As I live out in the boondocks in a region that is about as puritanical as one can find in the 21st Century US of A it is seldom that I hook up with anyone, from LPSG or elsewhere, without some amount of travel. And I don't risk even a small effort in traveling until I've corresponded with the person sufficiently to get the feeling that they are for real. Whether it be a few hundred miles roundtrip driving or a flight halfway across the country my guideline has become not doing it without an additional reason of substance for making the trip.
Within an hour's drive, or so, that reason could simply be to attend an event or venue that I'll enjoy for its own merits. For a jaunt over to the Front Range of Colorado or down into New Mexico it could be something as simple as availing myself of the opportunity for some Big Box shopping that doesn't exist in my area. But a flight halfway across the country requires combining the proposed LPSG tryst with something as substantial as previously planned activities involving good friends and/or family.
Over the years I've had more such encounters than I can count. Some resulted in friendships that have lasted to this day. Some have been less than spectacular. Some have been total busts, or even no-shows. But I've always avoided deep remorse in that the trip was worth the taking for other reasons.