Around the World in 80 Dates

by Jennifer Cox

Sorry, Dorothy--sometimes your heart's desire isn't in your own backyard.
Head of PR and spokesperson for Lonely Planet travel guides, Jennifer Cox has explored the most remote regions, toured the most exotic terrains, and bonded with people the world over. So how come finding her soul mate in her own hometown of London is a virtual dead end? Certain that the man of her dreams is out there somewhere, Jennifer sets out on the trip of a lifetime, dating her way around the globe--across 18 countries, in 6 months--to find The One.
Around the World in 80 Dates is her fresh, funny, emotionally honest and revealing memoir of her global dating adventures. From the Skate Date in Paris to the High Roller in Vegas, from the Love Professor in Sweden and the Dead Date in Italy to Australia's Penguin Ranger, here is the inside scoop on a bevy of potential partners--a sharply witty and warm hearted true story that will have you breathlessly crisscrossing the international dateline along with Jennifer, to discover where in the world is her Mr. Right.
Take off with Jennifer Cox as she goes Around the World in 80 Dates

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Chick Lit, Memoir, Romance, Book Club, Biography

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

4/4. I hope I never have to go on another first date in my life. 74 dates in 79 days. Part 3/4 here

61. Wynn. Farmers Market. He was beautiful, a neuroscientist from NY visiting his mother in West Palm Beach, and his Tinder profile made it obvious he was looking for a hook up. I don't do hook ups I might have slipped once or twice in the past, but I'm now holding out for a relationship. No regrets though :-). So I messaged him that I wasn't doing anything that evening but wasn't up for sex. So we got chatting and agreed to see what might happen. What did was I fancied him but he didn't fancy me. I was surprised. But I guess I'm not the thin glossy models he's used to in New York. We had drinks, then smoked a bit of weed in my room and talked sex, objectively, it was quite fun. He said let's be friends so I gave him my phone number. He did phone several times on his way up to Key West, but he was only looking for connections to buy weed. I don't have any. I don't buy it. I smoke theirs!

62. Ralph date no. 3. Farmer's Market. A lovely evening, candlelight, palm trees, red wine... coffee, bed for a bit of kissing. I like Ralph but he is too dedicated to his work to really have a relationship. He likes to be in his office around 6 a.m. and then works to between 4 and 7 pm. He would prefer we only see each other weekends as he says he gets too tired in the week. I guess that his paycheck which is in the millions is worth his while. He says once he's got his two daughters through college he's going to give up. I can't believe that it would take more than a month to pay off the entire college bill for both of them.

63. Ross had vouchers for half price meals and wanted me to go to some dive pub that I wasn't into at all. I don't think he was looking for a relationship as much as company to use up his endless vouchers. As it was he didn't phone me in the afternoon to confirm it, so I didn't go. I doubt he did.

64. Bob. Farmer's Market. He was a nice round man. You could almost guess he was father of daughters. Very warm and family-oriented, we had a lovely lunch. I can imagine for a woman wanting to fit right into a family and cook lunch and go to weddings and have a best friend and husband rolled into one, he would be your man. I told him I was going down to Miami for a few weeks and he said he would drive down to see me. I don't know why I encouraged him. I had no interest in him at all. Lots of phonecalls and messages later, I had to admit it. I felt kind of bad at leading him on, I just didn't want to let him down he was so eager.

65. Ralph, date no. 4. After dinner it was time! That time, and it was good. Not great, but good. Possibilities and it was lovely cuddling a big-bodied man. He left at dawn and promised to drive down to Miami for our next date.

66. Sedrick, a South American guy with many businesses. Salumi Midtown Miami. Not my favourite Italian restaurant. Another wealthy man, what is it they see in me these phenomenally wealthy men and why aren't they in relationships? This guy had parked his rental close to Salumi and it had been towed, so he spent most of lunch on the phone trying to sort it out. That was a bit boring. He asked me out on a second date, but never followed through. There you go.

67. Kyle. Oh this was awful. He wore hippy clothes from the sixties and had a long tapestry bag dangling by his knees and a scraggly ponytail and wanted a kiss for just meeting. No chance. We went to Bayside, walking in all the Latin American restaurants (I live across the road in Miami) and listening to the salsa. He finally settled on one which served nachos on plastic plates with plastic knives and forks. He was the most lecherous man I went out with. All about getting stoned and having sex and telling me that I was too cold and tight, too English. I just didn't fancy him. He phoned next day to apologise and ask for another date. NO.

68. Ian. Colada Cuban restaurant. I had been talking to Ian for months and we finally met. He's a lawyer with a condo in upscale Brickell which is really the other part of Downtown Miami, so he walked over and we had bottles of good red wines. He was tall, thin, good-looking, everything I like physically, mentally too. We talked until they closed the place. I wanted to see him again, but I wasn't his type...

69. John, Soya e Pomodoro, 5 minutes walk from me and my favourite restaurant for food. John was another pony-tail wearer. I couldn't make him out at all. He talked, but nothing memorable. When I wrote to thank him. He wrote back that much as we got on there was no spark, and he was right.

70. Al, we went to Duckanoo, a Jamaican restaurant where everyone sits outside in the little booths with all the cushions, listens to the loud music and smokes weed. Very nice vibes. I was dancing and the hostess came up to me and said how come I was dancing like a Jamaican. I said I was a West Indian, that was how I danced (I've lived there more than half my life). We had a nice time but neither of us was really into the other.

71. Ralph, date no. 6. I took him to Casa Tua Cucina in Saks Fifth Avenue, Brickell. Partly because we could get the free metrorail (which Ralph had never been on) and then walk home and partly because they make the best pizzas I've ever had anywhere in the world. Ralph ordered a lot of food, starters, pizza, branzino, and then had half of it packed up for his lunch tomorrow. We had a lovely evening, a pretty good night, breakfast together in the morning and I thought, maybe, just maybe this could work. He was talking about coming up to the islands after quarantine because he liked sailing and knew the islands well. I didn't know this would be the last time I would see him. I don't know if he knew then or not.

72. Rich. Soya e Pomodoro again. My son said don't be so picky and I was such a looks-queen, but I've dropped that now, no need for good looks or a fancy car (but they help). Rich is not really good-looking (but has a nice Audi S5, like a Porsche) but he was so much fun. We just instantly clicked. That was it. I knew immediately I was going to want to see him again and him me.

73. Rich. We went to Duckanoo for a cocktail while waiting for our table next door at Le Chick. The hostess remembered me and so we didn't have to join the line but got a high-top. We had a little dance together! Then we went to Le Chick to eat the best buttermilk chicken in existence and I don't usually like chicken at all. Then, since I thought Rich was so special I took him to see the present love of my life, the champagne yellow 1965 Porsche in Walt Grace Vintage and he loves cars too so we walked all around Wynwood admiring the graffiti, the artwork the whole area is covered in, talking cars. And kissed. And the kissing was fantastic, everything you want from a kiss.

74. Rich. Meraki. Normally a really good Greek restaurant, the service was the pits. never even got offered dessert or coffee. We drove around a bit in his lovely car, then stopped at the water's edge, where the moon rippled right to the shore and he turned up the music loud and we danced on the sidewalk. We were perfectly in tue, and I thought, this is only our third date, but tomorrow is my last night and I really, really like this guy... so.... and it was wonderful.

Since then we have talked on the phone for about two hours a night, almost every night and tomorrow, Tuesday May 4th, I'm going down to Miami for 9 days, he's paid for the tickets (I have to get a charter flight to get to an international airport, it's very expensive) and we are driving up to Key West and seeing where it goes. I'm so excited. I wish he'd been date no.1 and I could have been with him all this time, but you know, better late than never!

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

1/4 This is my personal and pretty much shallow reminiscences of my efforts to find a boyfriend. I shouldn't think much if any of it is of interest to anyone else. I didn't quite make 80 dates, but I had 74 in 79 days, between Dec 29th 2020 and March 18th, all in search of a bf. And I found one! The last one was the magical one. Three days together and now I'm going back to Florida next week and he's taking me on a surprise trip to Key West. I bet it is to see Ernest Hemingway's and Tennessee Williams' houses.). I thought before I forget, I will detail them. A few of them are quite well-known authors. A few were very weird. Most dates were nice although one only lasted 90 seconds.

1. I had been talking to Leonard since March 2020 when we were locked down.It was dark when he picked me up in a nice blue Alfa Romeo to go to Trulucks down the road in Brickell so I didn't see that he wasn't 59 at all. But when he got out and was wearing Dad-pants hitched up high and a Mr Rogers turtleneck and cardigan... oh dear. He kept digging his bony knee into mine over the meal and offering me more and more inducements to be his girlfriend.

