International Dating Tips

All right, let’s talk about the question that sits quietly behind almost every email, DM, and late-night spiral I get from men dating internationally: “What do these women actually want from me?” Not in a rom-com or motivational-poster way. But rather in a very real, slightly panicked, please don’t let me mess this up way. […]

I’ve gotten pretty good at identifying fake profiles quickly. It’s not because I’m naturally suspicious or assume every attractive woman online is running some kind of scam. I know there are amazing, genuine women using dating apps. I’ve met them, interviewed them, and learned their stories. But I’ve also spent years listening to men share

Every year, I speak to dozens of men who tell me the same story with different details. They met a Russian woman online, and she seemed interesting, intelligent, and serious. The conversation started well, then cooled. Or she disappeared, or she stayed polite but distant. Eventually, the man concluded that Russian women are “impossible,” “cold,”

There is nothing more romantic than deciding you’re finally ready to meet someone abroad. And there is nothing less romantic than opening your banking app three months later and whisper-screaming, “Why are my accounts bleeding?” Everyone talks about the emotional side of international dating. Yet, almost no one talks about the financial choreography that happens

There’s a moment in every man’s life, usually somewhere between the third bad breakup and the fourth disappointing local dating app match, when he wonders if love might exist somewhere else entirely. Not just in another city or state, but in another country. He begins looking for a place where the dating culture feels different,

There’s a particular magic that happens when a Western man starts talking to a Filipina online. She’s warm, sincere, often fluent in English, and refreshingly open about wanting a real relationship. Before long, the daily messages turn into video calls, pet names slip in naturally, and you find yourself grinning at your phone more often

I still remember the first time a guy emailed me in a full panic because his Filipina fiancée’s K1 visa officer had grilled him about why his chat logs were mostly him saying “good morning, Babe” and her replying with the thumbs up emoji. He had spent two years crossing the Pacific, building a life

Spend enough time in the world of international dating, and you’ll notice something interesting. There’s this one question that keeps circling back, no matter how many years pass or how much the conversation evolves. People whisper it. They debate it. They get defensive about it. It disappears for a while, then resurfaces like clockwork, usually

I came across a Reddit thread the other day that felt like watching real life play out through a social experiment.  The post was titled AMA Request: Somebody who “ordered” and then married a Russian mail-order bride, and, oh boy, the comments did not disappoint. Thousands of Redditors chimed in, half out of curiosity and

Every once in a while, a Reddit post hits me right in the chest, not because it’s shocking, but because it’s too real. This one did. A man on Reddit realized his mail-order bride didn’t love him. She told him, bluntly, that she wouldn’t be with him if he were poor. When I first saw