Now, in 2025, that’s not as easy as it used to be. You’d think dating apps would make life simple. Swipe left, swipe right, ghosted, unmatched. You know the drill. But here’s the truth: dating apps have sucked all the fun out of dating. Everyone’s exhausted, everyone’s over it. Men are sick of them. Women are sick of them. And frankly, the whole thing has made approaching someone in real life feel like walking into a courtroom without a lawyer. Go up to a girl at a bar, and suddenly you’re a creep instead of just a guy trying to talk to someone. Remember when flirting in person wasn’t a crime? Me too. Those days are officially dead, or at least, society acts like they are.

So I stopped swiping. I stopped sending the perfect GIF or the witty one-liner I spent twenty minutes crafting. Instead, I started going out, really going out, in ways that feel almost illegal to admit. Small bars. Rooftops. Hotel bars tucked away from the chaos of the main street crowds. These are the secret spots—the kind of places where people are actually approachable, where conversations can happen without someone checking their phone every three seconds, and where the odds of meeting someone interesting are surprisingly high.

Here’s the secret nobody tells you: the smaller the place, the better. A rooftop with twenty people feels like a living room where everyone knows they might leave with a story. A quiet hotel bar feels like a library, but one where everyone’s secretly flirting. The energy is different. People are relaxed, approachable, and they haven’t spent the last hour posting stories of themselves pretending they’re having fun. You don’t need a pick-up line; you just need the balls to start a real conversation. And if you know how to read a room? That’s half the battle.