He had tickets to see Andrea Boccelli in Rome in June, then Aida in Verona in July, August was cruising to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. But first he invited me to spend New Year's Eve in Fort Lauderdale with him. I said I will Uber back, I'm not staying the night with you. He said if we got on, I should move in straight away, no need for me to work ever again. He said at 'our time of life' we shouldn't waste time. I looked him up online next day - he was 78!

2. Paul. He was 6'9" and wore 3" cowboy boots and kept complaining people were looking at him. LOL. He made me realise just how racist the States were with his weird jokes, like maybe you should move your bag to the other shoulder where I can't reach it. That was the mildest. It was a disastrous date because he couldn't work out Miami's parking app. I agreed to see him again.

3. Mike. This was terrible. Last year I went out with him in Delray Beach (which is where I got Covid) and he brought his little poodle, Bentley with him. He was all about himself and how rich he was and how he never went anywhere, including the bathroom and bed, without Bentley. When I was talking he looked through his phone for pictures to show me. Despite endless texts and phonecalls I refused to go out with him again.

So he put up pics of someone else and we got chatting on Bumble and I didn't know it was him until he opened the car door outside my place. And there was Bentley. We went round the corner fto a Peruvian restaurant, Ceviche, for a meal as I wanted to get away. He was even worse than the year before. But I got my own back. Bentley really is very cute and lots of other people were petting him. He told a lady not to feed him human food, as he got the shits and he didn't like cleaning up.

So Mike ordered for me, chicken. I do not like chicken very much. Bentley got most of it under the table. I hope he got the shits next day.

3. Jerome. We went to Amara at Paraiso on the beach, which was an amazing restaurant with good food and terrible service. Jerome was also around 78 claiming he was 59. He had been a gemologist, dealt in rare and expensive gems and lived at the Ritz. He was kind of fun but not fanciable although he was absolutely rampant. (Someone should cut down on his viagra prescription). I said I'd have lunch with him again.

4. Steven. He refused to tell me his last name, or where he worked (he was a lawyer in his own practice) so I got him to book, Soya e Pomodoro, round the corner from me so I could make a quick escape if he was that weird. I went to SeP and asked if a Steven had booked, they know me there, and told me his number so I checked him out. He didn't look like his pics, he was a miserable git who had never had a relationship longer than 3 years. I'm not going out with anyone who hasn't proved they can't make a relationship work. He was his stated age, 55 though.

5. Charlie. I screwed this one up. He drove down from Fort Lauderdale, a lawyer with his own plane and a mad sense of humour.We went to Bayside for a cheap Cuban meal then to Sugar, 44 stories up it's a Thai-style bar and fabulous. So he asked me out for Saturday to fly down to Key West in his plane but cancelled when I said I couldn't lie in the sun on the beach but would wear jeans and a t-shirt on his boat to go fishing. Nope, had to go snorkelling with him. I can't, I'm a redhead, I burn terribly in the sun. Kind of upset, I really liked him.

6. Steve came down from Delray for lunch, we went to Michael's Genuine which was trendy and outdoors which is why he'd picked it. We sat at opposite ends of a long table, we walked 6' apart (couldn't hear what he was saying) and nice as he was in many ways, listening to the virtues of economic life under Trump was not what I had in mind. I did agree to see him again, but thought it would never happen.

I've been chatting to a blind guy, a day trader, who has a lot of inconsistencies in his story but is so good-looking I forgive him. He cancelled the date because his 16 year old son was coming up for the weekend. He sent me a pic of his girlfriend. She had huge breasts and the photo was obviously professional. I said she must be a porn star, that's not a kid. A few days later he told me she looked exactly like that - but he can hardly see anything! Inconsistencies.

7. Duncan. Bombay Darber. Oh this was exciting. He had been a male model for 20 years, and lived on a boat and did nothing but have adventures. We had a really great evening talking about sailing, climbing, flying planes (he had one too). Then he told me he was off to Costa Rica in a couple of days to see the rainforest. But he forgot his story by the end of the week. He was down there getting his teeth fixed. We continued talking but it was obvious that he was interested in having lots of women for sex and I just want to be in lurrrve with one guy (and sex too).

9. A guy whose screenname was Phishyfun took me to Tap 42 in Midtown. He was a bikini and swimsuit salesman roaming all over Florida selling his wares. He was phenomenally boring. He said his sons said he should travel, do something interesting, because he was getting old and boring.

10 Jerome again, the old guy from no. 3. Glass and Vine very close to his apartment at the Ritz he tried to get me to go up for an aperitif and then coffee. And then said he wanted to show me his gems (he had been a gem dealer) and drive me home in his vintage Rolls Royce. Dirty old man. I Ubered home!

11. Jay who has his own inspirational/business company. Soya e Pomodoro. I like that restaurant it's in an old bank foyer and got a washing line and a library in it with real books called Pompeii and I can walk home. I liked Jay a lot but he's like sexless, I get the feeling I could have been out with a girlfriend.

12 Harry Hurt III Doma in Wynwood. Place was all about style. Steak tartare came in a hollowed out bone with little pieces of truffle on top. You don't get much steak inside a bone and I couldn't taste the truffle, so thinly was it sliced. Harry was an excellent host regaling me of tales of his life. But what was most interesting was his outfit. Fancy suit-type jacket, ugly Dad sweater, leather hat with fringes going down the back and..... shoes with kittens on. High point: he had written a book about how dangerous Trump was back in the 90s, and in 2017 Trump kicked him off his golf course. (Harry's favourite golfing outfit, from cap to shoes is pink). He did give me signed copies of the book and also a strange novel written in big print double spaced with nice graphics.

13 Tom. Casa Tua in Brickell, a huge place I really love it but the old guys find it hard to hear it's so noisy. But Tom wasn't old. And he was really, really sexy. We had a great evening, Definitely seeing him again.

14 Stephan. House in Wynwood. Very odd guy, he wore a cravat like an old man, very traditional, but he'd been a touring chef to rock bands, and spent years with the Grateful Dead. He now had a company that designed food for restaurants, upscale ones or in resorts all based on 'themes'. He went light on the food, starters for us to share, but heavy on the alcohol! Made a second date, but not going.

15. Peter. Le Chick. I don't like chicken but the buttermilk chicken and cucumber salad here was phenomenal. Pete was an ordinary guy, never had a long relationship lived in NY in the summer and Boynton Beach in the winter and talked about how cheap the BB one was, what the service charge was, what the amenities were. We went to Wynwood Walls a graffiti gallery of phenomenal work. Then I took him to my favourite car showroom, Walt Grace Vintage to see the car I am in love with, a 1965 yellow Porsche which as you can see from this link, has been sold :-( He phoned several times but I don't want to see him again.

16 Rick. Really weird person. He has some sort of major gene therapy company in Wales though he lives in the US. Hasn't been out for a year because of Covid and finished with his girlfriend of 5 months because she didn't take it as seriously as he did. He drove down from West Palm Beach to see me, that's a long way. I brought cheese and fruit and bread from Wholefoods and he brought a cheap bottle of wine from Publix, and we went for a walk in Bayfront Park (I live there) and sat on two benches 6' apart with the food in the middle. Then we went for a walk. Since he was very tal and I am not, and wanted to keep 6' apart and wear masks, I couldn't keep up with his strides let alone hear his conversation. He didn't like me the moment he saw me and made no bones about covering it up and being pleasant.

17. Claude. A French guy we went to Salumi, a not very good Italian restaurant in Midtown with an undeservedly great reputation. He owned a vintage car showroom somewhere or other and made it plain he wanted sex. That's all he was looking for. Lunch, ride in fancy car - your place or mine. Mine, I Ubered. I should note that I ALWAYS offer to split the bill. Sometimes they take me up on it. I never see them again if they do that, first time a guy pays. I am quite happy to pay the whole bill on a second or subsequent date, it's just etiquette though.

18. Jay again (#11). We went to Duckanoo a Jamaican restaurant with loud reggae, everyone smoking weed and nice little outdoor booths with cushions. I was dancing and having fun and the hostess came up to me and asked me how I was dancing like a Jamaican. I said I was a West Indian actually and had been dancing like this for half my life. So we had a little boogie together. I like Jay, but, there is something wet-fish about him.

