I always use "busy adjacent areas". Like for example we have a main shopping street where it gets crowded. But there are streets adjacent to it, which also have traffic from people going to the main street or coming back from the main street. There is where I have found to be best for approaching. Its mildly crowded but not that much.
Same with malls. Entrances of malls where people are waiting for others, smoking etc are a good place.
Or if you can tweak your approach hours to go right before or right after peak times then you have a sweet spot.
Like in my city, 5-7pm on weekdays is very crowded. So 3 or 4pm is a sweet spot. So is 7:30pm.
But yes the more experienced I have had with approaching or the more warmed up you are, you start getting bolder and just go for approaches even if people are overhearing it or see you approaching. You realize people just look for a few seconds and then move on.
However, I am always careful to spread out my approaches so that I do not stay in 1 street or 1 mall for an hour+ straight and do all my approaches righ there.
I see travelling guys and coaches doing bootcamp do that. But they dont care because they will be gone in a few days. But for us guys, who are going to be around year round its better to play it a bit smart.
Good post, I do the same thing. I think of it like the flow of water through channels - when the channel is narrow or high pressure (e.g. the entrance to a train station or mall), the energy is high and it's hard to stop the flow. When the channel opens up (into a public square, park, courtyard, etc, or into an adjacent quieter street) the pressure is released, and girls tend to be more relaxed and willing to stop.
You want to avoid trying to make her contradict the energy of her environment.
My most successful areas are riversides, parks, courtyards with a fountain or something in the middle, and quieter public transport roads near malls and thoroughfares. If it's a place that makes you feel like stopping and relaxing for a moment, it's probably a good one.
