There’s been silence on the other end of the app since Rory Carrick’s first proper Tinder dinner date, so dispensing with the details he ended up taking a trip to Brazil.

Having had a proper date, dinner included, and then nothing but silence on the other end of the line, I decided to change Tinder tactics. I began swiping like a mad man through potential conquests. I wasn’t husband shopping. I was shopping for a short-term relationship. A very short-term relationship. A man has needs after all.

Here are a couple of things I noticed during my search:

There is a lot of foreign eye candy from places like Brazil and Argentina. I’ll be honest I love a bit of a suntan, so a whole lot of those boys got a swipe to the right.

There are quite a few picture-free profiles. This is despite the fact that Tinder integrates with Facebook profiles. These guys are a little too mysterious for me. Besides, how can I be expected to be incredibly superficial and judge the man entirely on his looks, with absolutely no regard for his personality, if he doesn’t have a picture? Swipe to the left!

Tinder also seems to intermittently disregard my ‘discovery settings’ (that’s fancy talk for location radius) and offer me men a bus and a train journey away. I’m far too lazy for that kind of carry on. Left again.

After racking up a few matches, and fearing swiper’s cramp, I moved to the next phase of operation hook-up. I sent off a few bland ‘Hi how are you?’ messages. I’m sure you are all familiar with these easy openers. Thank God for iPhone’s cut and paste functions.

After a bit of back and forth, myself and a handsome Brazilian man decided we were each other’s perfect short-term relationship. We swapped numbers and moved our chat to WhatsApp (this is very common practice), because really the Tinder chat capabilities aren’t up to scratch. It has this concept of sharing ‘moments’ which Tinder says allows people to share special moments with each other, and thus connect in a more meaningful way. It’s all a bit PG, to be honest. Tinder is like being invited to the job interview. WhatsApp is where you get to really show off your CV and highlight your areas of expertise.

For fear of offending anyone with graphic detail, I’ll review my experience as if I’m on Tripadvisor. In the space of about two hours I’ve been in Brazil and come back smiling. Overall it was a great trip. Up close, the scenery was breathtaking – a mix of rugged terrain to get my pulse racing and soft sandy beaches to help me relax. The service was excellent. Really excellent. The only thing which let it down was the accommodation. The resort I visited was part of some timeshare deal which meant it was very difficult to book a return visit without other occupants being there. Apparently this is a very common problem in Brazil.

Despite the difficulties in securing a booking I did manage to make a few trips back over the course of a few weeks, but eventually Brazil declared my timeshare rights null and void as someone else had signed up for a more permanent lease. I was disappointed I have to say. My trips to Brazil were enjoyable. I do however have to commend Brazil for being so polite in informing me that my visitation rights had been rescinded. It’s nice to know some countries still have respect for tourists.

Brazil moved to a place where he wanted something more long term, but I’m still adjusting to being single, so short physical interactions have been all that I was looking for. To my mind they could be as intimate or as detached as I wanted and I’d have complete control over how involved I wanted to get. After coming out of such a long-term relationship I wasn’t in the headspace to enter into anything more meaningful. I was probably also carrying around a bit of emotional baggage, which left me liable to latching onto a new man for all the wrong reasons.

But I have been thinking: as rewarding as these trysts are, they do get a bit repetitive. Yes, they meet a need on one level but I also want to experience some more actual dates; to go for dinner, have a pint or catch a movie. Using Tinder, I have only been on one proper date so figure it’s was time to try another. Plus, I can always keep my sideline activity on the go while I explore another option.