Alex Owens | Downtown News

Dating one person can be a challenge, but Tim King is adding a difficulty factor beyond what most mortals can handle: He’s going out with 30 women on 30 dates in 30 days.

King, a wedding photographer who lives in North Pacific Beach, is currently on a month-long exploration of dating in San Diego that is called, appropriately enough, “30 Dates In 30 Days.”

It’s a daunting task, so much so that King, 27, has put his work on hold for the most part. Still, nothing worth doing is ever easy, right?

Luckily, the easiest part was finding women willing to go out with him. Some he already knew and others contacted him when they found out about his challenge.

“One woman is 63 years old and she’s flying down from Seattle for our date,” King said. “It will be interesting to see how that one works out.”

King is also getting help from Details Matter, a San Diego-based dating app that offers original date ideas based on a person’s location. It was this app that inspired King to undertake the challenge.

“I believe in promoting originality, not doing the same-old, same-old,” King said. “The experiences are so much better than just a dinner or a movie. And a lot of the ideas on the app are under $100.”

Naturally, King will be seeing a lot of Downtown during his 30-day dating marathon. He will take one to Venissimo Cheese Academy for a cheese-making class, another to the Opera and still another to a fashion show in Little Italy.

Oh, and one lucky girl will be getting a tattoo on her date with King.

“The key is finding adventurous girls,” he said. “I like the ones who are down to go on any date, not just the one in a hot air balloon.”

Still, King admits that some planned dates sound more appealing than others to him as well.

“A pottery class might seem boring at first, but it’s important for me to try new things,” he said.

The first date was March 22 and it set a very high bar.

“It will be hard to top,” King said. “We went whale watching and saw a pack of dolphins, grey whales and a humpback whale made a huge splash.”

King said he has no financial interest in the Details Matter app and is merely doing the experiment because he likes it. That pleases Mark Wills, the man behind the app, because he believes it shows the true breadth of the app, which he hopes to take national, much like Yelp started in San Francisco before going nationwide.

“Some of the businesses that Tim is going on have been able to reach tourists, but not locals,” Wills said. “Mobile apps are the future and Details Matter allows people to find dating ideas based on their location.”

Wills, who does real estate in Mission Valley, came up with the concept after going on one too many monotonous dates.

“Why do dinner and a movie when you can ride jet packs on the ocean or take salsa dancing classes?” he asked rhetorically.

King and Wills are hoping the 30-day dating marathon will get national attention and attract attention to San Diego as a dating destination and the Details Matter app as the source for ideas.

First, King has to complete all the dates. He’s asked people for advice on how to do it and said the best one came from a male escort in Las Vegas.

“He recommended limiting each date to two hours, don’t drink on the dates and have no physical encounters with any of them,” King said.

For details on “30 Dates in 30 Days” and the Details Matter app, check out detailsmatterapp.com or TimKingBlog.com

Alex Owens is a San Diego-based freelance writer.