These are strange times for romance. People are quarantining with matches they just met on Bumble, Zoom happy hours have negated the need to ever wear pants on a date, and the cast of Love is Blind is probably all thinking “told ya so.” Love in the time of the coronavirus is strange indeed.
But you don’t need a bubble like Jeremy to fall in love even in these weird, weird times—socially distanced love is very much thriving. In an era where we do pretty much everything else virtually, virtual dating has quickly become a new norm. To keep your virtual drinks from getting stale, here are 11 creative virtual dates you can go on while maintaining a safe social distance.
1. Tour the Louvre, in pajamas
Museums and galleries—always the classiest of date options—are largely closed due to sweeping shelter in place orders. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still get your culture on with your own private virtual tour of the world’s finest curated collections. It’s like your very own version of a Bachelor date.
A few online exhibits and virtual tours to check out: LA’s Getty Museum look at Renaissance Food & Drink, The Louvre’s decadent Gallerie de’Apollon ceilings, the Smithsonian’s Natural History guided walkthrough, and the National Women’s History Museum’s NASA exhibit (because nothing says social distancing quite like outer space).
2. Turn your living room into the main stage
There are hundreds of artists performing worldwide, from big stages and backyards that you can stream from home. (See: John Legend’s performance at the Chrissy-officiated Stuffed Animal Wedding.) For a weekend-long Coachella experience, don your flower crowns and neon for the Stay at Home Festival—a music festival on Instagram live on April 3-5—or track the greats as they go live with Billboard’s rapidly updated list. (For local musicians, consider Venmoing a tip, if you can.)
For a more intimate listening experience, send each other an album to listen to during the workday, and discuss it that night. Or use one of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts as a nightcap. (Lizzo is our fave, duh.)
3. Invite a guest storyteller
You’ve been swapping stories for a few phone calls—maybe it’s time to turn to the storytelling experts. The Moth, a globally renowned event series and podcast, features live vignettes of real human experiences—you’ll laugh, tear up, and have some new content for your endless phone calls with your virtual lover. You can “buy tickets” by making a gift via The Moth website, and send your date a calendar invite for showtime.
4. Play dinner delivery roulette
This potential partner already knows plenty about you, and you’d invite them over if you could. Instead, send them your address for a surprise takeout night that also helps support a local business.
Set a time for delivery, and schedule your favorite local dish to land on their doorstep. Watching them unbox and enjoy your favorite food—and you, theirs—is perfect whether you’re a plate-sharer or not.
5. Take a long walk on a virtual beach.
No one is going anywhere for the time being but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a virtual trip together (minus the TSA hassle and fights about wakeup times).
Using Google maps, you can revisit a favorite place you’ve been, your date’s old summer spot, or even give each other a tour of your childhood neighborhoods. You can even feast your eyes on global adventure by snorkeling from a resort in the Great Barrier Reef, visiting China’s Terracotta Warriors, hiking through Yellowstone, or exploring the International Space Station.
