Making Friends

Travelling solo can be lonely at times. If you don’t meet people straight away, you’re forced to be in your own company which is why it’s so important to be able to enjoy yourself in both situations. Another valuable skill for meeting people is confidence. You need to be confident enough to reach out to new people, speak to everyone you meet and use your instincts to judge whether you can trust these people. I’ve met some of my closest friends while travelling and some of them live across the other side of the world to me. Essentially, you’ll have a better time if you make new friends and the relationships you form will be so different to any you’ve had before.

Based on this, here are a few tips I can give for making friends easily and safely:

1. Hostels- I think these have to be the best place for meeting people! I would even say that you’re often more safe in a hostel than a hotel. Wherever you are, hostels have a community about them and where everyone is in the same boat, everyone is super friendly and willing to help you out. I have met the most amazing people in hostels and actually gone on to travel to the next destinations with them. Because you don’t know how long you’ll have with these people, the friendships you make happen a lot faster and stronger. Additionally, most hostels have social events in the evenings or even tours which is another great way of getting to know more people.
2. Confidence- Some people are surprised when I tell them this but another way I have found to make friends is to just approach people. When I was living in Spain, I was desperate to meet other English speakers to spend my free time with. I approached a girl on her own who didn’t look Spanish and she was in the exact same situation as me and we ended up spending most of the time together.
3. Groups- If you’re staying in one place for a while it’s definitely worth joining some groups whether that’s on social media or physical groups. There are hundreds of Facebook groups for solo travellers, some for just females, specific to age and location and from these groups you can meet up with people who are in the same place as you. Additionally, there will be meet up/ activity groups local to the area as well. I found a group in Spain which hosted paddle boarding and beach volleyball on the weekends, BBQ on a Saturday evenings and games nights! It’s such a nice way to interact with new people and not feel like the odd one out and most of the time everyone is looking for the same thing so welcomes all new people!

If you’re a solo traveller around my age, please feel free to reach out to me on my Instagram (@emily.parnell) to talk about travelling together in the future!