Right, laid back activities are less pressure and financially less costly for both people. Another thing I like about activities is that it provides an easy shared experience that you can talk about. It's also a good way to discover shared interests.
About getting out of a bad date - some girls and maybe guys too come prepared with a friend who can give them an "emergency" call to "remind" them they have an appointment elsewhere! If the date is really going poorly, I guess you can create the "emergency" yourself and back out! Chances are if you're not enjoying the date, the other person is also not having a great time either. In any case, I think it's always polite to thank the other person for taking the time to meet with you, even if the date didn't go too well.
Yes, shared activities are the best: then it can never be a bad date. Even if you don't click, at least you both got to do a cool thing together.
Yeah, unfortunately sometimes you realize pretty quickly that a the date isn't going anywhere. Although an emergency call may do the trick, I personally have more respect for just being honest. If you leave, explain – nicely, of course – why.
For example, I once had a date (just drinks, no dinner. This is a good example of why it's good to only go out for drinks on a first date) that didn't go well. We were 30 minutes in, and we had no click. I was trying to make it more lively, but to no avail. Then she said she had to go, because she had moved from one guesthouse to another that day (this was in SE Asia, I was traveling) and she still needed to get her stuff.
Now maybe this was true, but to me it seemed like a lame excuse to end the date. I mean, she could have easily moved her stuff during the day, knowing that she had a date that evening: what if I was Mr. Right? Haha!
To be honest, I was glad the date was over too. But I would have respected her more if she had just told me straight up that I wasn't her type.
Do you know Master of None? Love that Netflix show! The second season has an episode entirely dedicated to dating, it's hilarious and insightful at the same time. Def check it out if you haven't seen it yet!
Ha, we could talk about this forever, @sizzlinkgmonkeys!