19. Patrick. A French diplomat. He is at Le Chick much earlier than me and drinking cocktails. He's on his second or third martini. Drinks three glasses of wine during the meal. We have a burger and split it, and then a pudding and split it. He has another cocktail. I have a glass of wine. The bill comes, the food is about $40, the drinks $130, I offer to split it and he says yes, so I pay for his drinks. He wants to see me again. Right. I'm not that rich and I don't like drunks.

20. Joel. Pubelly in Brickell for sushi. No social distancing whatsoever, everyone is packed in. He is sitting at the bar and doesn't get up. Very strange. Nice guy, orders masses of sushi and I have crab cakes for the first time, very nice. We have a fun evening but I don't think there was any attraction for either of us. When we get up to go, I realise why he didn't stand up when I came in. He's maybe 5'1" in his shoes with lifts! I don't mind if a guy is shorter than me, but guys mind.

21. Jay again. Takes me to a really dreadful outside restaurant that he says is like an old style road house and got great reviews on Yelp. Tough steak, macaroni cheese and overcooked broccoli. We go back to my place for coffee. We had walked back to his car hand in hand, but now he sat on the sofa as far away from me as possible and there was to be no first kiss. So I was right, a cold fish.

22. Harv. A pharmaceutical salesman for his own company who had been fighting with his brother and over a long lunch at Hiro, a quite nice sushi place miles from anywhere, I got to hear every last detail. I must have hidden my boredom well, as he wanted a second date. So many of these guys really want to tell me about themselves, but they never ask a single question. Sometimes I count to see if they can get to three questions. I ask them loads, I like to draw them out.

23. Erik. Interesting. Brutal. An Israeli who lives in South America (I forget where) and Miami and has a huge motorcycle. We went to Il Gabbiano, close to me. I had always thought it was a bit too expensive and too pretentious, and so it was. But I had the best Moscow Mule there made with crushed raspberries. Pretentious - for the pudding, two waiters unrolled a fresh tablecloth on top of our still-pristine one. But what was most fun was the four guys at the next table had ordered desserts, one of them the crepe suzette. A waiter came and for fifteen minutes he carefully peeled an orange with a knife and fork.... Geez.... Still it was nice to go there. Erik was seriously interesting, had a lot of adventures, travelled all the time so we go for a walk along the Miami river bank which is beautiful at night, all lit up, then back to my place for coffee and made a date for the next night (coffee by the way is just that, not a euphemism for sex, although I may kiss them along with the coffee).

Next night he phones me and says your place or mine. I said I don't know you, I'm not going to sleep with you just like that. He says why not? I say I'm looking for a long-term relationship not sex on the fly. He says you never know what might develop and says if I change my mind to phone him. I don't. He whatsapps me but it doesn't come to anything.

24 Barry, lunch. He says he's a property developer from NY driving an Uber in the mornings for something to do. But during our long conversations I can hear his radio and I realise he's an Uber driver with a fantasy life. At one point he says if he does X no. of miles, he gets a bonus, and then how he has a fare to Orlando. No one part time is going to do that. We arrange to meet at a nearby restaurant but I don't go as I think he has catfished me. I check with the manager. He didn't go.

Review, next set of dates, continued here, pt 2/4 5 stars to the author for letting me use her review space. I will in any case read the book and write a review.

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

3/4 Are you as weary of reading this as I was of first dates? LOL Continued from part 2 here. There might be TMI here, but I'm mostly writing this for myself in five years so I can remember.

I see I missed out some stories. Date #6 Steve After Michael's Genuine we went to a very fashionable coffee shop up the road and sat outside (as one does these days). A couple of tables away was a person with a very nice, mid-calf, Laura-Ashley type dress. High neck, long sleeves, pretty cotton print, shoes and bag matching, a sunhat and a goatee beard. They were obviously waiting for someone who didn't turn up and after about 15 mins, left.

A while later, another person similarly dressed and with goatee beard turned up. I wonder if they'd missed each other? Everyone should dress how they please and I don't confuse clothes with the person, we all dress for certain roles we don't feel natural in at times. But there was something slightly jarring about goatee beards and such very ladylike clothes.

I also missed out a date, which put my numbers out. Paul #2 We had another date, should have been #7. Since it is of no consequence to me (having been married to black and white men and having black and white children), I forgot to mention Paul is black. Several of the guys in this dating adventure are black and I don't remember if I ever note it. He said he was going to come and pick me up, so I told him where to park, plenty of parking right in front of me. He phoned, he had got lost but his GPS showed him less than half a mile away. It took him numerous calls and over half an hour to walk to me. Being as he is 7' tall in his cowboy boots, it was easy to see him making progress (he stopped in the 7/ll for ages). When he got to me he was absolutely blind drunk, he said he'd had one or two and had parked near the Intercontinental Hotel for reasons unknown. I refused to drive anywhere with him so we went around the corner for a burger.

It was a sort of Hungarian place but did burgers too, so he ordered a beer, I had a diet coke, and two burgers. They took a long time to come. He rambled on about the house he was having remodelled in Coconut Grove (fancy area) and the house he was trying to sell in Chicago and how his builder was ripping him off. He was a voice-over actor and even sounded quite good whining. He ate two big bites of his burger and then sent it back. He picked at my chips (fries) and things went from bad to worse. It took forever for them to send a new burger out and he didn't want it then.

He whined about his ex wife and one of his daughters, a track star in Chicago he was very proud of , neither of them wouldn't speak to him, and his other daughter wouldn't visit. He was so depressing. I tried to be nice, but he was slobbery and drunk.

When the bill came, his burger had been removed, leaving just my burger, the coke and the three beers he drank to pay for. "Let's split the bill, " he said. We did. We said goodbye. I thought I'd never hear from him again. He sent me flowers for Valentine's day and a message for a date, I said thank you on Whatsapp and blocked his number.

Back to the regular programming as they say!

45. David, Farmer's Table. Oh it was almost love at first sight at first sight of his site anyway. He owned and operated a beautiful ultra-luxe 'cabin' (with staff) deep in the woods on a lake. He was really nice too and we talked long into the night. Long after the bar was closed we were sitting on the sofas outside just chatting about everything from books to travel to well everything. He said he was going away with his buddies on a golfing trip to Naples next day but would definitely contact me when he got back. He did, "I don't like being ghosted, so I don't want to do it to you. We had a great date, I really enjoyed myself and I wish you luck for the future." Sod it.

46. Harvey again. 4th date. We went to Tap 42, a short walk from my place in Boca Raton. Had a lovely chill evening and went back to my place. Time to do the Dirty Deed. I'd been a virgin since I came back to the islands after getting Covid (Feb/Mar 2020) so a whole year. I was ready! It didn't work. He thought it did but I just didn't want him to stay the night, I wanted him to go home. I couldn't stand his body smell. He didn't have bad hygiene or anything - we had a shower together which I'd suggested to try to fix the issue - just his natural smell. So night and morning was awful for me and good for him. This is a real dilemma because I like the man.

Btw I would never let a nascent relationship go beyond 4/5 dates without sex for this very reason. If we aren't compatible, then it's a waste of time. You might not agree, but we all have different priorities in a relationship and sex is close to the top for me (and cars, no not really, just joking).

47. Mark. Farmer's Table for lunch. Very very odd. He was stunningly handsome, his casual clothes were obviously designer, he was cultured and witty and as a cold as a wet fish. Firstly, he had too much plastic surgery, his skin was too tight and of course his neck hadn't been done. He'd been a longshoreman, as had his father and grandfather before him, so he worked a really, really tall crane before he retired. He said the Union was so good that he retired after 25 years with a reasonable pension. He had never been married or had a relationship that lasted longer than 2 years. Not for me. And as it turned out with his non-reply to my thank you for lunch (I always write thank you messages, even to the really awful guys) I wasn't for him either.

48. Mitch Russo Lunch at a really nice Mediterranean restaurant with pretty pergolas in Delray. Forget the name. I'm always super-suspicious about why these mega-wealthy men want to go out with me, especially after falling for Kenneth (the billionaire racing car driver) in 2019 who turned out to be a playboy and eventually dumped me. Mitch, like Kenneth, was not flashy. He had handfuls of pills and all sorts of dietary things that made ordering difficult, and was quite a bit older than I thought. But he was nice, very interesting, he was involved in inspirational business coaching, but all sorts of software sidelines, and me being such a techie girl, I loved that. I thought he was great! I messaged him thank you for a lovely lunch, but there was no reply.

