Dating in the city – where to and what to do?

After being together with my boyfriend (fluffy) for 2 years plus, I constantly find myself stuck in the dilemma of “where to eat” or “what to do on a date” especially during the weekends. I’m sure my boyfriend would nod his head in agreement, as we’re both out of ideas. It sounded like a plan, when he would cheekily text me “let’s hang out tomorrow” or I’ll suggest a movie or lunch then chilling at home.

The ideal date as shown on movies were perfect, where couples go on a picnic, take a stroll at the park, enjoying a lovely dinner at the most trendy places in the city and etc. In reality, let’s face it, in KL picnic and walking around the park (unless it’s KLCC park) isn’t a really good idea with the sun and heat plus robbery concerns should be your top priority. Then for lovely dinner, well we’ve been through fine dining and high-demand places would require a reservation else, you should consider yourself lucky to get a table – we had our experiences with The Hill on one Saturday night of our monthsary dinner, we’re lucky to get a table without any reservation. For restaurants who don’t offer table reservations, we had a terrible experience as well, I suggested to try out a new burger joint which had lead to a huge disappointment while our date night turned sour – mood was effected by the exhaustion in waiting for a table and food being served, with terrible environment as it was noisy and crowded.

So what do my boyfriend and I do on a typical date in KL? Our usual are lunch, movie, chilling out at home under air-conditioning, window-shopping, dinner and etc. Well, most of the time we would chill at home, staring at the ipad reading on articles or watching movie at home with some cuddles and afternoon nap. The weekend is sort of a rest day for us, after a stressful week I would say, we only meet each other during the weekends and there isn’t many things to do. The malls are pack with people so I usually avoid them same goes to cinemas unless I pre-booked a ticket or watching a movie late at night. Guess dating life in the city isn’t that rosy after all.

However, this certainly does not apply during courtship. As dates then were wonderful 90% of the time! Which I do observe couples on their first few dates being so engrossed at one another, while for couples who had been together for a while are looking at their phones – this happened on us as well. I believe it takes two individuals to create sparkles in a relationship. One would have to initiate and the other neither follows or discourages which then leads to the relationship being a sweet or bitter one.

Here are a few date plans to spend some time off together with your special one in the city:

Combo 1: lunch, movie and window-shopping
Plan ahead on what movie to watch and decide on a suitable timing then pick a venue. Go early to the mall or avoid crowded malls (quite unlikely since Malaysians loves the air-condition provided by malls), travel smart with traffic assistance with waze app and pray hard for parking. Tip: Ladies, pick a mall with an ideal place for lunch and your favourite outlet for pre/post movie window-shopping.

Combo 2: lunch or takeaway, rent a movie and chill at home
Some stress-free quality time together and cuddles. Tip: lit an aroma candle to unwind. You may opt to read a book while he surfs the net on ipad or bring out board games – scrabbles’ or puzzles!

Combo 3: go for events or bazaars or even to discover a new food place in town
Look out for events that might interest the both of you such as PJ Live Arts performances or acts and charity bazaars or weekend flee market etc. You may opt for food hunting with your partner-in-crime, discovering new food outlets or cafes. It will be an exciting date for the both of you. Tip: do some research about the event or café you wanted to go, where it is located or are there any ticket charges or attire if shorts are allowed etc. inform your partner about it.

Hope these suggestions are helpful. How about yourself? Where do you go on a date and what do you and your partner usually do? I would love to hear from your experiences.