Valentine’s Daycan be a bummer when you’re in a long-distance relationship. Anyone who’s pored over flight listings, taking wild stabs at different cities and dates in an effort to find a reasonably pricedgathering point, knows the pain of trying to meet in the middle. But earlier this month, travel aggregator Kayak launched Rendezvous, a new service that aims to make it easier for loved ones to find the most affordable destinations for a reunion.
The interface is simple: your two origins and your preferred travel-date range, and Kayak’salgorithm scours flight listings and ticket prices from the past 48 hours to determine which cities make the cheapest destinations for both parties. Select the place that appeals to you most, and you’ll be directed to Kayak’s main site to view and purchase flights.
Rendezvous also accounts foreach person’s travel time and expenses, so neither of you getstuck with a much longer flight or pricier ticket. With that in mind, suggested destinations aren’t always near the geographic midpoint—and that’s a good thing. You may be surprised by the number ofdesirablefar-flung locales that make your list.Caribbean ports-of-call Castries,St. Lucia, and Fort-de-France, Martinique, were both relativelycost-efficient destinations when I searched for the best meetups between my home base of Santa Feand Maastricht, Netherlands, where my partner lives.
While big metros like New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angles are usually the cheapest options, it’s worth scrolling to findperfect cities for outdoor adventures. On the list forϳԹ’s travel editorto meethis girlfriend who works in Monterey, California, were Seattle, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Portland, Oregon—all places where it’s easy to spend a dayclimbing,biking,or checkinganother national park off your bucket list.