Flickr: lotusutol

One of the best and most rewarding things you can do for yourself as a lifetime traveler, is build a travelers network. A travelers network is nothing more than a network of traveling friends around the world that you have met during your own travels, during their travels, in the supermarket, anywhere! People that you get along with well, and that have similar travel interests and goals as you.

Why Build a Network?

To be honest, you will probably never see the majority of the people in your travelers network ever again. Of the dozens of friends I have met on the road and still keep in touch with today, I have probably only seen about 15 of them again. However, it has proved quite valuable having so many friends and contacts around the world. As a world traveler you never know where you might be 10, 20, 50 years down the road. If I decide to retire in Fiji 50 years from today, it’s nice to know that a good friend I met in the Caribbean 5 years ago lives on Fiji. Assuming he’s still around 50 years from now, I’ll already have at least one friend to show me around, help me get settled in, and have a drink with. Some other benefits of maintaining a strong network of travel buddies around the world are:

• A place to stay: Having a place to stay all around the world is truly invaluable. It saves you money, it’s more fun, it gets you away from tourist traps, and gives you a head start on understanding what it’s like to live as a local.
• “Insider” tips on what to do: Nobody knows a travel destination better than someone that actually lives there. What sites are actually worth seeing, what’s the best time to go, where can you find the most authentic food, the best bars/clubs, the cutest girls or guys, etc. Guidebooks are okay, but locals are great!
• A guarantee: Having a friend that you know you get along with in a new travel destination, is like having a guarantee for a good time. You never know what’s going to happen when you arrive in a new travel destination, but with a good friend waiting for you, at least you know you’ll have fun with them!
• An “in” to making new friends: Each traveling buddy in your network is also a key into their whole lifestyle. You become accepted into their group of friends, and have the opportunity to experience life as a local.
• Safety and security: As a traveler it is always important to be mindful of safety. However, this can be quite difficult in a new city or town, where you don’t know the layout, and can easily find yourself in a dangerous situation. In this case a local friend can be extremely valuable by just watching out for you, and making sure you don’t do anything stupid or dangerous because you don’t know any better.

Building a Travelers Network:

Building a travelers network does take time, but just take it slow and remember that every new traveler you meet can be a friend for life.

There are basically two different ways to meet fellow travelers.

1. While you’re on the road:

• Spend time in bars, cafes, hostels, sites, etc. that are popular with travelers: Meeting fellow travelers on the road is not a difficult task by any means. Just spend some time where fellow travelers hang out, and make friends. In general, travelers are a very open and friendly bunch that will befriend virtually anyone with a pulse. So take advantage, find some people with similar interests, and have fun!
• Contact information: Making friends is the easy part. The hard part (which is not all that hard) is to remember to get contact information for people you enjoy hanging out and traveling with. Just an email address and city are plenty, but you have to remember to ask, write it down, and don’t lose it!

2. Back home:

• Stay in touch: This is probably the point people have the hardest time with. For some reason most of us are pretty bad at staying in touch, especially with someone that lives halfway around the world. My recommendation is to just do the best you can, and don’t try to over do it. While I have a few friends I keep in touch with on a weekly basis, the majority of the travelers in my travelers network only hear from me a couple times/year. Most of the time that’s enough to remember one another, and get caught up on each other’s lives. We’re all busy and nobody has time to write daily emails to every person they’ve ever met on the road. Just making the effort is enough, and when one of you is in town you can take the time to really catch up again.
• Host travelers: Between trips, a fantastic way to meet new travels is by hosting them in your home. There are a number of online hospitality networks available that connect travelers with locals willing to host them in their spare bedrooms, couches, floor, whatever! Click here for more information on hospitality networks and how to get involved as either a host, traveler, or both.
• Be mindful of foreigners: As locals we’re often perfectly happy ignoring tourists and travelers passing through our hometowns. However, as a fellow traveler, it’s often worth making a small effort to get to know a few tourists passing through your neck of the woods. They may be completely obnoxious, in which case you can just end the conversation with an excuse and continue on your way. But you may also find that many others are quite interesting and fun to spend time with.

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