49. Harvey, fifth date. Farmer's Table, lovely dinner. Back to my place. Bed. OMG I cannot stand this man sexually. My body is like oil to his water. I do my best, I really like this man but I'm not into it and though I try he knows it and is upset and really turns on me and lists all my sins, any failure on his part is my fault. It's not the first time a man has turned on me like this. But I always hope it's going to be the last. He stays the night. The morning is worse than the night. I can't see him again.

50. Ralph. Ah this is going to be interesting. Kathy's Gazebo, Boca Raton, a fabulous French restaurant with prices to match. He suggests the Dover sole flown in from Holland, the most expensive dish on the menu. He's so and kind of big, not fat, and traditional and not my type at all. Except we talk and talk and the restaurant closes before we finish, and this will happen every time. He tells me he runs a property empire for a 'very, very wealthy man' and only moved here two years ago. He says he was a banker with Morgan Stanley, then had his own wealth company, but now earns more in a year than he did the whole time he was a banker.

But he doesn't come from wealth. He comes from a farming family where meat was what you hunted and Grandma cooked with the vegetables they grew, a very subsistence life. But he was clever and made it out. I like this man but he's so traditional and not like the wild kind of adventurous guy I like so much (who always lets me down). So I'm going to go for it!

51. Richard. Farmer's Table, lunch. Totally insane man. I mean certifiable. He was coming from quite a long way away but was dropping friends of at West Palm Beach airport so he said we should have lunch. He phoned me at 1.20 and said he was by Town Center (a mall, huge, upscale, Saks etc. I hate those places) I said well straight up Glades Road about a two minute drive. He phoned again at 1.30 and said he was by the gas station, I said so park and walk, it's five minutes. He phoned again and again and again going all over the place. By now I have put the phone on speaker and the barman and the lady on the next bar stool are listening and we are all much amused. He spends nearly three-quarters of an hour driving in circles within less than a mile area.

Eventually he comes at gone 2 and sits down and says there wasn't a sign. I say it's a really big sign on Military Avenue and I told him he could get to it through the Wyndham on Glades which has a huge sign. He said no one had ever heard of this (mega-popular) restaurant, not even the gas station. I said maybe you need a drink to calm you down. He sat bolt upright looked at me and said, 'this isn't meant to be. I don't ever want to be a woman like you, if you'd only given me proper directions (he said he never used GPS because he 'didn't need it') this abortion wouldn't have happened. You've wasted my time.' and left. The barman comped me my cocktail!

52. All is not lost, another date that day. Grand Luxe, outside the Town Center Mall to meet Dr. Gary, a podiatrist who liked fancy cars and had a turbo Porsche. Yeah! Dr Gary was gorgeous, tall, slim, handsome, generous, but all he talked about was how his partner had ripped him off and how he was trying to build up his practice again. He told me he had loads of old age homes on his books and charged $120 to do the old people's feet, said it was only 10-20 minutes per patient, but he needed more places, more money. (I thought of Ralph, his portfolio of real estate included a chain of old age homes). It wasn't the most relaxing dinner but I was in perfect lust. So I didn't hesitate when he asked me if I wanted a ride in the car.

We went to Starbucks and then drove up I95 at high speed. Woo-hoo, the teenager in me comes out. He asks me if I'd like to see his home and I say yes. I know, I'm stupid getting in strange men's cars and going to their houses, but the only guy who didn't drive me where I wanted was a Lyft driver who took over half an hour and on the freeway for a usual $7 fare, and I was frightened. I reported him, got a refund but couldn't get Lyft to take me seriously. So I went back to Uber.

His house was in a huge gated community, very fancy, the house was ok, not that special. He had weird skeletal feet lying around which were a bit creepy. Booked himself and a friend a trip to Costa Rica and then sat down next to me and after half an hour of listening to him on the phone to his friend I was bored and wanted to go home, any naughty thoughts in my head (I'd only got as far as snogging it was a first date after all) fled and he took me home.

54. Jim. Rocco's Tacos He looked like a cruise ship passenger. Hawaiian shirt, wild messy hair (I can't talk, mine is like that) and a gold chain around his neck. He had sold jets to business customers and every time a plane went overhead (Boca Raton airport where the executive jets go is two miles away) he looked up and identified it. It got tedious. As was his insistence on us having only the happy hour items that were free and he said for a good tip he could eat all he wanted of the chips and dip. This from a man with his own Cesna. His conversation was on what a great set of buddies he had (he told me about each one, name, age, job, hobbies, wife or ex) and what an awful ex wife he had. It got tedious. I left early with a promise to see him again. Which, despite numerous paranoid messages, 'why aren't you getting back to me, what didn't you like about me? You've found someone richer. I don't what else', I never kept.

55 Didn't happen. Catfished. He wanted to meet at Thai Fusion which was very close to me but didn't answer his phone in the last hour, or phoned me back, so I didn't go.

56 Mark. Farmer's Table. He phoned me from the bar and told me he was parked out the back. So I entered through the front. No need to let him know I walked, too close to drive and I don't have a car anyway in Florida.

57. Steve. Awful man. A misfit in the world. Why are so many men looking to replace their wives? Don't they realise their wives divorced them because they were bored out of their minds while the men had good lives going to work, going out with their friends, going out out out and coming back for something to eat, to get their lunch and... hardly ever sex (we're middle-aged now, it's not so important, he said). Then they take the wife out for a meal once a week as a thank you for enabling them to have a life. And a cruise once a year. And she gets to 50 ish, the kids are grown and she's screaming inside. And the men don't understand so they are looking for a replacement. And I'm never going to be the one for that role.

58. Ted. Taverna Kyma. Another super wealthy man. He owns loads of hotels - they are all franchises. He had a black turbo Porsche 911 with ceramic brakes. Carbon ceramic brakes cost about $22,000 a set. And you stop. Just like that. Just stop. It's amazing. Dinner was fun, he was Greek and ordered some interesting dishes I wouldn't have thought of. Driving in the Porsche, the roar of the turbo and the noisemaker (all the guys have them, such children they are, but it does sound fun roaring up on people. If I had a fancy car, I would have it too). I liked him though he was a bit old, and would have seen him again, but he didn't feel the same. He hadn't had a relationship of any kind for 6 years. Too picky.

59. George. Farmer's Table. He'd driven up a long way to see me and charm me with his beautiful blue eyes. We weren't on the same wavelength at all but had a long, long date going into tea time just chatting and enjoying each others company. I thought we might stay friends, but that's not what either of us were looking for.

60. Ralph, date no. 2. Season 52. We talked until the place closed again. My son told me not to be so picky (as I usually am) so I am giving Ralph, traditional, conventional Ralph a chance, I just really like him and we can talk about anything. I think we enjoy being so different from each other. He came back for coffee and a goodnight kiss. It was a good kiss!

Last part here 4/4

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

2/4 So many men, so little connection. Continued from First 41 dates This is 2/4. Did I really go on that many dates? Still, an experience! The second part of my 73 dates in 79 days odyssey of trying to find a boyfriend. It's more an aide-memoire than anything I think will interest anyone.

25. Colin McGinn Terrible restaurant, Jardim de Portugal, in a terrible area I wouldn't want to walk alone in. He was a world famous philosopher who had resigned from his position in Miami U after being accused of inappropriate behaviour with a student with whom he was having a flirtation with for three years. His story was mild. But his wife divorced him. Another vintage Rolls Royce owner. He was a lot older than he said and looked it. Nothing went well for me, split the bill and Ubered home. He messaged me and phoned me for a week, but he was too old and kind of tarnished. I was prepared to believe that the girl could have stopped the flirtation at any time in the three years, but I also thought if his wife divorced him there must be more to it than was on Wikipedia.

26. Left Miami, up in Boca Raton now. I went out with Steve, another man who had never married or had children. He was a professional poker player and we sat in front of the Shark tank in the Atlantic Grill but only had appetizers for lunch. We messaged on and off for a few weeks but never made another date, and nice and interesting as he was - listening to his stories of high-rolling games in the casinos (he was playing in the Hard Rock that week) - I am not interested in men that can't maintain relationships.

27. David. Bonefish Grill. He looked me up and down with disdain, ordered for both of us, telling the waiter 'my usual' (fish, catch of the day, and salad). I wondered how many women he brought to this place and if he was as brusque with them as with me. He tried to make out that I was just the sort of hypocritical snob and sort of woman he didn't like, and I couldn't work out why. Nothing he said was nice, everything I said was anodyne and designed to just be pleasant. He ate his meal, didn't care if I'd finished, called for the bill, got up and stood next to me, so I did too, and we left. That date was very unpleasant and I wondered why after hours-long phonecalls I had so displeased him? My looks obviously, but what had he been expecting if not my pics?

