former lurker

I hired Matt twice about 1-1/2 years ago. At that time, he looked like his pictures (whenever they were taken). Matt is a contractor, and his work keeps him in great shape. As noted, he's very well hung. He also really enjoys and is good at sex. I'm glad to see his ad is up. Last time I looked for it I didn't see it. I'd definitely like to see him again.

It's not just the distance, it's also the route. Driving to a less densely populated area can be relaxing, and more predictable as it's less dependent on potential rush hour traffic, potential accidents, roadwork, etc. The Northeast is different -- except for NYC which is so densely populated and compact, especially Manhattan, the rest of the region is not overly packed but also much less spread out than other parts of the country (although I'm not really factoring in the northernmost parts of NYS, Maine, etc). It's also relatively easy to get to/from Boston, DC and NYC/Manhattan without driving (hourly shuttles by plane, high speed rail, modestly priced bus trips, etc). Having a car in Manhattan is not a necessity and, for most, a complication and expense that's better avoided. That makes travelling from Manhattan more of a project -- you either have to rent a car, pay a big uber charge, work around train or transit schedules, or some combination. Now that I'm back living in New England, I wouldn't forgo having a car and it's a simple matter of hopping in, opening a gps app, and hitting the road.

Thanks for the advice, and for your good deed in adopting your rescue dog. I have another cousin who has a dog that had been abused, neglected, malnourished and traumatized. It took him (the dog) quite a while to feel secure and loved, but he got there and from all appearance is doing quite well. Of course my cousin adores the dog. She lost her partner to cancer two years ago, and having the dog has been a tremendous source of comfort, companionship, and structure for her. I've been toying with the idea of getting a pet (a dog most likely) as I lost my mom two years ago and, especially in these times of social distancing/isolation, having a dog to care for and get companionship from is quite appealing. I just moved though and am still getting my bearings in the new place -- went from a house to an apartment -- so I'm going to take my time deciding about getting a pet.

You have me thinking of getting a rescue dog. My cousin has done so twice, and it's been a great experience for him and his dogs. Unfortunately, I now live in an apartment so I'm reluctant to have a dog because I don't have a yard for her/him.

Of course "hassle" is shorthand for "not worth it to me", and reflects a more comprehensive balance of the costs and benefits of the travel. It is often worth it for guys to undertake the travel time/logistics to spend several days on Fire Island. That offers benefits beyond a 3 hour appointment, both in terms of personal fun and potential concentration of clients. It also suggests you have the option of hiring guys who stay on Fire Island for whom the time/travel is likely less of a hassle than coming from Manhattan. Especially for guys visiting Manhattan for a few days, a trip to Long Island IS a hassle, takes several hours and involves taking forms of transportation they otherwise wouldn't be using. I'm sure you know all of this. When worked in Midtown Manhattan, I opted to pay exhorbitant rents to have a 2 minute commute. It made most sense for me given the hours I was working and the income I was earning. I could have gotten a lot more space for a lot less money if I'd been willing to spend 45 minutes to an hour commuting each way. For a visiting escort especially, travel time is a big downside. A 3 hour appointment becomes more like a 5-6 hour commitment of time.

In my experience, travel to and from work is uncompensated but travel for work is compensated in many professions. I was an attorney based in New York and travelled all over for work. It was always compensated/covered. If you work for yourself, travel to/from your office is not tax deductible, but travel from your office to a client location is a deductible expense. I get your frustration, though. You would think proximity to Manhattan would make it easier to arrange for a session in your area, but I suspect it's more difficult.

I agree, but I've lived in rural and urban areas and NY is different. Most Manhattan residents (let alone visitors) don't have a car. Parking is a hassle unless you have a monthly parking space which either will be on the outer edges of the city or cost a good chunk of money. I lived in midtown for 15 years and would almost never drive. When I first moved to New York (from Maine), having a car wasn't an option, and leaving the city was a hassle. When I moved from New York to the Boston suburbs, I drove everywhere from close by for errands or several states away to visit friends or relatives. For visitors, travel from Manhattan to Long Island is more daunting.

That's especially true for visitors. Travelling from/to Manhattan can be a pain -- dealing with trains/ubers/car rentals/jitneys, etc. There's the time it takes to get to and from. Depending on the day and the time, traffic makes it more of a pain. For a lot of visitors, NYC IS Manhattan, and travel to LI or other boroughs isn't in their frame of reference.

I would have revised the plan and gone with the overnight without the added morning/lunch stuff. As for hotel checkout, etc., I'd have checked out when it suited me and offered to call him an uber. It sounds like his plans/situation were disrupted and then he changed his itinerary and it led to reorienting your planned meeting. If the issue is that he fudged the reasons for the change, I'd tend not to dwell on that -- there are a lot of comments scattered about these boards from clients about escorts who text/read texts, take calls, leave phones on, etc, and how that disrupts their experience. We tend to want to be the sole focus of the escort during our time together. Anything that is external can disrupt that, and so I suspect a lot of good escorts try to keep from letting those external factors disrupt the sense of our being their sole focus. Leaving him with the sizable deposit and no agreement about how to apply that to a future meeting is another matter, but as someone has said above, don't be too tough on yourself for acting on an instinct to settle things amicably and fairly. In the future, however, should you face a similar situation, I'd recommend an open discussion about what you and the escort would consider a fair resolution. The only part I'm not mentally processing is why you didn't opt to do the overnight without the added morning/lunch time if that was on the table.

