There are many times when people find themselves at the end of a relationship, wondering why they didn't know sooner that it wasn't going to work out. Or, some people wonder if they will ever meet the person of their dreams.

How do you know if the person you are dating now is the person of your dreams? For the people who say "you just know" they should be congratulated and wished the very best for their good fortune. For the rest of us, meeting people and developing a serious relationship takes a little more work. So when you're with someone and wondering whether or not you want to make a commitment to a long-term relationship with these people, how do you know what to do?

There are two things you should do together that will help you decide whether or not the relationship should be taken to the next level of commitment.

Make a meal together. If this sounds like an odd suggestion and if you tell anybody that cooking together was a way to determine compatibility, they'll probably give you a funny look. But consider this: if you're looking for a long-term commitment, cooking reveals a few things about the other person like: how clean they are, how picky or relaxed they are, how creative and spontaneous they are and ultimately, whether or not you can eat their cooking! Cooking together is also an exercise in communication, the foundation of any good relationship. If things get tense while you cook, that may not be a good sign.

Go on a trip together. This does not have to be a long vacation, just a weekend getaway. Traveling together will help you determine how well you get along with the other person when you've seen them for the past 24 hours. Dating gives people a false sense of spontaneous excitement when they are around the other person because often a dating couple may go a few days without seeing each other so they have a lot to talk about when they're together. However, when you're traveling, you don't have any "exciting news" to tell the other person about because you've seen them for the past couple days straight! Traveling together also shows you how the other person handles things that require patience, planning, organization, and stressful situations like: what do they do on longer car rides? Do they listen to the radio? Do they have to always be talking? Do they fall asleep when the car pulls out of the driveway? Do they pack their entire wardrobe for a two-day vacation? How do they treat the hotel clerk if the room reservation is wrong?

Traveling together and cooking together will be a good lesson in how you communicate and how you spend your time together. Dating can be a fun experience, but the potential success of turning the dating relationship into a more committed relationship can be determined with of these two activities.

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Dating Information a website providing information on Dating