28. Stephen. Vic & Angelo's, Delray. 90 second date. When I got there, Stephen had reserved me a seat at the bar but I couldn't get there because it was too crowded, lots of drunk people (happy hour) no masks... I said this isn't safe, can we get a booth? Booths he said weren't for happy hour (cheap eh?) and he liked where he was, he said waving his martini around. I said well Starbucks was empty, we could get a coffee and get to know each other a bit. He repeated, 'I like where I am, I'm staying, you can do what the fuck you like.' So I left. 90 second date!

29. Dani. OMG this was dangerous! He was an Israeli, he was an international paper salesman selling to publishing houses, newspapers etc, anyone who required specialist paper. We had talked so long and so often I was quite comfortable for him to pick me up. But then when I was in the car I asked where he had reserved for lunch. He said he hadn't, didn't need to for lunchtime. So I asked where he was going. He said he didn't know yet. FREAKED. I said look this isn't safe, I don't know you, please let's just stop. So he stopped at the next mall which was an ok one, Trader Joe's is there so I thought we would go somewhere reasonable.

Nope it was a fast food joint. He ordered salad because he was trying to lose weight and at around 250 lb I could see why. He looked pregnant with triplets! Then he talked non-stop of his late wife and their family life, their sex life, their... their.. .their. I offered to share the bill ($18.90 total) and he said you can pay next time. No next time sweetheart. Despite all the phonecalls. Definitely no next time.

30. Same day as 29. Phil, dinner at the Two Georges in Deerfield. He was a nice man but grumpy. He assumed that I didn't like working class men, why would I not? He had done very well for himself, drove a nice Porsche, but talked all the time of his working class roots. I really admire people who've made a great effort and succeeded. It's not like I come from aristocracy myself! So we ate too much bad food (I hate restaurants that think quantity makes up for quality), drank too much sweet cocktails and went for a fast spin up I95 and that was that. He was essentially a miserable git.

31. Matt. Papa's Tapas in Delray Beach. He was handsome, he was witty, he chain-smoked so he smelled, I liked everything else about him but sadly it wasn't reciprocated and I got a very nice, 'it was great to meet you, such a fun evening. Good luck.' message. I've sent so many myself, I was kind of sad to get one.

32. Thomas. Farmhouse in Delray Beach. Down from New York for the winter, he was a charming host, but only talked about his buddies, drinking, going to the game, sailing on their power boats. He had never had a long relationship in his life (he was in his 50s). Said he'd never met the right one, always been too busy with work, missed out on having children. Not for me. I'm not going to be another one on his chain of ultra-pickiness that no woman could match up to.

33. Brett again. Catfished. Handsome man, tells me he is nearly blind, has a helper and a cane, we talk all the time on the phone. When I am going on a date in an Uber, I have got into the habit of phoning him for a chat. Rick #16 had a gene therapy company specialising in his type of blindness, retinosa pigmentosa, and had trials going. I sent Brett the link. He didn't even bother reading that (or subsequent) Whatsapp messages, just chatted on the phone. I wondered if he was real? He said he was sending an Uber to bring me up to Fort Lauderdale. I didn't believe him so I didn't get ready and therefore wasn't surprised when it didn't turn up. I wonder who he really was and what he looked like?

34 Steven. Farmer's Table, Boca Raton. (I am living close to this lovely restaurant so I make as many dates there as possible). He's jolly and looks 58 but turns out to be 72 with two facelifts. You can tell by the scars in front of their ears and that their necks usually don't match. Another one never had a relationship and still looking for 'the one'. He had been a teacher in NY and that apparently gave him a big enough pension to have a winter home in Florida.

35. Glenn. J. Alexander's - a very cool, smooth restaurant and bar just up the road. I should have more dates here! Glenn was a big guy with a huge personality. He's a world famous (in his sphere) equine vet and goes off to be the vet at all kind of international races. We had a lovely evening and continued chatting for a couple of weeks, with Glenn inviting me out for a day at his clinic/farm for horse-riding. Me on a horse! I once had a horse tell lies about me and never got on another one.

I was learning to ride at the Animal Shelter with a friend. Our teacher went off for a while and told us to curry the horses. Mine, Cooper, kicked me a bit, then bit my bottom. So I left him alone. When Tessa got back she was very cross, she was a very bad-tempered lady, and didn't believe me. She took the horse's head between her two hands and said Cooper wouldn't bite the lady's arse would he and the horse shook his head and whinnied 'no'. She asked him if he kicked me, same result. "See," she said, "the horse said he didn't." I couldn't believe it, she would believe a horse over me. LOL. So I can barely ride.

So Glenn and I talked and although he was physically not my sort of guy and a lot older too, I really liked him and would have given it a go but it just never happens and he is off to Japan to look at some racehorses... there you go.

36 Harvey. Mario's Osteria. Very fancy night out with a very nice man. He was an advertising guy, so talked a lot, smiled a lot and we were really in sync. He was very short, shorter than me (I'm almost 5'8" in 5" heels), but that didn't bother either of us. I was inclined to kiss him goodnight but no, not on the first date. (Not unless I'm madly in lust, which happens). This is not the end of Harvey.

37. Jack, Deck 84 for lunch. Jack is big, sloppy and not very well-groomed. His shirt looked like it had been pulled from the laundry basket, smelled a bit like it too. Jack smoked :-( He brought his children's book with him. He'd written it ages ago and it was really good, beautifully illustrated. But all he wanted to do was pick my brains about how to promote it. Afterwards he said he would give me a ride up to the nearest Publix. That was the final nail in the coffin, his little car was filthy, papers, ash, old drinks cans everywhere. Forget it.

38. Same day as Jack. Harvey again from yesterday (#36), Farmer's Table for a drink. Just spent a whole lovely evening getting to know each other, chatting over cocktails and appetisers. He's such a nice man. Can kiss too, really really well. This might be going somewhere. A bonus - has weed which I prefer to alcohol anyway.

39. Charlie, Lemongrass in Delray Beach. Well was this an odd date or what? He was very handsome, quite a lot of plastic surgery, a face lift, eyes done, lovely glossy hair. He was a psychiatrist on call at the local hospital and had a pager and a phone. I didn't know pagers still existed. He was very sophisticated and charming, and afterwards took me to Kilwins where we got a selection of handmade chocolates. Oh my heart be still, this is the man for me. We sat outside eating them, and then that back-against-the-wall goodnight kiss. A few of them. And he whispered in my ear, "If you want an experience of a different kind, phone me." He made it clear he was talking BDSM, I'd made it clear I was talking LTR. We each got our Ubers home and that was that. Shame, I really liked him.

40. Gary. Farmer's Table. Talk about picky - he can't eat this, won't eat that, and this is a whole food place with produce from their own and local farms with a fantastic chef cooking in a fine-dining style. He was nice enough but talked of his divorce, how he was still friendly with his in-laws, how he was going to a wedding next day in his ex-in-laws family. I got the impression he was looking for a replacement wife from when it was good and she cooked and looked after the house and was allowed to buy expensive handbags as a reward and all he had to do after having a drink with his friends or playing golf or whatever was say, "Honey I'm home." Then she got bored and divorced him. It didn't take that long with me. I was bored over lunch. I'm not wife material. I like adventures, fast cars, planes to fly, mountains to climb, oceans to sail, not Sunday lunch to cook.

41. Harvey again. Third date. BEST VALENTINE'S DATE EVER. He came dressed up and with flowers and chocolate and a great big soppy card. No one does that for me! My heart melted. Wang's Mandarin House for dinner. Naturally we went to bed afterwards but ate chocolate rather than had sex. Snogging and all that but I had TMI burned my lady parts with a depilatory and was in agony. I had wanted to be a girl guide, 'be prepared' but I hadn't really timed the operation. He was very understanding.

42. Brian, Farmer's Table for a drink at the outside bar at lunchtime. He was very rude to me. Took one look at me and couldn't hide his disdain. He ordered himself a drink, not me. I ordered mine. I tried to chat but he didn't even want to look at me. I asked him what was wrong and he said I didn't look like my pics. I said of course I do and they are recent. He said they didn't show you so chunky - I am 20lb or so overweight, I look great dressed I think, undressed, well not so much unless it's by candlelight. He was bald, had a miserable, hard expression, a dad belly and was badly dressed, what made him think he was such a catch. Then he went on about how he liked slim women who looked after themselves. So I finished my drink, stuck $20 on the bar and walked out.

