Too often I hear of people who want to travel but forgo the impulse simply because they’re afraid to go alone. This is sad; very sad, considering solo travel can be more convenient, more affordable, and far more rewarding than a trip taken with friends. Though you’ll go alone, it’s likely that you’ll seldom ever be alone — unless you really want to be. It boils down to knowing your options. Understand that no matter where you are headed, there are easy ways to meet other people who share your desire to roam, and locals who are ready to enhance your understanding of culture and place. Without further ado, here are some tips on tapping into the worldwide network of the hospitable and the adventurous:
The CouchSurfing Revolution
The website that everybody knows about, but few truly make the most of. Admittedly, the thought of sleeping in a snoring stranger’s dingy bachelor apartment can be a little scary. Then again, so can the thought of a stranger sleeping in your dingy bachelor apartment. Thankfully, couchsurfing.org’s thorough user review and reference system can really take the edge off, and make for a fabulous experience. This is providing you’re considerate, don’t feel entitled to anything but a half-decent place to crash free of charge, and treat anything extra as a bonus. Most hosts don’t have room for more than one person, so surfing is best done alone.
The site isn’t just a means for accommodation either. There are tons of cs users who aren’t hosting or surfing at all, but use the area-specific forums simply to meet up with others for a hang-out, whether they’re both on the road or not. This aspect is occasionally taken to the next level by user-created events. For example, a recent event called for throngs of CouchSurfers in Bali to rendezvous at the Denpasar McDonald’s to kick off St. Patrick’s Day Festivities. Though I can’t think of a worse way to spend one’s time in Indonesia than at McDonald’s, the point is that so long as you’ve got Internet, you’ve got CouchSurfing: a worldwide community of potentially cool people celebrating trust and traveler camaraderie.
The Mutual Friend
The obvious all-pervasive realm of Facebook should not be taken for granted. A simple status update stating that I had just moved to Berlin put me in touch with a close friend’s identical twin sister who I’d never met, but who had settled in the city a few months before me. She, in turn, introduced me to some young expatriates taking an intro to German language course run by anti-capitalists. Next thing I knew, I was attending vegetarian potlucks in Berlin’s coziest anarchist housing projects.
Let your friends know where you’re going, when you’re going, and ask them if they know anyone living or traveling there. It’s effortless, and absolutely worth a shot.
The Backpacker Hostel
Staying in a hostel is the easiest way to meet other travelers abroad, so long as you don’t opt to sleep in a private room. Private rooms are pricey and solitary. The dorms have bunk beds full of lonesome travelers looking to make friends, to split the cost of a taxi, and to party. The best hostels are rarely the most expensive, and the majority offer unconventional organized pub-crawls if you want to spend your Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights getting hammered with your roommates. All it takes is enough courage for a “Hey, how’s it going?” and chances are, you’ve got a new pal.
Some of these friendships might only last a day, but if you keep in touch (i.e. add them on Facebook) they may well last a lifetime. I’ve stayed for free all over Europe with the people I shared dorms with while backpacking through Southeast Asia. Then I’ve met their friends, who added me on CouchSurfing or Facebook, thereby expanding their network and mine.
Hostelbookers.com is a trusted budget travel network to book through. They don’t charge booking fees, and offer in-depth user reviews. Booking with Hostelbookers is often cheaper than booking through the hostels themselves — especially if it’s a last-minute reservation.
The NGO
Volunteering abroad is an increasingly popular option for those seeking an experience beyond the sights. You’ll volunteer alongside likeminded individuals and be immersed in aspects of culture that may otherwise be inaccessible. There are countless networks advertising unique volunteer opportunities in just about every country in the world. The challenge, however, is finding one that isn’t a gimmick. An expensive program fee or a rigorous travel itinerary often indicates that you’re signing up for an adventure tour, rather than applying for a volunteering position. Program fees will of course vary on the basis of their location (for example accommodations will be more expensive in Costa Rica than in Cambodia), so get a breakdown of costs and compare it with others. Application fees and onetime donations are standard. Try to find grassroots organizations and book directly through them instead of companies like sta Travel, which charge hefty additional fees for their middleman services. But read up to make sure that your charity of choice is indeed legitimate and not exploitive, i.e. isn’t profiting by treating orphans as a tourist attraction.
The Subtle Beauty of Networking Naturally
When prearranged meetings become routine, the backpacker party trail leaves you feeling unfulfilled, and Facebook feeds make it seem like you never left home at all — it’s time to unplug. There is a certain freedom in traveling without a computer or smart-anything and blazing your own trail. It gives the many experiences you’re bound to stumble upon a special sense of authenticity, as though you were the only traveler in the world — a delightful delusion. But if you should ever need to reconnect, an Internet café is never all that far away.
