Finding a female travel companion can be difficult depending on your local network of friends, co-workers and family at home. There are ways around this if you don’t know anyone personally who wants to travel. Do some good planning and ask a lot of questions (some rather personal but necessary) and you stand a very good chance of finding a great female travel companion and perhaps life long friend.
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Ask your friends first
For eg if you are going from California to India via New York, your female friends might be interested in exploring New York with you (as its in the same country and commute is fast!). In this way, your initial trip is done!
Help others with clicking their photos!
Now this is an interesting case. When I was in Paris, there was this girl trying to take her picture with the Eiffel Tower. I offered her help, and then we started talking, had dinner – and 2 days later we traveled to Belgium for Christmas! Usually you can judge a person if she is a traveler or not by seeing the way she takes photos! Or ask her to take yours – followed by introduction et al!
Stay in Hostels, not Hotels
Hanging around hostels is a great way to find female travel companions when you are on the road away from home. People who stay at hostels are generally traveling alone and looking to save money on their lodging. It’s easier to find a travel partner who is traveling alone like yourself. Whenever I stay in hostels, I always meet somebody who wants to check out a nearby city or country. My favorite hostel websites are HostelWorld.com and Hostels.com.
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Be a part of Local Walking / Cycling tours
In a lot of cities, you would find locals giving guided tours. One of the best experiences that I had was with ‘Sandemans: Home of the Famous Free Tour.’ There are two advantages – you are not alone while traveling the city and there is a high probability that you find a traveling buddy there! Additionally the guides are funny people and would take you to places that websites won’t even know about 🙂
Socialise at bars and clubs
I don’t take alcohol, but that doesn’t stop me going to these places! Now you would find all sort of people – desperate guys, drunk people et al – you know! But there would some girls who have just come there to “chill out” – and these are the ones who you should join and start a conversation, and before you know it, you have new friends!
Hire a “guide”
This is specially valid for Asian countries like India, Nepal, Indonesia and others. You would find guides, which act more as your travel buddies, whom you can pay and they will show you the entire country. If you earn in dollars or euros, you would find this pretty cheap!
Couchsurfing (to find female travel companion)
While I wouldn’t recommend generic classifieds sites like Craigslist, I recommend for connecting to potential travel buddies. Most of the users either travel frequently or want to. Send them a message and connect with them offline. Couchsurfing.com requires ID authentication practices which are like Facebook account confirmation, Phone check or other methods to confirm the identity of its users. It’s relatively safe and highly recommended.
TravelGirls
There’s a new practice of finding female partners called TravelGirls where a woman accompanies you on your trip but you must pay her way. If money is no problem, there are literally millions of women who want to travel but can’t afford to. TravelGirls.com and create a profile to connect with them.
TravBuddy
I was doing research on travel in Brazil when I discovered this website called TravBuddy. Travbuddy.com is the largest travel buddy community in the world. Over 500,000 members who are looking for female travel companions.
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are a goldmine for finding potential travel partners. Simply join a group in a topic of travel interest then start talking to like-minded people. You can meet these people offline and discuss travel arrangements. Facebook is filled with so many people who’re looking to meet friends and go on trips.
One advice
Please be careful with your belongings and other stuff. At many places you would find strangers, who would seem to be friendly buddies, but would steal your things or misguide you. So please be attentive at all times. You can check reviews etc of people on couchsurfing – one example how you can take care!
So in short – you might have to take flights/trains from one city to another alone, but can find “buddies” at a place who would travel with you within the city/country. As for the flights – you can spend time cherishing the encounters you had with such strangers, check out the photos, or just take a nap to get ready for the next adventure!
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