43. Pat. J. Alexander (I knew I wanted more dates here, the food is quite good, the drinks are great as is the music and the decor). Pat was as Irish as his name sounds. He worked for an industrial lighting company, one of the biggest in the US, that his family had built up. Friends had persuaded him to get a winter place in Boca Raton and being as he was wifeless, decided to try online dating. He was overwhelmed by me, not intimidated though. I do that to some guys, they just aren't used to adventurous sorts and can't imagine them. I live on an island full of ocean-going sailors, we've all travelled widely, we are ordinary to each other. He was very nice though, and next day messaged me if I would like to come to Bangkok with him, with me as his guide. LOL, no, not really.

44. Glen. Vic & Angelo's Delray. Glen had been at the very top of his sphere in the medical profession but given it all up in his 40s to promote a special cap he'd invented which would always stay on the wearer's head. He gave me handouts, business cards (but not a free cap). We shared a pizza, I looked into his beautiful blue eyes and thought he's a total nut job.

To be continued here pt. 3 of 4

[Colleen Scidmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this book! Going around the world looking for your soulmate. How much fun is that?! You get to travel to all these interesting places and have different men wine and dine you or take you on interesting outings. Wow sign me up! ;)

Jennifer Cox is a England native that had ended a five year relationship with an ahole a little over a year prior. She put herself into her work and therefore was not really finding the time or energy for dating. On top of that she felt like London really didn't have her Soul Mate. So what's a girl to do but pick up and travel the world and meet up with 80 different dates to try and meet Mr. Right.

This was a semi interesting read. I was very invested in Jen's outcome. But once she started dating there were two things that definitely inhibited her in the quest to find her true love. One she only spent a couple of hours to a day with these men. How can you tell in that time if they are you're soul mate? You can tell if there is no chemistry I believe but to find your soul mate you have to invest more than a few hours. Which is demonstrated when she finds someone she thinks she might like. And two, she was pretty picky at times and I felt like she didn't give some of the dates a chance.

Other than that it was really funny how some of the dates became hysterical debacles. AKA her date with Paul and the Chinese Reflexologist. Also the countries she visited sounded gorgeous. I envy her to be able to travel the world.

The book was really a great premise just a little unrealistic, but what do I know because obviously something worked.

[Chadi Raheb]

Petra’s review inspired(?) me to want to experience such a crazy adventure for the first time in my life! Maybe that’s what I need to change the mood of these sad days. Or maybe I just want to escape from a chagrin I can do nothing about. Neither makes any difference, though... I just know that I’ll do that someday!

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried. I really did. I wanted to give this book a chance, but at page 149, I just couldn't take any more.

Although I'm sure Jennifer is lovely in real life, the portrait she paints of herself is of a whiney, spoiled teenager who believes she'll know who her soul mate is after one date. Refusing to call a guy back because the night didn't have the picture perfect ending you made up in your head? Seriously? You don't identify your soul mate after a 3 hour date. It takes time and effort to build a relationship that works. She seemed to want one that would materialize out of thin air. I thought this might be an area for growth and learning as the book progressed, but it wasn't getting better. When her friends told her she might be getting too picky, she just ignored their very helpful feedback and kept on keeping on.

White privilege and a little bit of racism vomited all over this book too. You date 80 men from around the world and the vast majority of them are somehow white guys? You mean to tell me that a woman who travels all around the world for a living couldn't find any men of color to date? What?

Not to mention the fact that she's really not an excellent writer. There were a few sentences that I had to reread three times to understand what she was getting at. She would make weird references and metaphors that didn't make sense or add value to what she was saying.

I'm giving this book two stars, because it's okay if you just want an extremely light hearted read. But if you have any plans to start firing synapses whilst reading this book, you just may end up throwing it across the room.

[Catrina Edgar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah, blah, and (did I mention?)blah. Everything about this book, and this woman's experiences, was just outright exhausting. I found myself skimming a lot because some (well, most) parts seemed unimportant or boring. I think I'm in the minority with the other girls in my book club who are currently reading this, so it might just be me.

[CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. I did not like it. There's just no way around it. I couldn't even finish it. Well, maybe I could have, but after 250 pages of my eye rolling and groans, my husband asked me to please stop reading it, and I happily acquiesced. The book premise sounded fun and interesting. It never occurred to me how self absorbed, even pretentious, someone must be to do this sort of thing, much less write about it. Not funny. Not interesting. Just boring, and on occasion, offensive. Imagine Bridget Jones' drinking and eating, without the smoking, and also without the likeable personality. Cox at least theoretically DID have a successful career, but that's mainly alluded to. There is also the glaring omission of HOW she was able to afford to travel around the world and back doing nothing but dating. Then again, if you're a fan of trashy reality shows, this might be just the book for you.
Good luck with her, G! Just glad I don't have to spend any more time with her myself!

[Kourtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book - I really did. The jacket of the book made it sound so appealing. Who wouldn't want to go on trips around the world and get to date in men in different countries? Especially when you're single and looking to meet your Soul Mate!

But Jennifer's story just fell flat. From the start of the book I didn't really feel like Jennifer REALLY wanted to find the one. It felt more like a fun writing assignment she came up with and thought "eh if I meet the one I'm all better for it!" The first few dates were fun to read about, coordinating said dates were funny to read about, but then she hits the oh so great date 55 (read the book and you'll know what I'm talking about). The rest of my review is spoiler central so if you don't want to know DON'T READ ON!

After great date 55 she declares she has found him! She has found the one! And the book plummets from there. Why should I read the rest of the book when you found him? The remaining 150ish pages are just a justification of why she continued to date until she hit 80 (which lets face it - SHE CHEATED! She counted dates where she stood people up, dates where they stood her up, and speed dating?? THAT'S NOT A DATE! She interviewed professor's and called that a date? Sounds to me like you couldn't find 80 men but the publishers demanded it or else the title wouldn't make sense!)

My belief? The real reason she continued to date after she found THE ONE was because who would want to read a book called Around the World in 80 Dates when she only did 55? I'm sure the publishers advanced her some money which helped her pay for her trips around the world so she needed something, and you can't fake the last dates, so there she goes - and what we end up with is a whiny, self-absorbed narrative about how hard her life is.

If it wasn't for my book club forcing me to read this from cover to cover, I would have chucked it long before date 55. Am I glad I read it? Yes - because now when I date, I will know how NOT to act.

[JackieB · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really got fed up with reading about Soul Mates and Fate in this (the capitals are Jennifer Cox's). OK, to some extent, what was I expecting? But I think the whole Soul Mates/Fate thing was overdone. There was also a massive "elephant in the room" which was the book itself. It seemed pretty obvious to me that Jennifer had a book deal for this trip from the outset, even though it was couched as this epic journey to meet her Soul Mate. For one thing, who paid for all of this? Jetting off around the world and staying in what generally sounded like pretty up market hotels must have cost a pretty penny, so how did she afford it when she'd given up her job? I think if she'd just been more honest about that, we wouldn't have had to read ridiculous arguements justifying why she carried on dating after she met her Soul Mate. OK it wouldn't have seemed quite so romantic, but it would have been a lot more believable. I also wondered why she hadn't thought ahead about what happened when/if she met her Soul Mate part way through the dates. That was the reason she said she was travelling after all.
Finally, mooning around Jim Morrison's grave for 5 hours is not a date, and rather immature for someone who's no longer a teenager.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given this by someone as the author has the same name as me. And thank the Maker that is all we have in common.

What a horrible lady.

I must admit I didn't get very far and skim read the majority but she treat the poor men awfully. Promising Date#1 a second date then skipping the country?! lovely.

She pretty much sums up the book herself when on the first date. She mentions how noone is interested in hearing about other peoples past relationships, and that's pretty much how I feel about this book. I didn't care one iota about her finding Mr. Right.

I read on another person's review that the book was crap as she found her Soul Mate on Date#55 yet continued on. Tormenting more guys along the way.

But, guess what makes it worse? She doesn't even get to 80, she gives up on 76!!

A complete waste of ink and paper.

