First meetings are always a travel into the unknown, even if you've chatted quite a bit first. But if you want to meet people, it is a must.
Take this from a totally shy person who mostly avoids interactions when possible.
First one for me, we already knew each other well cause it took years of conversations until we got geographically close enough, and still it was... lets see how this goes. Not easy -even- considering none of us had animals then. (like, nothing to lose feeling for both)
One of the latest (on this site, actually) it just some short conversations (and a post history to check). Also a few hundred miles I drove just for the meeting.
Fun point. As I was cruising a long highway to meet that horse loving guy,the images of the start of the film "Zoo" came dancing into my mind and felt like a sort of remake... ugh.
Good for me, those first contacts are just a rendez vous to me, never a sex orientated gathering.