Solo Travel Tips: How to Make Friends

1. Be Friendly

SMILE, say hello, and look friendly. You need to create a space and aura around yourself that makes you approachable. No need to do anything out of the ordinary, just be polite and have good manners. When someone enters a room, say hello or simply smile at them. If you want to go above and beyond you can even introduce yourself. You basically just want to look like a nice person.

2. Ask a question

Initiating conversation with a fellow traveler is quite simple; just ask questions. Here is a list of questions you can ask:

“Where are you from?”

“How long have/will you be staying here?”

“Do you have any recommendations on things to do in the area?”

“Where are you traveling from or going to next?”

All of these questions will for sure start up a good conversation. You may also find out some good information as well. A lot of times you will meet someone who has gone somewhere you are headed to or is heading in the same direction as you. Some of the best recommendations I have received were from fellow travelers I met along the way. Trust me, you want to ask these questions.

3. Invite people to hang with you

I know it’s kind of weird to invite a stranger to hang out with you, but once you do it a few times it becomes a lot easier. Suppose you are preparing to leave for dinner, but you end up having a conversation with someone you just met who also plans to get food soon. Why not just invite them to join you? You both were going to do the same thing anyway.

Say you are in a conversation with someone you just met, and they are asking you about things to do in the area. If you have a tour booked for the next day, why not recommend that they join the tour as well. At least you can take each other’s photos.

4. Say yes!

This one is simple. Say yes. If someone invites you to dinner, say yes. If there’s a bar crawl and people aren’t signed up and the hostel staff are trying to convince people to go, say yes. If you meet a girl at the hostel and she invites you to ride bicycle through the town and you haven’t ridden a bicycle in years, say yes. When they are looking for people to sign up for the free cooking class, SAY YES!

I have had so many wonderful experiences just by saying the word yes! If you are traveling solo this is definitely something you need to adopt into your daily vocabulary. You won’t regret it if you do.

5. Learn about their culture

Learning about someone else’s culture is pretty much the point of traveling. This is also how you make a connection with another person and build a relationship with them. Once you have done what I have discussed above (Steps 1-4), this is final step in gaining a true travel friend. When you are able to get a glimpse into the life of a person who is from another country you are able to ask questions and compare how life in their country differs from life in your home. If you are lucky enough to meet a person from a country you actually want to visit, then you definitely need to MAKE THAT PERSON YOUR FRIEND. Hopefully, if they like you enough, they will invite you to visit them in their lovely home country.