Avoid like the plague.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was both attracted and repulsed by the concept of this book, where a woman looks for her soul mate by traveling all over the world. Mostly, I was interested in the traveling around the world part, and she has some great descriptions of some interesting things. I got a little sick of her false drama in the form of hypothetical questions that seem to ignore the fact that this is a contrived situation: "Will I ever really find my soul mate? Can I survive dating all these men? Can I complete this journey? etc etc" But otherwise breezed through this more quickly than I'd care to admit!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her incredible Around the World in 80 Dates adventure, Lonely Planet and BBC travel journalist Jennifer Cox explains, “I’d presented Fate with a challenge: I’d find and date 80 men around the world (okay, 79 dates with 79 men and one date with 25 women), and in return she’d give me my Soul Mate...But of course, life is never that simple...Although Fate may shape your life, she doesn’t book the airline tickets or arrange the visas.” Thus begins Cox’s quest “to do what I did best: travel the world having adventures, meeting lots of interesting, entertaining people along the way...It had been quite a journey: the skaters; the Vikings; the midnight-sun sauna; the festival in the desert; the fires in the mountains; the Elvis impersonator; the surfer; the ravers; the Romeos… all those bloody boats.” I laughed out loud at her attempts to engage with her boyfriend’s voice activated home heating system and participate in hot yoga in an emergency pair of men’s briefs with an unrelenting Y flap!

“It had been an emotional journey, too: learning to trust my instincts and know that because I’d made stupid mistakes in the past didn’t mean I was going to make them forever. And realizing how wonderful my friends were and how lucky I was to know them.… accepting my friends’ and family’s support and realizing the value of their advice had been an important lesson in itself...I didn’t want to experience life solo, I wanted a Soul Mate to share it with.

“One-night stands are the emotional kebabs of the relationship world: easy to get after the pubs close, leaving you feeling like rubbish for the next three days. No, I’m talking about meeting someone... who makes me laugh, reads me bits out of the newspaper, will run out for tampons, lets me cut his hair (badly, once), has a bath while I sit on the loo seat cutting my/his toenails. Someone I’m willing to introduce to my friends. I’m talking about a Soul Mate,” someone whose “personality was like a medieval city of switchback streets opening up into beautiful courtyards: impenetrable and magical by turns.

“I had to travel literally to the ends of the earth to discover such a simple truth: that falling in love with a good man makes you happy...and although I suspect my solution isn’t for everyone, I did learn a couple of things that possibly are. Firstly, before I could find my Soul Mate, I had to be brutally honest about how much room there was in my life for him, and be prepared to rearrange my priorities accordingly. Secondly, that I believe that with hard work, I would find an exciting job, lovely friends, and a body that didn’t wobble too much when I walked—yet, strangely (or perhaps because I’ve been hurt and disappointed before), I had no such expectations of my love life. When it came to earning a decent boyfriend, I lacked the same confidence and ambition. My journey around the world in 80 dates changed all that and gave me a reason to take a huge leap of faith… ‘When I fail in love, it will be forever.’”

Travel is reincarnational: it refreshes your perspective and revitalizes the parts of your life you value and don’t want to lose. Home is where your Mac is. Around the World is the perfect armchair adventure around the world and back to love the one/s right there in your living room.

[Faathimah Bookmark My World · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really enthralled by the plot of this book.. What better story than going around the world searching for your soul-mate?
What was a bit disappointing was the amount if information... I found myself skipping paragraphs that honestly didn't make a difference to the story-line at all.. I only began to enjoy the book when half-way through, she believes to have found her soul-mate.. That's when it starts to get interesting but by then we're already on date #55..

Another perk was learning about all the different countries and beliefs as we go along...with some of the different cultures and ways of love thrown in!

Overall a fair read!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an economically independent professional woman in her thirties must be in search of a soul-mate and will ask herself “Why are all the men round here so rubbish?”

When this happens, the logical thing to do is to crack open another bottle of chardonnay, unwrap a big bar of Dairy Milk, and curl up with a good DVD. Some women may vow there and then to do ‘something’ about it and Jennifer Cox was one of those. Rather than signing up for a class in car maintenance, taking up SCUBA diving or signing up for online dating, she decided that if London wasn’t big enough to provide a soul mate, she’d take on the world. She’d already observed that foreign men always seemed more interested in women than the ones she found at home who seemed to find it a challenge to tie their own shoelaces and use a knife and fork. Thus was born the idea behind “Around the World in 80 Dates” (ATWIED) or as it was cruelly dubbed by some wishful-thinking would-be daters, “Around the World in 80 Lays”. In a flash Cox has pinged off emails to friends and contacts around the world and set up a network of potential dates across Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia.

Writing in the preface to her book, Cox tells us:

“So that’s me packed and ready to go; passport, Touche éclat; little black dress and the names of 80 men I’m going to date in 17 countries over the next six months”.

It’s not quite like Scott of the Antarctic counting his horses and huskies and cans of Spam but this one woman was standing on the edge of a personal adventure designed to find love (and a book contract/magazine articles/film script though it’s not always clear which was the more important mission). It’s a tale of the internet age; one that shows that the world is compressed by modern communication tools and decent hotel chains.

First, let’s get to know a bit about the woman herself. As a travel writer and broadcaster, Jennifer Cox was no stranger to meeting and greeting people the world over. Her CV included head of PR and spokesperson for Lonely Planet for a decade, presenting BBC Holidays and co-presenting BBC1’s ‘Perfect Holiday’, writing for national newspapers and magazines. Cox must have designed her experiment with her eye on the PR and publishing opportunities and I did sometimes wonder how she was financing her travels and concluded that it must be on the basis of a book advance. Personally I didn’t have a clue who she was and didn’t recognise her from her photos on the book cover, though she’s been popping up a lot in travel magazines since then. The point that I’m trying to make is that the average girl in the street probably doesn’t have the money, the job, or the Rolodex/Palm Pilot of international contacts that would be needed to put on a stunt like this.

She set off to Europe first, bouncing around Holland, Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Germany, clocking up the first couple of dozen dates, sometimes with two or three in a 24 hour period. Some of the dates were pretty dodgy like Frank, the sleazy Dutchman, the tulip-shredding weirdo, the yukky ‘brother of a friend’ who bailed out when he realised she wasn’t really sleeping her way around the world. On the plus-side there was the very fit Swede who hired a floating sauna for the day and the Viking who took her to Viking camp (lots of log splitting and hearty activities). The more ridiculous included the mime artist from Las Ramblas in Barcelona who turned up in silver body paint and lycra and the Italian who had ‘married’ a dead woman he’d fallen in love with after visiting her grave. At times like this, the odd bloke with the squint from the accounts department does start to look like not such a bad option.

Cox learns some of the basic differences about men and women – that men seem to think any date that involves boats is romantic, even if you’ve already told them you are ridiculously prone to sea-sickness and that some of the male date organising friends are a bit too controlling and keep setting her up to do things that THEY think would be fun – take for example the guy who sets her up with his friend the pilot to go in a bi-plane which ensures scarcely a word gets exchanged throughout.

Chances are that if you consider reading the book, you may well know that part way through Cox thinks she’s found her soul-mate. I’ll say no more about whether it works out or not but I have to say that once she’s smitten the book definitely takes a turn for the worse. After all, what’s a girl with a book contract based on dating 80 guys to do if she loses the will to finish the job because she’s gone ga-ga for some hunk part way through? Too much soul-searching and too much going on and on and on ensues before she decides she’d better get back on the road and finish the job. But somehow the spark’s gone out of the mission for Cox and for the readers. Will she get to the end? Will we really care if she does? Does any of it really matter?

So what did I think?

I expected poorly written fluff but I admit that I was wrong. Cox is a good writer who draws you in, amuses you, makes you care (well some of the time) and delivers a very different approach to the whole ‘dating in the new millennium‘ debate. At times I wanted her to be a bit more experimental – to step out of the “different city, same middle class white guy” groove and date a Kalahari bushman, an Inuit, a few more locals and a few less expats. We can’t draw too many conclusions about how men vary around the world if our heroine is just dating the same sort of bloke and merely changing the location. I also can’t help but feel sorry for some of the dates – after all, what was in it for them? Surely it wasn’t the chance to take a British girl out on a date, show her a good/bad/mediocre time and then have her write nasty things about you in a book when she gets home? Some of these guys must surely have cringed to see what she said about them and others were surely desperately disappointed to find they only warranted a few brief lines. All in all, it’s a very selfish premise for a journey – all about ‘me me me’ and rather exploitative of the other 80 human beings sharing the experiment. The cover classifies ATWIED as a ‘travel’ book but you really won’t learn anything significant about travel or the locations visited – which is really a crying shame. To be honest, she could have done all 80 dates in the British Isles and saved a fortune on flights. But if you can get it cheaply, it’s a nice enough little book – just don’t expect to learn anything of any significance.

[Sim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off great. It was funny and interesting. I couldn't wait to find out the outcome of the journey, even though I kind of knew she'd find "The One", the "Soul Mate".

