Red,
Hey, take it slow dear.... Meeting people could be fun and excited but it could change after you've seen the guy.. so,take it easy and I wish you all the best kiddo. Take care.

For young twenty somethings, hopefully childless, to enjoy a long distance relationship, visiting each other occasionally, and even directing careers to end up together doesn't sound that abnormal to me over time.

Picking up, running off, ditching school and or family to shack up with no job now that is dumb. I don't think she is suggesting doing that.

I would be very careful about going anywhere alone with someone not from the local area who you do not have mutual acquaintance with. I would absolutely not bring them to my home. If a date doesn't see the risk in that I would have serious reservations about how much they cared about me being safe. If they don't respect their own safety I would have to question their common sense or how maybe down the line they would protect children.

Doing a little homework on line makes it possible to meet and stay in and affordable safe location. Youth hostels, college dorms, lower priced hotels, or camp grounds. You might pay more for a place in order to have access to mass transit to avoid the expense of renting a car. I would certainly never go anywhere without enough resources to get home alone. That goes for guys and gals.