One of the biggest fears that stops people from embarking on solo travel is the fear of being lonely. We know that travelling alone to a foreign destination without your friends and family can be daunting, especially if you aren’t accustomed to being alone. But here’s something you should know about solo travel: alone doesn’t mean lonely, and it’s actually much easier to make friends while travelling alone than when you travel with your friends – we’ll show you how.
You’re only as alone as you want to be
Unless you’re planning to journey somewhere truly remote and become a hermit, you will encounter plenty of other people no matter where you travel to, and that means lots of opportunities to make new friends.
For solo travellers, the easiest people to befriend are other fellow travellers like yourself, who probably share similar worries about being lonely on the road and are more open to making new friends. Staying in hostels is an easy way for you to meet these like-minded travellers as hostels are set up for socialisation, as compared to hotels that are designed to provide privacy and seclusion.
Sharing a dorm room or participating in group activities like free walking tours or cooking classes are simple ways for shyer folk to start a natural conversation with strangers without feeling too awkward. You don’t have to make some particularly smart remark to try to impress anyone; a simple ‘Hello’ and ‘Where are you from?’ are easy enough openings when talking to other travellers.
Sharing food is another easy way to start conversations. Hit the local markets for some local delicacies and share them with fellow hostel mates in the common area – it gives you something to talk about if you’re not someone who makes small talk easily.
If you are looking to make friends with the locals, try searching for Meetups around your own interests so you have commonalities to talk about. The Couchsurfing platform is used by adventurous travellers to find a free bunk in a host’s home for the night and save on accommodation costs, but you can also use it to meet up with locals for a casual coffee and a chat. In addition, dating apps like Tinder aren’t just for a quick hookup, but have also become popular among travellers to find a friend in cities that they are passing through.
And if you’re feeling homesick or miss the familiarity of home, these days it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with your crew back home. Just pick up your phone to make a video call, give your friends back home a shoutout on your Whatsapp group chat or share your favourite holiday snaps on social networks to inspire some envy.
The international language of a smile
Concerned about how to communicate with people who speak other languages? It’s not as difficult as you might think. Singaporeans have an advantage as most of us speak English, which is one of the more widely used languages around the world. Many Singaporeans are also bilingual or polylingual, which just means even more potential conversations that you can have.
If you are fluent enough, strike up a conversation with shopkeepers, restaurant servers or other people you interact with while travelling. It’ll help you practice your language skills and you might make a friend or two along the way. Or help out a fellow traveller who’s having trouble with the local language – it’s another easy way to make friends with other travellers and it may even get you a new travel buddy to hang out with.
And even if you can’t speak the language, there are still plenty of ways to communicate in today’s modern age. Translation apps like Google Translate and iTranslate are just some of the free resources that you can download onto your phone and use to translate conversation, short phrases and even signage. You can also show rather than tell, by taking photos with your camera phone and pointing them out instead of butchering a foreign tongue.
No matter where you go, we suggest picking up some basic lingo before your trip – ‘Hello’, ‘Thank you’ and ‘Excuse me’ are phrases you will probably use most often when approaching someone, whether to ask for directions or to chit chat. Effort is key – people tend to be friendlier and more helpful if they can see you trying to speak their language to communicate with them, even if you can speak no other words of the language.
If all that fails, basic body language and gestures can get you surprisingly far. Just have some patience, humour and an open mind.
Just smile and do it
Not all of us are naturally extroverted and sociable, but it’s helpful to remember that if you feel nervous and shy about talking to strangers, there’s a good chance that they probably feel the same way too. It just takes one party to make that first approach and break the ice, and you really don’t have much to lose by offering up a smile to get the ball rolling.
In your daily life you are surrounded by people who know you and expect you to behave in a certain way, but the beauty of solo travel is that you are a blank slate to your new acquaintances – you can be yourself without the burden of any expectations or history colouring their impression of you. And the best part? If you embarrass yourself in any way, no one has to know – as long as you don’t post about it on Facebook.
We can give you all the tips possible, but you never really know how it will be like until you give it a shot for yourself. Start small by extending a group trip for a day or two on your own, or pick a country where you can speak the language to start your solo adventures – we have some suggestions on the best places to travel solo to get you started. Here’s to making friends from all around the world!
