate around mountain things than cold snow mountain things. I'd love to be with someone who either loves the same outdoor activities or just loves being active and is willing to try new things.
I like hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, camping, four wheeling, flyfishing, white water rafting and kayaking/canoeing. I also work out but I think there's a big distinction between working out as a part of a healthy lifestyle and people who are obsessed with it.

It seems like a lot of people who don't work out or work out very rarely assume that people who work out on a more regular basis are obsessed with it and too busy to do much else.
I don't see how spending 1-2 hours a day at the gym sucks up so much time that you can't do anything else in your life.

I actually did do eHarmony and I found the exact same problem of everyone being a world traveler (and either a nurse or teacher too) and that's why I went to OKCupid originally. As well, as much as "liberal" types annoy me, I'm just as annoyed by "conservatives". That's kinda what I worried about in a previous post: coming across as a right winger when I am not. Probably slightly more libertarian if anything but I'm fairly "normal" when it comes to politics. Sadly, seems to be few people in the middle and most gravitate to either side of the spectrum.

I did find eHarmony women were generally more conservative and feminine looking, which I have to admit is very important to me no matter how much I try to deny it but I still had the problem with these same women not having any interest in me at all even though they claim to want someone like me. Oh well.


I have to admit if I was able to bring my fancy pants HDTV and Queen sized bed, be near a KFC or McDonalds at all times and not have to worry about $$$ I would love to do something like that too. Unfortunately, my sensory issues overwhelm that desire and trips are more stress than they are worth especially given the outrageous costs involved. Sigh, maybe I can learn to astral project or become a ghost so I don't have those limitations. In all seriousness though it's the whole bragging part that drives me up the wall, is if you are nothing if you haven't backpacked across Europe or Australia. Uh, not my lifestyle at all and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.