It was a sunny afternoon in July when I received an email from British Airways with an amazing deal on airfare. It was a roundtrip ticket to Paris for only $239 (came out to about $400 with taxes). That day I was having lunch with my girlfriend (whom I had been dating for about 2 months now) at PF Changs and I told her about the email I received. She was ecstatic about the news and begged me to take her to Paris for New Years. I obliged and went home to purchase the tickets. At the time we were both still in College so we agreed to split the cost of the trip…which is perfectly normal. I came home and booked the entire trip on my credit card and explained to her that American Express requires payment in full and that she had about a month to pay me back. She agreed.

A month goes by and I approach her regarding the money. I calmly explain to her that I got my bill and that I would have to make a payment by the end of the week (it was a Monday). She acknowledges and says she will write me a check in a few days. The entire week goes by and I have yet to receive anything from her. I call her on Friday afternoon and ask her again about the money. This time she goes bonkers on me. She is screaming at the top of her lungs “Why the f*ck are you harassing me, leave me the f*ck alone. I will pay you whenever I feel like it”. I chose to leave out some other choice words, but I think you get the picture. What the heck just happened? Needless to say, I did get a check from her eventually, but it was about a month after the bill was due.

Planning the actual trip was no picnic either. I remember suggesting that we should each put in a few hundred dollars and use that money for basic expenses…as opposed to constantly trying to figure out who owes what each time. How does she respond? “No that’s not fair…you eat more than me.” This was a bit shocking, especially coming from a girl who never paid for a single thing the entire time she was dating me. But that’s a whole other topic on its own.

I wouldn’t wish the next 5 months on my worst enemy. We were constantly arguing about every little thing and broke up about 2 dozen times. Now that I think back, the only reason we actually remained in the relationship was because of our trip to Paris. If I could do it over again, I would simply have taken the loss on the tickets and went my separate way.

The Moral

Everyone changes when they get into a relationship, some for the better and others for the worst. Therefore, you should really get to know the person before you make any long term commitments, be it a trip to another country, moving in together, or even marriage. I understand that booking a trip and marriage are on completely different levels, but the underlying principle is the same…don’t commit to anything in a relationship until you get to know your partner. This takes time and usually doesn’t happen over night, but it’s completely worth the effort and will benefit you in the long run.

The Phone Call

I get a call from her at around 11pm (even though I told her 8pm) and she began talking. She talked, and she talked, and when she was done talking…she started over again. It was about half past midnight and she had yet to ask me a single question about myself. At the same time, I already knew her favorite food, her Father’s occupation, her dog’s nickname, and what color Burberry belt she was going to buy on the weekend. We spoke for about 5 hours (mainly she spoke) and we only discussed Math for about 30 minutes. We hung up the phone at around 4am that evening and went to sleep.

Asking Her Out

I told my friend Mike that I spoke to this girl over the phone for 5 hours and he convinced me that there was something more to her. I found out later on that he only wanted me to call her so that we could all go out as a group (she would bring along a girlfriend). After the final exam, I waked her over to her car and ended up asking her out on a date for the upcoming weekend. Fortunately for Mike, he would not be a part of this date.

The Date

It was the day of the first date and I was a little shocked to find out that she lived about 25 miles away from me. Our date was planned for 7:00pm and I left the house about an hour early so that I could make it on time. Unfortunately, the traffic in Los Angeles wasn’t on my side that day (or maybe that was a sign). It was already 6:50pm and I wasn’t even half way there. So I call her up to say that I was going to be late because of traffic (keep in mind I still had 10 minutes before our date) and she tells me that she already made other plans. What???? I was absolutely furious.

Apparently, she was expecting me to call her before I left to say that I was on my way over. Seeing as how it was 10-minutes to 7:00, she decided to make other plans. I guess I missed that little piece of etiquette in the Angry Woman’s guide to dating. After explaining to her that I was stuck in traffic for an hour and that I was coming over there regardless, she agreed to cancel the plans she made.

