What I Learned From Going On Holiday With Someone I’d Only Been On One Date With

I'm in Paris, sipping wine on a street corner with the hum of Vespa engines in the air. Amorous couples spill out from cafes onto the streets, there is a sharply-dressed man at my side and I've just been presented with a third glass of rosé. We are - or at least we look like - the epitome of #couplegoals.

There's just one catch: aside from the plane journey and a short taxi ride to our hotel, I've actually only met Stewart once. I don't know what his middle name is, whether he's going to fight me for the window seat or whether he is a Marmite person.

So, how did I end spending a weekend in Paris with a man I'd only met once?

Three weeks previous to this, a 'Date Escapes' invitation landed in my inbox. Masterminded by personality-based dating app CLiKD, it promises to be an 'ultra' speed-dating event in which I'd speed-date the new cast of Made In Chelsea (Freddie Browne, Hugo Leefe, Angus Findlay and Miles Nazaire, to be specific). On the night a handful of couples will be selected to go on a romantic weekend away to a mystery location with their date.

On a whim, I RSVP 'yes'.

Despite my initial bravado, though, I'm feeling nervous as I arrive on a Wednesday evening - slightly sweaty from the dash from the tube - at Chino Latino. It's a chic steak-and-sushi bar where the first challenge of the evening is to see your date through the low lighting (and a haze of prosecco). First daters mingle and sip drinks and then there's a 7pm-sharp start.

The bell goes, and I have all of my mini dates with the cast of Made In Chelsea. Although I haven't watched the show in a while they're all easy to identify from their phones jangling with Instagram notifications on the table.

I'm doing pretty well (no mention of cats? check? No spilling of red wine? check) when Stewart sits down at my table and the first words that come out of my mouth are that my tit tape is coming off of my top.

Luckily it turns out to be a great icebreaker, and we end up having a laugh about it. The organisers must like us, because at the end of the evening I'm discreetly pulled aside and told we've been picked as one of the couples to be sent on holiday.

Seven days later our flights are booked and like it or not, I'm committed.

Check-In

Everything for our trip is booked through Wowtrips - a company who'll organise your trip from start to finish, if you're truly dedicated to the mystery-destination process you can also wait until the airport to find out where you're jetting to using their nifty website or app.

I'm way too impatient for this, so I open my documents early to find out that Stewart and I are headed to Paris(the city of love? No pressure).

I arrive at Gatwick with a hangover. Stewart wins some major points straight away by taking one look at my pale face and offering to get a frozen coffee. While he does, I sit down with my laptop to get some work done. Half an hour passes. I start to wonder whether he's done a runner. Is it possible I already scared him off already? One eye nervously on the departures board, I text him to see if he's ok ‘Just getting you some fries’ comes his reply ‘I couldn’t find a McDonalds so I’m negotiating a takeaway in Weatherspoons’. I do feel a bit like kissing him, but for fries perhaps this might be overkill?

As we board the plane, some of my initial anxiety is disappearing: so I snuggle up for a nap against window. I’m suddenly woken up though by a hand grabbing my arm – it turns out turbulence makes Stewart nervous which is really endearing. I try not to tease him about it when we land (too much).

Romance: 2/5

Awkwardness: 3/5

Cinematic cliché rating: 0/5 (having to reveal the hideous passport photo taken when I had a disastrous hair-bleach job officially vetoed this one)

The First Date

From the airport we're transferred into a pre-booked taxi which whizzes us straight from the airport to the uber-chic Pulitzer boutique hotel in Montmartre (where we have separate rooms). Despite the plane napping, I’m still shattered so what Stewart gets for most of this journey is me drooling on a window.

Our luggage is dispensed, I indulge in a nap and then before I know it we're settling down at a rickety restaurant table with couples wandering past arm-in-arm on a street corner for our first real date.

Truthfully? I'm a little anxious that small talk might be a problem. The setting of Paris for a first date nail-bitingly intense with loved up couples as far as the eye can see.

But I don't have to worry, we comfortably wile away the hours discussing past relationships and make our way through a bottle of rosé and the world's creamiest burrata. By the time we've drained the dregs of our wine glasses there hasn't been a single moment of tense silence.

In a word? Result.

Romance: 4/5

Awkwardness: 1/5

Cinematic cliché rating: 5/5 (especially when a passing camera crew accidentally captures us on French news)

The Day Date

Here is my vision of the quintessential Parisian romantic getaway: you fling open your windows, breathe in croissant-scented air and meander down to breakfast in a leisurely fashion with your amour and a map of Paris in your hand, vowing to leave google maps and your phones in your hotel room.

In reality: I get hungry and worried that we'll miss the 11am buffet cut off, so I desert Stew hunger-games style to sample the croissants. When he arrives we figure out our plan for the day. Wandering around a sepulchral museum in silence seems a bit intense, but Stew impresses me by remembering that I used to study classical music and suggests a visit to the Palais Garnier: Paris's gorgeously opulent original Opera house. As it turns out in order to find it, Google Maps really will be necessary... oh well.

Setting out into the streets of Paris we navigate ourself to the Palais Garnier which luckily doesn't have to be walked around in reverent art-gallery silence, so we chatter happily about the artwork and the Phantom of the Opera's box as we walk around.

Feeling more Audrey Tautou by the minute we progress to the Notre Dame, meander by the Seine and even stumble across couples in a spontaneous riverside ballroom dancing competition. All that's missing is an accordion in the background, and Edith Piaf rasping La Vie En Rose. Stewart's already way ahead of me on this front though, as a surprise he's booked an outdoor classical concert for the evening.

It all feels very sophisticated and dare I say it - a little bit too staged: but then we go back to the hotel and end up having a food fight with the remainders of the blue cheese and some obscure French dessert and stay up until 2am playing piccolo and almost getting sick with laughter. Forget couple goals: as far as I'm concerned this is where it's at.

Romance: 5/5 (maybe even 6/5 after my date themed the whole day around my geek-out for classical music)

Awkwardness: 0/5

Cinematic Cliché Rating: 100/5

The Flight Home

Before I know it, I'm packing my bags to go home. Surprisingly (and despite my initial reservations) it feels as though the weekend has gone way quicker than I thought. Before we catch our plane there's just time for a coffee out on the street corner as Parisians swish by with dogs and baguettes (yes, really).

We both try to decide what the highlight of the weekend was - and both settle on the previous night's food fight. Then it's into the taxi, check in at Paris Charles De Gaulle, and we land back in London and part ways with a hug before heading to the underground.

So what did I learn from going away on holiday with someone I'd only been on one date with?

In our digital-dating world we rarely push ourselves outside of the box. And it's difficult not to feel the pressure to have the 'perfect' dating life when everyone seems to be posting their carefully-curated couples pictures on Instagram left, right and centre. But sometimes the messy, real, human parts of dating someone are the best parts - and Date Escapes has definitely pushed myself out of my comfort zone to discover that.

Although Stew and I conclude that we're going to stay friends rather than amp up the romance, I had an amazing time. It was without a doubt the most spontaneous thing I've ever done.

If you fancy it yourself? Make sure you enter for a place at their next event 'Love At First Flight' by registering here. Personally, I couldn't recommend it more...