There are couples, who dream about romance in Paris, candlelit dinners and sunsets over the sea.
And then, there are couples, who look at a completely inappropriate location and think: “Well… technically, why not?”
The list of unusual places, where people have apparently considered getting intimate, is surprisingly long: a parked car in the middle of nowhere, a deserted beach, an empty cinema, a hotel laundry room, a mountain cabin, a boat, a train compartment, and, according to people with far too much confidence, even an office, after everyone has gone home.
Personally, I believe every unusual location comes with one important question: “Is this romantic, or are we about to become a story someone tells at dinner?”
A friend once told me about a couple, who decided that a secluded beach would be the perfect place for a little romance. They carefully checked twice, that nobody was around. Everything was peaceful. The moon was shining. The sea was whispering. Then, suddenly, a voice came from the darkness:
“Excuse me! Are you two okay?”
They froze.
A fisherman was standing nearby.
“Yes!” they said.
“Good,” he replied. “Because I’ve been watching you for five minutes and I was starting to think, you were trying to bury a suitcase.”
That, in my opinion, is the great surprise of unusual romance: you never know, what your behavior looks like from a distance. A car may seem mysterious, until someone knocks on the window. A cinema may seem exciting, until the cleaning lady turns on the lights. A mountain cabin may seem wonderfully private, until you realize the owner lives downstairs. And a boat may seem incredibly romantic, until you discover, that neither of you knows, how to steer it.
There is also something wonderfully democratic about these situations. You can have champagne, silk sheets and a view of the Mediterranean. Or you can have a car, a coat, and the faint realization, that you parked directly underneath a security camera. Romance, after all, isn't really about the location. It's about being with someone, who can look at an absolutely ridiculous situation, start laughing, and say: “Well, at least we'll have a good story.”