I arrived at her house around 7:30pm and the first thing she asks me is “where are my flowers”? I couldn’t help but wonder why this girl was demanding flowers…as if it were her god-given right to receive them. Shrugging off the flowers comment, we head back into the city (a 25 mile ride back) for some Sushi. The conversation over dinner was pretty much about her, and even as the evening winded down, she still never got around to asking me any questions.

The Physical Abuse

I am a very playful person and I joke a lot, so every time I would make a joke this girl would curl up her first, cock her arm back, and then punch me in the shoulder. The first time this happened I was in complete shock. “Did she just punch me”? On top of that, she got even more violent as the evening went on and she got a few drinks in her system. At one point she tore a “For Rent” sign out of the ground and hit me with it. Who does that? She probably punched me about 50 times that evening and I had a bruise the size of a tennis ball on my right shoulder the next morning (and I don’t bruise easily).

The Moral

All in all, this date should have ended the moment she told me that she had made other plans; but it didn’t happen that way. What followed was one of the most horrific and violent first dates of all time.

For instance, I never let my girlfriend pay unless she really insists on it. And when I say insist, I mean she literally jumps in front of me at the register and shoves her credit card at the cashier. You know, I really admire her for doing that. She knows that money is a little tight these days and she genuinely wants to help out. At the same time, I can’t help but remember another girl that I dated while I was in College.

The entire time I dated this girl, not once did she offer to pay for anything. She said that she couldn’t afford to pay because she didn’t have a job, and yet she would be purchasing designer clothing and handbags on a weekly basis. Now I am faced with a dilemma; do I call her out on how she had $1,200 to spend on a Louis Vuitton handbag and doesn’t have money to buy me a cup of coffee? Or should I just keep it to myself and let it go? I am not one to hold things back so I did confront her about it. She tells me that her parents (she was living at home) give her money to buy these items but that they refuse to give her money to go out. How does that make sense? And even if it is true, couldn’t you put aside $10 to get me a latte and a muffin?

Actually I take it back; she did pay on one occasion. We went out for lunch to a diner and she offered to pick up the check for our meal. As soon as we walked out the door and I was about to say thank you for lunch, she turns to me and says “You’re f*cking welcome”. She didn’t even give me a chance to say “Thank You” and then she jumps down my throat as if she just did some remarkable favor (lunch was $20 for the two of us).

A few weeks later she got a retail job in order to start saving for a new car. I spoke to her one evening and mentioned (as a joke) that since she now has a job, she could take me out once in a while. She responds by saying, “No I still can’t. I need to save up my money and that would be a waste”. I will leave what happened next up to your imagination.

I never go into any relationship (romantic or platonic) with my guard up. Even though I have had some pretty tough experiences over the years in both areas, I still like to believe that there are people out there who are genuine, honest, and truly care about your well being. Although I start every relationship with a clean slate, I am now acute to those early warning signs that would have gone unnoticed in the past.

I honestly believe that these horrific relationships/experiences are a rite of passage; so that when the right person does comes along, we can notice and appreciate them for all the little things that they do.

Parking in Venice is no picnic and you’ll be really lucky to find an available space along the street. You should read the signs carefully because you don’t want to get a ticket, or worse, have your car towed away. We couldn’t find any street parking so we parked at the lot on Rose Ave and Speedway for $4. Interestingly enough, there was a parking lot a few blocks south that was charging $14.

Venice Beach has always been one of my favorite places to visit because there are tons of things to see and do. If you’re looking for some cheap souvenirs or pieces of art for the house, you’ve come to the right place. Another thing you’ll find abundant on the boardwalk are Tarot Card and Palm Readers…about 2-3 per block. Some have their own shops while others are nestled along the boardwalk between the street performers and the animal rights activists.

Eugene (the genius behind PlanJam) is a big fan of psychic readings and I know that he would have been disappointed had I passed up the opportunity. So I picked the one that looked the most professional (he had a crystal ball on the table) and sat down for my tarot reading. His name was RA and he began by explaining how Tarot Card readings work. Basically, you shuffle the deck while thinking about a question you want answered. What essentially happens is that based on your subconscious thoughts, the cards will come out in a specific order that will contain the answer to your question. Without going into too much detail about the reading, let me just say that you won’t find the answer you’re looking for from a Venice Beach psychic. With that said, it was still tons of fun and well worth the $10 spent (about a 30 minute reading). Thanks Euge!