But after coming across those two phrases 3,000,000 times, I got annoyed. Especially because by the time she finished the book, you get the sense that she just wrote words for the sake of writing. The purpose of her trip around the world got murkier and murkier, even as she gushed about how she was surprised to find out she loved Chinese food, and sailing. At some point, her trite insights were exasperating.

As for the dates, they may have started out as looking for Her One. But really, some of them were not dates so much as informational sessions. She didn't schedule all the dates to seriously look for love, but to fulfill a quota. Why did it HAVE to be 80? Why not 70? or a 100 dates? It wasn't organic. She worries about this in her book, and rightly so. Her quest may have stemmed from a lot deeper emotional place, but she definitely did not share those reasons with her readers. Maybe I expected her journey to move me, or amuse me. But instead I found myself rolling my eyes at her non-lessons. It was like listening to the story of that girl in high school who will never be your friend, but wants you to be her audience and ooh and aah over anything that happens to her. There's a part where she's tells her girlfriend " I needed to feel good about myself before I could meet the right man". But to be honest, self esteem never seemed to be her problem in the first place, so it rang hollow. There really wasn't any apparent growth or change in her, and that would be fine if only she didn't keep mentioning otherwise.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book, Around the World in 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox, was recommended to me by a friend so I really wanted to like it. And I really did like the premise of the book. I LOVE travel essays and I've always, always, always wanted to take a trip around the world. The problem wasn't even that it was about finding Mr. Right (OK, maybe a little. What can I say, I'm a cynic), it was that I didn't connect with Ms. Cox. In the beginning I thought she was super funny and I liked that she didn't completely disregard all of her accomplishments in her career and in life just because she didn't have a man to stand by her side.

But as the story went on I found myself just being really annoyed with her. She wasn't whiny or anything. I mean, I can't really put my finger on it. I just didn't like her. Maybe it was just because I was jealous that she has the means to travel around the world looking for her Soul Mate (which seriously, by about Chapter 3 I was ready to strangle her for using Soul Mate - even if she believes we have more than one - and Mr. Right repeatedly). And perhaps a little because I didn't think of the idea first. I mean what better way to get a trip around the world paid for than to come up with a way to turn it into a book?

Anyway, if you don't hate women who are looking for love, you might like this book. She puts in tons of facts about the places she visits and even interviews some really interesting people and has some funny dating experiences. But I just cannot get through the book.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started off promising with the author Jennifer Cox starting out on an amazing trip in my opinion on a journey around the world going on dates with 80 different men in the hopes of finding her soulmate. From the first chapter I could relate to Jennifer and her stream of bad luck with the men she chose to date, and I loved her concept of how we put so much effort into our careers, why shouldn't we put that same amount of work into our love lives in the quest for finding our soulmate. Unfortunately, when Jennifer actually sets out on the quest for true love, she writes of her dates in such a monotone way that towards the middle of the book it was hard to keep on reading. Like I stated before, interesting concept but lacked the drive in the book to keep the reader interested.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful read about a modern woman's search for "the one", as she cast her eye to the globe in searching for her sole mate. As a real world adventurer, Jennifer Cox decided to throw fates to the wind and to meet her true love on an around-the-world search. Each chapter brought us to a new longitude and latitude, and introduced us to a new "date". And each encounter was a surprise, in one way or another.

I admire Jennifer for finishing her planned quest, even after she felt like she had met her sole mate. This book gives a birds-eye-view into the hope that one woman saw on her voyage in life.

[Allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just cannot finish this book. The premise seemed cute and it caught my attention, but I barely made it through the Northern Europe section before I gave up. Some of her dates weren't even dates! Meeting a professor to talk the science behind love and dating is NOT a date. And I don't think getting stood up or quickly leaving a date within a minute should count as a date either.

Plus reading other reviews I see she meets one of her "THE ONE"s on date 55 and barely finishes the "80 dates". So yea, I am glad I am stopping now.

So... yea. Great idea, poor execution.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty insignificant and not terribly insightful. Would have been better to acknowledge that she had a book deal before doing this. Unfortunately this book is a rather weak memoir and travel book. I am concerned about the entrenched notions of gender roles Cox relies on including the idea that sexual harassment by "exotic" men is somehow a complement simply because they are "different" from the men back home.
Overall, I was bored.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out very funny, then the dating began. Jennifer is out to find her soul mate but seems to make quick judgements against these guys. When a guy she liked doesn't kiss her at the end of their date, she immediately writes him off as being too much work. Huh? Some dates she agrees to see again and then won't return their calls or just leaves the area. This woman needs to grow up quickly if she really wants to find someone on this trip around the world. I'm up to date # 20 and she's still in Europe. Maybe the rest of the world will pan out better.

**Don't read this if you haven't read it and don't want to know in advance if she finds true love!**

After meeting her Soul Mate, she warns readers: If you're having one of those days when happy people make you want to randomly punch strangers, feel free to skip the next few pages. In all honesty, it wasn't that sappy. She does keep dating and after finding another Soul Mate (another American), she starts debating whether or not to continue her journey. I found my enjoyment of the book ebbing and flowing right along with Jennifer's journey.

It's an interesting concept choosing to travel/date the world in search of Mr. Right but just reading about it made me tired after awhile. I'm glad she found The One and I agree that there can definitely be more than one Mr. (or Mrs.) Right out there in the world and that that person can be completely different at different points in our lives. Someone perfect for us in our early 20s may very well not be the one for us in our 30s... or they may be if we've both changed in the same ways.

[Marie Polega · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this book because of the premise, but only a few pages in, I knew it wasn't going to be quite what I hoped. I'm sure the author is a lovely person, but I just didn't connect with her, starting with her Relationship Resume, which shows she is almost always in a dead-end relationship, reminding me of friends who seem to always be with someone wrong rather than being alone. My irritation with her grew as it became obvious that she had not even considered what she would do if she met someone she wanted to have a relationship with before the end of the 80 dates, and even more when she seemed to not have even thought about how she would make a relationship work with someone who lives halfway around the world, despite finding a "Soul Mate" being the purpose for dating 80 men around the world. I did enjoy the descriptions of her travels and dates, and there were parts that were really funny, and all of that was enough to make me like the book.

[Jac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own too many books. We all do. So lately I've been really strong in selecting books to remove from my shelves and donate them to the community library. Donate rather than swap.
Of course I can't help with each visit to flip through the books to see if my previous donations have been claimed. I don't know why this book caught my eye. I don't know why I picked it up and read the blurb but as soon as I read 'dates Australian Park Ranger' I was sold and the book was coming home with me.

I really bloody enjoyed this. I enjoyed all the wonderful stories of locals showing off their little part of the world and learning about cultures from a perspective that wasn't 100% a travel book. It was funny, and real and I laughed and cried.

Such a nice book that made me smile through the first month of winter.
Thanks Jennifer. 🥰

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun read. I felt like Jennifer was talking to me about her adventures. While some people think it was predictable, I did not.
Jennifer is light hearted in her writing and must be a blast to travel with.
Along with the dating stories, I found the travels inspiring too. She gave me ideas for places that I have wanted to visit and haven’t put any time into but now will.
Thank you for sharing your journey. Best wishes for a happy future.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea and found the beginning to be laugh out loud funny, so I kept reading. But I kinda ran out of steam, long before she did, and got increasingly irritated with her soul searching. I was reading for the travel tips and funny stories (of which there are plenty) but in the end the navel gazing spoilt it for me. I’m glad she’s happy (or was, does anyone know if it really is a happy ever after story?) but I won’t be following in her footsteps.

[Rochelle Comte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twas a fun read. Got a bit bored of it after she met her "Soul Mate" and kept wondering what really happened on all those dates. So I had put the book down for a couple months. I don't know why but I got the feeling that the book was a watered down version of some of the dates. It just all seemed too clean and proper for a story based on real life. I'm glad the story had a happy ending though and I found Jennifer to be very funny at times.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of finding a soul mate interests me so the first few chapters of this kept a hold of me. After a while I was in a hurry to find out if Jen found her soul mate or not...once that question was graced I started to lose interest and by the end I was glad it was over. I could see this being a good bookclub read and discussion if the subject was "chic lit", but its not my favorite subject to read.

[Jerry Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the concept of traveling around the world for any purpose but to find your soulmate is definitely one of the best. Jennifer had date wranglers to help set up dates base on her soulmate job description. Knowing yourself helps find a partner.

Travel tip: count your bags on, count your bags off transportation.

The story took a turn after 55 that wasn’t my favorite but I followed along on the journey.