Your first Face to Face Meeting

You may have been chatting online with someone for a long time and you may feel that you know him or her quite well. This may not be true, because your online friend may have been lying to you.

Be careful about meeting him or her, or about revealing personal information about yourself, just as you would when you meet a stranger for the first time. There will be excitement coupled with anxiety when you meet your online date for the first time, but first, you need to think about protecting yourself.

Keep the following tips in mind when you meet your online date for the first time:

1. Meet your online date in a public place and take a good friend along. You can try to make it a double date or meet with a group of your friends.

2. Tell your date that you will meet him or her. Don't agree to be picked up from your home

3. To avoid feeling like you are under an obligation, insist on splitting the bill with your date.

4. Use your own car to go for the date and make sure that you have enough fuel.

5. If you choose to drink, always remember that alcohol will reduce your inhibitions and may impair your judgment. Always keep your glass in sight, so that you are aware of what you are drinking.

6. Avoid telling your date your address on your first date. Make plans to meet a second time and then decide if you want to tell him or her where you live.

7. If you have an intuition about the type of person your date is, don't ignore it. If a sixth sense warns you that something is not right, make an excuse,apologize, and leave right then.

8. If your date tells you that he or she is very religious, don't assume that you will be safe with him or her.

9. Never agree to meet your date in a lonely place.

10. Even if there is a lot of attraction and you are having a great time, remain vigilant. Keep a cell phone handy.

11. It is better to give your date your cell phone number, rather than your home phone number.

12. Tell someone where you are going and whom you will be meeting. Fix a time when you will be calling them to confirm that you are back and safe.