Traveling alone is fun as you are able to experience a new place at your own pace and do the things you find interesting. If you're like me, you also take this opportunity to learn about the culture you are visiting and what better way to do that than by making friends with locals!
I know that you're probably curious about a lot of things: How do you just talk to strangers? How do you get pass the language barrier? Well I'm going to give you 5 tips that I've picked up throughout my travels to meeting genuine people.
1. Take Your Hobbies Abroad
Now a hobby in this sense isn't just your instrument or sketch book. Think about what you like to do with friends at home? What gets you out of the house?
What I do with friends and what gets me out of the house is Hookah (Shisha). Just briefly for those of you that are unfamiliar, Hookah is a water pipe that is used to smoke flavored tobacco. It is a very social activity where people go to lounges and to chat, drink, eat, and smoke.
This is actually how I met all my close friends in the United States so why not try to make friends abroad the same way!
Every time I plan to go to a new city I look up the Hookah Lounges in the area and see the reviews, pictures, and prices. It is important to see if the place is more of a club scene or a cafe. One is not better than the other, I prefer cafes as a solo traveler.
In Paris, I found one Hookah Lounge that was a cafe style named Café Planet-Chica. It was a small, quaint spot on a small cobblestoned street. There I met a man who I found out was the owner of the cafe. I was the only one that day as I went pretty early and I can say as a biracial, female who enjoys hookah I do stick out when I go alone to a Hookah Lounge I stick out.
When it comes to having a hobby (maybe you're a coffee connoisseur) ask some questions about the product to get conversation going with people who work there or those around you. For this instance, I asked what brand of Hookah and Shisha they used, and the types of charcoal (all things that make a difference in the smoke).
This leads to the next tip as no one spoke a word of English!
2. Language Barrier... does not matter!
So what do you do when you go to a country you don't speak the native language. Well if you're an English speaker you already have an advantage for two reasons:
English tends to be the language of tourism and is widely taught in other countries.
Because of this a lot of people who may not be fluent love meeting people to practice conversation with.
When I was in Athens I was at yet another Hookah Lounge called New Dubai Cafe. The people there spoke Greek, Arabic, and Farsi. Let me tell you I had no idea what was going on. However, there were two individuals who knew enough English to fill me in on the general topic and translate my words to the group. They were kind individuals and invited me to come back for my birthday and said they would have a cake for me.
Many times I go to a country struggling to communicate in the basics I looked up on Google Translate just for the person I am talking to switch to fluent or broken English. But there are times when the language barrier is too strong, either the person doesn't speak the language or is having trouble keeping up with the conversation. This is when technology is your friend.
I had a two hour conversation with someone through Google Translate.
Google Translate has a voice translation feature which is amazing for communicating with a language barrier. At that same Hookah Lounge I went to in Paris I used this feature to have a full two hour conversation with the owner and made an amazing new friend.
3. Stay at Hostels
This is a great way to meet other travelers and to also travel without breaking your budget. I have stayed in multi-bed hostel rooms with 8-12 usually mixed gender as they tend to be the cheapest. My go to for booking a hostel is hostelworld.com. However this can be a hit or miss on meeting people depending on the mood of the other people staying and if you are in the room the same time as others. There have been times I only met one person and others where the whole group game together. To speak on the latter this happened at the hostel, Zorbas Hotel, I stayed at in Athens.
In Athens, I arrived at the room around 8:00pm and everyone was already in the room. They were all conversing and drinking wine as they had been there for awhile before I got there. A lot of them were full-time travelers, only going home every 3 months for visa reasons. And to my luck they were all Canadian.
We laughed about it being the Canadian room and I, the American, invading the space. They offered me wine and we shared travel tips and places to go and see in the city. I was only in Athens for a day so it was the only time we spent together, but I enjoyed it much more than a night out on the town and made some really good friends too.
4. Join a Walking Tour or Bar Crawl
Walking tours can be found in pretty much any major city you are traveling too. Often times you can find ones for free at the hostel you are staying at. This is a great way to meet other travelers in the area and strike up conversation. These are usually offered in English as well and is a great opening to get to know a new city especially if you're on a budget.
Bar crawls cost money, but also can be a fun way to meet people depending on if you like to... well drink. The same concept is the same as walking tours as they are offered by hostels. They are offered through websites as well such as AirBnb.com but I have not been on one through there so I will not speak on the experience.
I went on a bar crawl in Seville and met people in other rooms in our hostel I wouldn't have met otherwise. We ended up having a blast and met up for tapas the next day at an amazing local spot called Duos Tapas. (Literally the best tapas I've ever had, nothing there was bad and we ordered almost the whole menu.)
Sometimes a little bit of liquid courage is all you need to loosen up and feel comfortable to interact with others. But remember my next tip!
5. Relax and Be Yourself
Meeting new people abroad should come as naturally as meeting new people back home. I will give you three mini tips to keep in mind when wanting to open yourself up to new people.
Don't pretend to be someone you're not. People can read right through someone's vibes and know if they are being fake. This goes for the people you are meeting as well. Don't force yourself to make friends with someone who you would not normally be friends with. The goal should be to make lasting friendships and connections.
Relax your body. Make sure that your body language is open for people to start communicating with you. Keep yourself open, don't be hunched over in your seat as a closed off body communicates you don't want to be bothered. Put your phone down for a bit, unless you're trying to translate something to start a conversation. Make yourself as available as possible.
Listen to your instincts. There are a lot of people who are genuinely interested in meeting new people and cultural exchange. I know plenty of people like that here in the United States, including myself. However, listen to your instincts. If someone seems sketch, or the situation seems to be getting bad worry about your own safety first. This is why you should not let people know where you're staying at (some people do have really good intentions on making sure you get home safe but I would not recommend taking the chance), or lead you to a new location. I also do not recommend heavy drinking when meeting new people as you do want to be of sound mind to make sure your judgement is not impaired. Don't let this detour your from making friends, as I am sure this is a fear of a lot of people. Be smart and you will make great lifelong friends and avoid any bad situations.
Now that you've read my tips I hope that you can apply them to your next destination!
Safe Travels,
Chelle
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