How to make friends while traveling solo

Traveling solo can be both the most rewarding and challenging aspect of the experience. At first, the idea of making friends might be intimidating, but once you push beyond your comfort zone, you'll discover it's simpler than you anticipated.

Taking myself out for a solo dinner date in Sri Lanka

1. Your environment matters: I have to start with the obvious, your choice of accommodation can massively influence how easily you will find friends on your solo trip. Obviously, if you opt for a quiet apartment, you will have to make more effort to go out there and join a day trip or other events to meet anyone. Hostels would be the obvious choice when traveling alone. I know, comfort-wise they are not the best option, but what I would recommend is: many hostels now actually offer private rooms, often en suite, so you get to enjoy having privacy and more comfort while also being surrounded by new people you can hang out with or chat to.

   
   

2. Day trips/walking tours: spending the whole day together, exploring the area, will surely bring you closer to strangers. You can meet many other solo travellers, and some of these organised day tours are even free!

   
   

3. Work cafes: this applies even if you are not a digital nomad. Work cafes can be the perfect spot to meet like-minded people. This is another place where solo travellers tend to go, so don't be afraid to start that conversation.

   
   

4. Solo dinner dates: the solo part may make this sound a little contradictory, but trust me, I do this wherever I go and somehow I always end up sitting with people. When you go out on your own, you will be more likely to engage with people based on a simple: "can I use this chair" question. This is how I ended up having dinner with a random family in Mexico or spending the evening sipping cocktails with another solo traveler in Madrid. Being alone will make you more open to engage with others than if you were out with a friend.

   
   

5. Set expectations. You know the saying: some people are there for a season and some people are there for the whole ride? When you make friends while traveling, you have to understand that most of the time these people will be your friends for a season. I think this puts people off a little from making too much effort, but in my opinion, they could not be more wrong! The more I travel, the more I realize that seasonal friends are super important too! You may not be in each other's lives forever, but through traveling, there will be some pretty epic moments you will share, like seeing Machu Picchu for the first time or traveling across the desert in Jordan. And you never know, these seasonal friendships can always turn into a lifelong one.

Hope that you found these tips and insights useful. In my opinion solo travelling is way more social then some people expect it to be, purely because when you travel with companion you are likely to be focused on them, and not open up to the world. I hope that this post encouraged you a little to go out there and travel solo.

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