Use Fb Teams to Meet Different Vacationers

Bear in mind Couchsurfing? It was an internet site that allowed you to stick with locals (totally free) and all the time had a plethora of occasions and meetups you can attend regardless of the place you had been on the earth. It was among the best methods to fulfill locals and vacationers on the highway. It was considered one of my favourite websites.

Just about everybody on the workforce right here used it so much over time. My Director of Content material, for instance, was not solely an avid traveler who went on a number of multi-day journeys with strangers due to Couchsurfing, however he was additionally a number, and he was even featured in a calendar they made one yr!

I used it to remain in locations like Copenhagen, London, Oxford, Munich, Broome, Paris, Osaka, Athens, and so forth and so forth. I imply, I liked it. I met individuals in cities like Lyon simply to hang around, did meet-ups in NYC, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and so many different locations.

However ever for the reason that website began charging round 2013, after which instituted a paywall through the pandemic, fewer and fewer individuals have used it. As of late, it’s a shell of its former self.

Whereas researching the newest version of my ebook on price range journey (popping out in March 2025!), I rejoined Couchsurfing to see how energetic it was, and even within the largest metropolitan facilities, there have been barely just a few dozen energetic profiles inside the earlier month. For instance, London confirmed 229,457 complete hosts however solely 896 energetic hosts within the final six months — and solely 496 energetic inside the final month. That’s an enormous, massive distinction!

It’s an actual disgrace as Couchsurfing actually modified the best way individuals traveled. It was as ubiquitous as Lonely Planet!

So, with Couchsurfing (and comparable web sites) fairly useless, the place does one go to fulfill individuals now?

Reply: Fb — which is truthfully the final place I might have thought, as a result of, properly, it’s Fb, and most youthful vacationers don’t use it as a lot as TikTok or Instagram. In spite of everything, Fb additionally has a well-deserved status because the place your aunt posts memes or your loopy cousin rants about racist stuff.

However, at any time when I signal into Fb, I hold seeing posts from all kinds of teams in my feed, with individuals searching for journey buddies: backpacking Europe, backpacking Australia, digital nomads in (insert vacation spot), discover a journey buddy…the record of teams goes on and on.

I used to be skeptical of them at first, as a result of after I took a deeper have a look at the posts, it all the time felt like they had been simply sleazy guys hitting on younger ladies and AI-generated woman accounts designed lure somebody. “Hello I’m Anna from US trying to journey dm me” doesn’t strike me as one thing an precise individual would say.

Whereas female-only teams have been a professional technique to meet individuals for a very long time (Women Love Journey being some of the well-known), the mixed-gender ones all the time felt a little bit sketchy. However they saved popping up in my feed.

So I seemed into them extra rigorously to see in the event that they actually had been spammy. Whereas there have been many pretend profiles and creepy dudes (sorry, guys, nevertheless it’s the web, and there are tons of these), generally I did come throughout actual individuals who appeared usually involved in assembly others, nonetheless few and much between they had been.

Are these teams actually a great way to fulfill individuals? There was just one technique to discover out.

I used the group Discover a Journey Buddy whereas in Europe and posted a few of my tentative plans. I obtained a whole bunch of responses and direct messages, which was fairly overwhelming.

A number of it was spam: individuals telling me to return go to them in India (I’m posting about Europe), individuals sending me hellos, just a few marriage proposals, and a few actually inappropriate feedback. (Facet notice: if I get these sorts of responses, I can solely think about what it’s like for girls, who I usually see edit their posts to ask individuals to cease approaching to them. Fairly unhappy.)

However I waded by all of the junk and ultimately discovered actual individuals to fulfill up with. In the long run, I solely met just a few of them, as both my plans shifted or theirs did. However the interactions I had had been actually nice.

I had an superior night time out in Freiburg, Germany, with a gaggle of parents, and one other with an Italian woman and her pals in Amsterdam. Every time, they took me round to locations I wouldn’t have seen in any other case, and I obtained to fulfill locals. It was a great way to make new pals and discover individuals to speak to.

Although you need to wade by lots of rubbish, I believe these teams are nice, particularly in case you are touring alone. Whereas I don’t have the character to go on a multi-day journey with a stranger, I did love the flexibility to fulfill individuals as I traveled.

In the event you’re wanting to make use of them, listed below are some ideas to reduce (however not remove) the rubbish replies:

1. Be particular about the place you’re going and when (in any other case, individuals will spam ya with “come go to X!”).
2. Ask individuals who reply to be particular about themselves.
3. Be clear about what you might be searching for (age, form of journey companion, gender, and so forth.)

My present favourite teams are:

From there, for security, I might extremely suggest wanting on the profiles of respondents to verify they’re actual and solely meet in public locations. Past that, have enjoyable! These teams won’t be as straightforward to make use of as Couchsurfing was, however a minimum of there’s something today that can assist you meet locals and different vacationers. I’m now a believer in and fan of those teams and will certainly be utilizing them extra on future journeys.