How to make friends while travelling solo

Travelling solo can be both the most rewarding and challenging thing you ever experience. Making connections probably falls into both categories. While it can seem intimidating at first, 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 travelling alone. I know, comfort-wise they are not the best option, but what I would recommend is the following: 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. I think this is the perfect balance between nice accommodation and sociable accommodation. If you feel more comfortable staying in a building with other travellers, rather than isolated somewhere residential in an Airbnb, this could be a good option for you.

   
   

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 which helps with the cost element. This is probably one of the most natural and easiest ways to make connections. I can guarantee that there will be at least one occurrence during the day that will spark a conversation.

   
   

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 chatting to 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 spent the evening sipping cocktails with another solo traveller in Madrid. Being alone will make you more open to engage with others compared to when you already have company.

   
   

5. Set expectations, but don't take things too seriously: 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 travelling, you have to understand that most of the time these people will be your friends/company 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 realise that seasonal friends are super important too. You may not be in each other's lives forever, but through travelling, there will be some pretty epic moments you will share, like seeing Machu Picchu for the first time, or travelling across the desert in Jordan. Don't take it too seriously. And you never know, these seasonal friendships can always turn into a lifelong one. One of my biggest travel regrets from my few first trips, is how close minded I was to making new connections, thinking 'what's the point, I am going home soon'. Don't make the same mistake, take travel friendships with a pinch of salt and see where they go!

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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