Meeting folks abroad -- your experiences & advice
Hey all -- long time lurker, first time poster.
I know I'm about to beat a dead horse with this post -- I've done some searching of old posts, but wanted to start a new post with some questions and advice-seeking.
I've travelled a lot over the years, but exclusively with friends. Being able to share memories with people of travels is part of what makes them special, but I never needed those people to be people I already knew -- meeting new folks abroad and having fun while on a solo trip would be just as rewarding -- if not more!
As much as I've read about meeting people at hostels, meetup websites, couchsurfing, etc, I can't shake both the hesitation and gut-feeling that, once I decide to go solo-travel somewhere, no relationships will manifest themselves on the journey and I'll end up walking around in a distant country for a week alone. I love meeting new people, getting to know them, exploring, adventuring, and the like, but I certainly am introverted when things start.
When things like couchsurfing, meetup sites, hostels, or meeting people randomly are mentioned, I can only imagine a brief conversation with someone that's transient, for about a minute, and then folks move along. How reasonable is it to expect to actually develop a relationship with someone, and actually hang out when solo travelling? Is it some mystical unicorn, or am I just doubting the prospect way too much? If I start talking to a local, and maybe want to hang out with them and have them show me around, all I can imagine is inconveniencing them and being a bother -- after all, everyone's got their own lives going on, why would they want to hang out with some random tourist who bothered them in a cafe?
Would love to hear stories from your own adventures to prove this point wrong, or otherwise hear any advice or words of wisdom. This is really the only thing holding me back from buying a ticket and going somewhere as soon as tomorrow -- I want to meet people and build relationships while travelling, and it seems impossible!
Submitted December 29, 2018 at 06:56AM by ksafin http://bit.ly/2ERgTsS
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