I was at a lunch hosted by Thuringia Province, Germany, a couple of days ago at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. This area of former East Germany (Thuringia, not the Royal York Hotel) is off the main tourist track and a cool and groovy place. I’ve visited a couple of times, staying at the monastery where Martin Luther once studied, floating in a rave-inspired spa called Bad Sulza where you listen to music underwater and doing Kneipp spa therapy in the gently-faded town of Tabarz.

Tabarz - a good place to spa

Of course at lunch the talk was all about Germany. We travel writers are very professional that way. At least in our hearts we were talking about Germany. While I was discussing Germany with two other travel writers, another writer broke in, “Oh, do you watch the Bachelor?” Somehow our conversation had turned to Bachelor Jake and his top-flame Vienna (of course he’s going to pick Vienna) and St Lucia, which is making the most of the publicity they’re getting from the sexy island shots in the last episode.

It is mortifying to be caught talking about the Bachelor, but I quickly saved with, “We’re discussing what a good hook it is for a story.” It may have been a lame cover-up to hide my shallow reality-watching TV evenings, but it’s true. The Bachelor makes an irresistible hook for an article (a hook is the angle that will grab a reader).

When it comes to travel, the Bachelor gets around. (Okay, when it comes to making out, he gets around even more.) Previously, I’ve blogged about the singles Bachelor trip to New Zealand with Jason and Molly, and today my article  in the Toronto Star relives my experience of reliving Bachelorette Season 4, when DeAnna and Jesse rode horses on Grand Bahama Island. It was a total fluke – I’d had no idea the horse trek offered by Trikk Pony had any Bachelorette history. In fact, as mentioned in my article, I’d originally thought I’d be swimming with seahorses, not swimming with horses in the sea.

Where's the water?

Going in

It's a seahorse!

Meanwhile Michele Peterson, one of the writers I was dishing Bach gossip with at the lunch, is making the most of the Bachelor in St Lucia with her Examiner piece The Bachelor seduces Toronto. I know, the title says Toronto, but it’s really about St Lucia. Written for Torontonians. Don’t worry, if you’re not from Toronto you can still read it. We travel writers are very magnanimous that way.

I've got my eye on you!

This just in! I just got a press release about Sirroco, a frisky human-loving parrot in New Zealand caught on video trying to get amourous with a zoologist. The zoologist only looks semi-interested, so perhaps we could introduce Sirocco to one of the American and Canadian singles still on the loose in New Zealand after the just-landed New Zealand Matchmaking Flight. According to the press release below, Kakapo parrots are large, flightless and nocturnal – much like a lot of men currently on the dating scene, and Sirocco has the added attraction of being feathered and green … surely a match made in parrot heaven.

The Press Release:

The BBC has uploaded a link to see Sirocco the New Zealand kakapo parrot who attempts an unusual mating ritual with a zoologist. [See it here.] With over 1 million YouTube views, Sirocco has quickly become famous for his romantic antics.

Here’s a little more about this rare bird:
The kakapo is a large flightless nocturnal bird. It is the world’s rarest parrot with only 124 in existence. Once prevalent throughout New Zealand, kakapo now live only on predator-free Whenua Hou / Codfish Island, under the care of the Kakapo Recovery Program. This year the program successfully bred 33 kakapo. Their goal is to establish at least one self-sustaining unmanaged population in a protected habitat.

I say the Kakapo Recovery Program need two goals – one, to create a self-sustaining population, and two, to create some half-man-half-parrot offspring. Now that’s an idea that might fly. Viva evolution!

So, were there any love matches, that’s what I want to know. The New Zealand Matchmaking flight took off on Oct 13th (read my previous post about it here) with the Bachelor’s very own Jason Mesnick and ultimate fiance-winning Molly Malaney and I wasn’t on it. I should have been covering it – but then again, at least I don’t have jet lag since I spent the weekend at Blue Mountain instead – a two-hour drive rather than a gazillion-hour flight. Mind you, that long flight would have been filled with embarrassing singles games (always fun) and plenty of spying on the 100 or so singles angling to get close to their chosen potential dates. And who doesn’t like to spy? Oh, and Jason and Molly were apparently doling out dating tips (why does that scare me?) which, if the flight didn’t pan out, singles could then apply [said tips] to any unsuspecting Kiwi singles … a veritable Trojan Horse of Love (no Trojan puns intended).

Forget spring – that’s not when a young man’s fancy turns to love. It’s fall. This fall. For those obsessed with the Bachelor and Bachelorette TV show, um, like me, now’s your chance to get off the couch and live it for yourself. Air New Zealand has come up with a a matchmaking flight from LA to Aukland on Oct 13, and Jason Mesnick and his second-choice first-choice girlfriend, Molly, will be joining the trip. (Personally, I thought previous winner Andrew Firestone was cuter but that’s beside the point.) The point is that you, too, can sign up and scheme and plot and flirt to get close to your eligible woman/man of choice. You can even go online to plan your strategy beforehand.

The sad thing was that I was invited to cover the trip, but due to editorial considerations I had to turn it down. Whaa!

For those who might want to fly high, here’s the dirt straight from the airline. It’s not even that expensive:

The adventure begins with a send-off party at the departure gate at LAX on October 13. At 30,000 feet passengers can expect matchmaking advice from ABC’s The Bachelor, Jason Mesnick and girlfriend Molly Malaney, complimentary party packs, an open bar, speed dating and other games, before it’s lights out for a full eight hours of beauty sleep.
 
Once on the ground in Auckland, passengers and local single New Zealanders are invited to enjoy an international singles-only event, with the opportunity to meet their partner, and/or create lasting friendships within the crowd.
 
The airborne search for has already begun, with Air New Zealand encouraging those interested in the flight to upload a profile and start connecting at www.thematchmakingflight.com. Please feel free to take a look and upload your own profile, or a friend’s if you think they need some help!

Bon voyage!