Here at Plenty of Fish, it’s safe to say we have a soft spot for Valentines Day. In the spirit of the month of love, we asked our employees to answer a question that would inspire us, and all of you, to make the most of your time with your Valentine this year.
“What’s the best, or most memorable date you’ve ever been on?”
This is what they had to say:
“One summer my now husband and I created a summer bucket list containing everything from “swim in a lake”, to “visit a winery”, to “watch a movie outdoors”. It gave us a whole summer of fun activities for just the two of us and really changed up our typical date nights. We loved it so much we now create a new summer bucket list every year!” – Meghan, Director of Customer Success
“As corny as this sounds, the best date I have ever been in is with my (now) wife, and it was our first date! We met at about 10 am on a Saturday, and stayed together for 14 hours! We watched the World Cup at a local brewery, cheering on the same team (Germany, of course), spent some time at our local Jazz Festival, took a walk through the gem that is Stanley Park, watched the 10pm sunset on the beach on the longest day of the year, and finished with a visit to an Izakaya. After spending so much time with her and only feeling absolute happiness throughout, I knew we were completely compatible and in love!” – Cody, Director, Strategy & Analytics
“My first date with my (now) husband started off very badly. I was a couple months away from finishing university and had a job interview and he graciously offered to drive me to the job interview before our date. To my horror, he was 2 hours late picking me up! I was so mad, but I needed the ride so went with him anyway. We argued in the car for the first 30 minutes. However, I nailed the interview, and being in a good mood, we continued our date. We had a lovely dinner, saw a romantic musical, went out for drinks and then for a midnight second dinner. It was an amazing evening which didn’t end until he dropped me off at my dorm at 4 am. About 2 months later, he asked me to marry him in Santorini (and I said no). Clearly, it all worked out as we’re celebrating our 15-year wedding anniversary this year.” – Malgosia, CEO
“My best date ever lasted like 9 hours and ended with a spontaneous after hours fence hop into a giant hedge maze. We ran around in the cold and laughed a lot and there was none of that weird formal awkwardness that I had previously come to expect from dating. I must have walked around with actual hearts in my eyes for weeks afterward. This was many years ago now, and I don’t condone trespassing, but it’s definitely the one date I’ll never forget!” – Shannon, Senior PR Manager
“I knew we were going to be in Europe for a wedding so I decided to extend our trip to go and visit my boyfriend’s favourite whiskey distillery in Scotland without telling him. He did mention it would be nice to see it but I told him we couldn’t make it work logistically. Little did he know, I had already booked the train, hotel and a private tour at the distillery. Unfortunately, you cannot actually book a private tour so I had to book out an entire tour for 8 people so we could have a special experience. I told him before we left for the trip and he couldn’t believe it. When we were there, he had the time of his life; his smile never wavered and he totally fangirled in the shop (our house is now a homage to Oban whiskey lol). Not sure how I’ll top this one!” –Allison, Office Manager
“It had been a while since my boyfriend and I had planned a proper date, so we set aside some time one weekend in the summer. Instead of just watching a movie or going for dinner like we would normally do, we decided to construct a fort on our deck, fit with string lights and snacks inside to watch a movie like kids again. Little did we know, the Festival of Lights was on that night and we got a surprise fireworks show as well! I think the best dates are the simple ones without too much pressure.” – Carly, Receptionist
“I told my girlfriend to clear her schedule for a big night out a few weeks in advance. I used an excuse of needing to preplan by saying the restaurant that we were going to was new and that it had a long wait list to get in. Little did show know, I was planning on surprising her with a trip to New Orleans. Obviously, she figured things out once we got to the gate at the airport. However, I was able to keep the date a secret up until that point.” – Frank, Database Developer Lead
“Most of the time, the best dates with my partner are unplanned. An evening filled with board games and tons of laughs, followed by unexpected 3 hour long chats about hypothetical life questions, are the bread and butter of our relationship. These are the moments I fall more in love.” – Kate, PR Generalist
“The best and most memorable date I ever went on was in fact on Valentines Day with my boyfriend (now husband). It was perhaps our first Valentine’s Day together and he went out of his way to surprise me with chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne! He didn’t know how to make those so he went to the chocolate store and asked the lady at the counter how to do it. He went home and practiced a few times. He took me out for an expensive dinner afterward but to this day I only remember the strawberries because it showed so much care and effort, which was worth more than any amount of money he could have spent! The thought really does matter!” – Diane, Database Administrator
“I planned a surprise trip to take my wife to her favourite place, New York City. Since having kids, it’s been a long time since we travelled alone together. When we got there, we decided to just embrace the moment and come in without any plans. We walked towards Times Square with a coffee in hand and talked about the most random things. It felt really good to focus on each other and not have to worry about the kids. When we got to Times Square, we sat in the central area and people watched for hours. After that, we did a little bike ride through Central Park, enjoying the tree-shaded paths leading to open meadows, lakes, and attractions. I think our best dates are the ones where we just do the simple things.” – Phil, Senior Project Manager
“One of the best dates I’ve had was the time he took me to his home town in Australia. He said he had a surprise for me, and, as we approached to the local golf club, I wasn’t sure this was the surprise I was expecting. We got out of the car and we started walking towards the grass instead of the registry… I was confused! Maybe someone was waiting for us already? But as we started walking into the golf course I started to see many weird shapes that I wasn’t sure my brain was registering at first… until it did! There were hundreds of kangaroos all over the field! We got closer and closer and they seemed so comfortable. This was the very first time I saw a kangaroo IRL! I remember crying without even noticing it and being in a massive a state of awe! He kept looking at me with the biggest smile, then took my hand. Slowly we moved closer and then we sat there and just looked at that amazing scene while the sun was going down and the sky started to turn pink. We stayed for a couple of hours, definitely one of the best days of my life!” – Erika, Junior Designer
“I’ll never get bored of a cozy evening in and the comfort of hanging out with the one you love on a less than ordinary day. Cooking a meal together, a bottle of wine open, candy apples for dessert (Skor flavored, of course!), and several episodes of the show the both of you are binge-watching is a date that makes me smile.” –Sarah, Senior People and Culture Generalist
Remember, it’s not what you do, it’s who you do it with! Happy Valentines Day everyone!
