Rich men pay foR us to tRavel the woRld
They claim to be looking for love but single women like Natalie Wood are getting to jet around the globe for free thanks to a controversial dating website
tHE hunt for Mr Right has taken Natalie Wood around the world on 80 dates. She has sipped cocktails in the Maldives, jet-skied in Kuwait and seen Australia from the cockpit of a private aircraft. Yet the 30-year-old beautician has barely had to part with a penny.
Natalie signed up to a dating agency with a difference. Called MissTravel, it promises to match attractive women with wealthy but lonely men who are willing to fund their dates in exotic places.
The online matchmaking service has the slogan: “Who Needs Money? Beautiful People Travel the World for Free.” It’s aimed unashamedly at young women who are blessed with good looks, with the inference that the plain need not apply.
Natalie, from Canterbury in Kent, estimates that her jet-setting over the past two years would have cost £60,000.
“People call me a gold-digger,” she admits. “But I prefer to be called a luxury traveller. I love to tick off different countries. I’m single and I like being spoiled.”
As well as paying for flights and five-star hotels in a bid to impress Natalie, suitors have showered her with designer clothes, swept her off her feet in their sports cars and welcomed her aboard their yachts.
Most of her dates have been wealthy older businessmen who are too busy to find love. Natalie says they have all been “perfect gentlemen” and while she doesn’t feel under pressure to sleep with them she “doesn’t rule it out”.
Other countries Natalie has visited include Turkey, Dubai and the US. But while she’s happy to see the world at someone else’s expense Natalie is adamant that it’s also about meeting a potential new partner and she has arranged to meet one of her dates again.
In the meantime Natalie is in Miami, where earlier this week she met up with a surgeon who took her for a spin in his Mustang sports car. Before flying home she’s lining up a side-trip to the Bahamas for yet another tryst.
“I would love to meet and marry an international businessman,” she says, but she is careful to check out her dates’ backgrounds before packing her bags and passport.
QUESTIONS have been raised about the safety and morality of MissTravel, which is promoted by a photo of a leggy brunette sitting on a suitcase, but its American owner denies there’s anything seedy.
“We’re just a dating site,” insists Brandon Wade. “We match people then they’re off on their own.
“Most dating websites have been focused on people dating locally but one of the things we noticed, especially catering to the successful and wealthy category, is that people are willing to fly and travel to meet each other.
“It’s a whole lot easier for people to fall in love or be romantic on a trip, usually in an exotic place.”
He points out that escorts are banned from using the website, sex is never mentioned and that no money changes hands. MissTravel is definitely not Pretty Woman with added air miles and women are advised to make it clear what costs are being met, or shared, and request separate rooms – at least to begin with.
It’s claimed that the agency, which launched four years ago, boasts more than 600,000 members worldwide who have gone on upwards of 300,000 trips.
Young women who have signed up report being inundated with offers of all-expenses paid jaunts to places such as Hawaii, St Kitts and Hong Kong – all supposedly with no strings attached.
Both men and women can publish their details on the site, with an all-important accompanying photograph, but the understanding is that it’s the men who pick up the tab in return for companionship and who knows what else?
Current top destinations include Bali, Paris and Cancun, Mexico. However, an attractive young woman can post details of her dream trip anywhere in the world, then simply sit back and wait.
Last year Monica Lynn, 25, from Alabama, told how she travelled to nine different countries including Italy, Barbados, Mexico and China, without spending a dime.
The former financial adviser was bombarded with invitations from rich suitors. She reckons it would Saturday June 25 2016 have taken a decade to save for her trips if she’d paid her own way.
“When I first came across the site I thought it was weird but kind of cool,” says Monica, who also insists she felt no pressure to have sex. “It’s just like any other dating website but with the bonus of travel.”
lIKE any date there’s always the chance that it turns out to be an excruciating disaster. That’s bad enough if you are only a taxi ride from home but making your excuses while on the other side of the world is an entirely different ball game.
Monica’s first date, who whisked her off to Barbados for a week of pampering, paid for the entire trip and lavished gifts on her.
However, there was no romance. “We had fun but there was no connection,” she adds.
She had better luck on her third date, in Milan, where she fell for a wealthy 28-year-old businessman. Despite the distance between them they became an item.
“It has been a life changing experience,” says Monica. “It’s more romantic than anything a guy back home could do for you. Traditional dates would be too boring now.”
It seems that when the world is your oyster a meal for two at the local pizza joint or a rom-com at the flicks just won’t do. And with so many men willing to foot the bill for their jet-setting why should the likes of Natalie and Monica be in any hurry to settle down?