"Make him"?

Having lived in Midtown for over a decade, and been to the FWB area for work once, I'd think fitting in in NYC is less an issue than it is in FWB. Everyone fits in in NYC. There are very few venues in NYC where dressing up is expected. The city caters to visitors from all areas and backgrounds and in manner of dress. Of course, if the issue is the client's level of comfort going to an upscale NYC restaurant with someone dressed more casually, or whether his companion knows which fork to use, that's a different issue. I'd feel comfortable taking "Sawyer" anywhere I'd like to go in NYC.

The entire thread is a collection of LPSG forum members posting photos that fit the topic, not of themselves. There are a number of subsequent posters asking who the guy in the photos is (I didn't see an answer, but there's a lot of pages to go through to see if anyone provided a name). In general, on LPSG, if a poster posts something of himself he says so explicitly. And there are subforums for posting stuff about yourself. The linked post isn't from one of those sub forums.

The poster on LPSG is not the person in the pictures. The poster may or may not know who the person in the pix is. The poster id's as 100% gay, who knows about the person whose pix he posted.

Would you say the same things about yourself (as you've described yourself as top only)?

You have no idea or evidence as to why he has no reviews. He may not see many clients as a preference. He may be hired by more prominent clients who are not inclined to send reviews and leave a paper trail. He may not encourage reviews. He is a quite popular porn performer in his prime. He doesn't even appear in a ton of porn. He may not view escorting as a career, but as a side activity. There are some guys who schedule multiple clients per day and travel to certain cities on a fairly set schedule annually. They are treating escorting as their primary job, and are looking to see as many clients as possible (especially when traveling). Others run ads intermittently, and see a few clients here and there. I get that you consider $500/hour too much for any encounter. That's your opinion, and it's an amount you wouldn't pay. No one is suggesting you should pay that amount. Where I disagree with you is the range of assumptions you're making about why Shane is escorting, how he should approach it, what he should ask for, and most particularly your suggestion he should be charging less because you told him you wanted to do certain things you think he should charge less for than other things. He's not the right escort for you. That's clear. Move on to someone who fits your criteria.

His ad doesn't suggest he'd limit the session. He lists a good range of things as interests. It's the client who wanted to limit the session, and pay less according to what he wanted to do. $500 is a lot, and may be more than most either could afford or would be willing to pay. But it's not a case of an escort saying I'll only do x for that $500.

First, if kissing and oral is your thing, why do you think that should cost less than other stuff like anal? Second, should the escort charge less than his regular rate because you choose to spend your time with him doing 2 things for 30 minutes each, rather than 4 things for 15 minutes each, or doing those things in combination? Clients often complain about up-selling or ala carte pricing. Aren't you asking for that because you choose to do fewer things than are being offerred? There's really no such thing as a fair price for a unique service, other than what a purchaser is willing to pay and a provider is willing to accept.

I liked your post because it perfectly captured my same feeling. I replied to further explain that I sort of mean that I wish I had thought to post such a perfect statement as you did about Ben. I think it, but don't share the thought in a post.

I've always found him a perfect mix of hunky, handsome, and good at providing what his clients want. While others tend to focus on things like reports of flaking, I'm more focused on what a meet up would be like than I am on whether the meetup will happen precisely when and with less persistence on my part. A lot of the posts highlighting his instances of disappointing guys who thought they were confirmed to meet are lost on me.

Sorry about that. I tend to think about the way the legal stuff is translated into info the reader is looking for, and sometimes I overdo the particulars that I know from practicing law. I try to match what I know/can offer to what others are interested in, but sometimes end up with too much of the stuff I know and too little of what others want to know. I too appreciate your cluing me in about how my post did and didn't help answer your query.

Well put. But it may be a more pedestrian reason on his part -- he doesn't like his escort to emphasize his work as a stripper -- maybe so it doesn't come off as being the gist of what he offers or because he thinks of himself as giving more in an encounter than the stripper/private dance experience.

It's always useful to know what happened and how it influenced your conclusions.

"Get out of the USA"? I think the more apt question is whether it will limit his entry into Canada. As I recall, perhaps imperfectly, the reason he had to relocate back to New York is to show the Court of Jurisdiction for his case that he had local, reliable connections to people who would give the Court the best assurance that he (as with all other defendants who are placed on probation for some/all of their time under court supervision) a network of supporters who the most reliable bases to predict ongoing support, encouragement, advice, etc. to keep him in compliance. It's not a clear, direct basis to infer the serious of the crime under consideration, nor the risk the court infers (as it does) from the facts and charges stated by the prosecutors in their charging instrument/Complaint. It is mostly so the court can guarantee the defendant will remain under the Court's jurisdiction until it makes an ultimate decision -- hence, keeping him in the State isn't about limiting his impact outside the State, but about maximizing the control held by the Court.

Or it could be a function of other things. I just learned that one PreP drug and protocol (Truvada) is likely to prompt metabolization of calories, while the other (I forget the name) is likely to promote slower metabolization of calories. Thus, it could be that the weight loss is an outgrowth of the Prep protocol if he's on it.

Sometimes I opt to not respond because I'm tired, I've logged on late, and I routinely look at posts that pop up as notifications first. Sometimes I opt to not respond/review/recommend for reasons more unique to my way of thinking that I suspect won't be found to be useful by other readers. So, I don't read much into a lack of information because so many things are not included that I'd like to factor into making my own decision rather than substitute the judgement of another forum contributor.