Thinking of solo travel but not sure where to start? START HERE!
NOTE: If you're a guy looking for a travel buddy (particularly a female one), thanks for dropping by but YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE. This page is for women travelers who are looking for female travel companions.
It happens. You're an inveterate solo traveler but sometimes you get fed up with your own company. You don't necessarily want to 'hook up' or travel with a group.
You just want some girlfriend travel.
You need a female travel companion.
Why would a solo traveler want to travel with someone else? Maybe...
All very valid. But if you're used to traveling solo, you might struggle to find people to travel with.
So where do you find that elusive female travel buddy?
Download my free ebook: it contains descriptions and links to 30 apps, websites, forums and Facebook groups dedicated to helping you find the perfect travel partner!
Let's face it - however much you love solo travel, occasionally there can be real advantages to traveling companions:
There are also some disadvantages to having a travel partner:
Not in the mood to sightsee by yourself? I wrote an ebook to help you find travel buddies that you'll love to hang out with! Find out more here
I met Tim and Nica in a Harare guest house, where I spent a month.
As I traveled across Africa, I reached my guest house in Blantyre, the capital of Malawi. A weak voice called my name - Tim was bent over, pale with bilharzia. He would soon fly off to recover in Kenya.
Some months later, in Kenya myself, I stayed in a part of town usually off-limits to tourists, especially non-African ones - and who but Tim should come ambling down the hotel hallway? The world was starting to feel like a small place indeed.
Months later, continuing my Africa trip to Asmara, Eritrea, I was sipping an espresso at an outdoor café when a group of travelers mentioned meeting a couple called Tim and Nica. I left a note in the Poste Restante (General Post Office, in pre-cellphone days) and ended up meeting them again later that month.
We became good friends, as people do when they keep tripping over one another across a continent. Often we traveled together, usually for a few days. Since then we've met up in Bangkok and Costa Rica. Or was it Stockholm... Each time I saw them, it was a joy. But after a few days, I'd be on my own again, and that was good too.
So you never know what shape your travel companionships will take...
What if you've looked at all the obvious potential travel "victims" but no one wants to go with you? Your partner, if you have one, your friends, your relatives - everyone is too busy, too poor or no one happens to want to visit the Galapagos when you do
Don't give up: you can still find a travel partner.
Below is a preview of the inside of the FREE ebook I wrote to help women find a travel partner.
If you'd rather do all your own research and look online to find someone to travel with, here are some suggestions to get you going.
Please be careful. Anyone can post a note on a bulletin board, and you don't know who is lurking behind that note. Looking for a travel companion requires discernment!
So please exercise some caution and common sense.
You've made the decision to seek out a travel partner, you're got a few nibbles of interest and potential partners, but now you have to narrow it down.
How do you decide? How do you take that final step that may bind you to another person for weeks or even months?
Here are some points to consider when making your decision:
How does she mesh with you? What do you have in common? That's the question you have to answer.
And then... you need some ground rules: how to resolve disagreements, how to choose destinations and accommodations, how to... everything. Things will go much more smoothly if you know how to communicate.
Here's what I suggest: do a test drive.
That's right - travel together for a short while, a day or a weekend close to home. Sharing schedules, meals and a room for a few days should give you an inkling of whether this will work longer term.
I love solo travel - no secret there - but I don't always travel on my own and when I travel with someone else - my partner, a friend, a relative - I make sure we iron out any potential areas of friction before we get anywhere near an airport.