After the reading, we walked over to a cozy little Italian restaurant on Dudley Ave called Piccolo Ristorante. It’s a romantic neighborhood spot that is only steps away from the boardwalk. They open at 5pm and don’t accept reservations, so you’ll have to either come in early or be prepared for about an hour wait (depending on how busy it is of course). If you find yourself on the waiting list then you have a few options. There is a neighborhood bar right around the corner where you can enjoy some drinks and live music. You can also hang out inside the restaurant, but you’ll have to settle for sitting on the steps (with a bottle of wine of course).

Once we got our table (after an hour and a half wait) and ordered, the food came out pretty quickly. The wine list wasn’t particularly amazing, but they did have a good selection of Italian wines. Their signature dish – the Potatoes and Fig Tortellini was excellent, but the rest of the food came out a little too salty (something we all noticed). I’m not one of those people who complain and send the food back, so I did end up eating it all. It wasn’t my first time at the restaurant so this could have just been an isolated incident.

In total, we had a bottle of wine, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and dessert, which came out to $150 (with tip). Overall, the food was good – but if I could do it over again, I would not have waited that long.

Total Cost: $164

Total Time: 5 Hours

12:00pm – We arrived at the Zoo at Noon and I was surprised that there was no charge for parking. You would think that finding parking would be almost impossible, but there were a ton of open spaces right near the entrance.

At first glance, the line to purchase tickets looks really intimidating, but it does move really quickly. We got to the ticket window in about 25 minutes and the price of admission was a reasonable $10 per person (children get in for $5).

We quickly glanced at the program of shows and there was nothing too impressive…about a half dozen shows centered on birds. That didn’t matter though, I came there to see the Tigers and Lions (btw, I love cats).

Since it was a warm day and we stood in line for about half an hour, we were a little hot so we decided to get a cold treat. Liz went for the Shaved Italian Ice, at $5.95, and I went for the Dippin Dots which were priced at $4.35. Now that we had cooled down a bit, we were ready to go explore the zoo!

As we walked from exhibit to exhibit, we couldn’t help but notice that almost all of the animals were either sleeping or hiding. This made it really frustrating after taking multiple detours around the zoo to get to them. Specifically, we were unable to see the Snow Leopard, Tigers, Bears, and Wolves. The only animal we were actually able to see during our first hour was the Tortoise, which really had nowhere to go. Now I am not sure if you have ever seen a Tortoise in real life, but it’s not that exhilarating.

It may have just been the time we decided to visit, but we were getting really annoyed having to play “Where’s Waldo” at each exhibit. The second half of our visit was a little more fun. They got around to feeding the hippopotamuses which allowed for some great close-up shots. There was also a family of Orangutans which were absolutely adorable and the Koalas were really cute (see pictures below).

We were at the Zoo for a total for 2.5 hours and we weren’t really rushing through it. All in all we had a wonderful time, but the selection of animals was far from spectacular. And no, I didn’t get to see any cats (which was a little disappointing). In the future we will probably take a trip down to San Diego and visit the Zoo there.

If you’ve never been to the Los Angeles Zoo, I would really suggest that you check it out (plus its right next door to Griffith Park where you can set up a picnic). But if you frequent Zoos often, you may get a little bored here.

Total Cost: $30.30

Total Time: 2.5 Hours

Last week we received an email from one of our users, Alan Oratovsky, thanking us for helping him plan his date. Alan works as a paramedic in Riverside, California and he wanted to do something really special and romantic for his girlfriend. He began by taking a 45-minute helicopter tour of Los Angeles at sunset and finished it off with a candlelight dinner by the beach.

Here are some photos that Alan included from his helicopter ride:

If you had a great date and want to share it with others, send us the details and we’ll put it up