Find fellow travelers in your home town with Meetup.com

Last summer, my girlfriend and I returned from a road trip through Provence with loads of stories to tell … and no one wanted to hear them. Sure, people asked the inescapable “how was your trip?” but we’d lose them after “amazing.” We were used to that, and as Rolf pointed out in his book, people who don’t get out much have a hard time relating to your travel experiences — but we still wanted to share them.

Finding fellow travelers to gush about your latest adventures with can be tough (especially after you’ve returned), but this is changing — groups dedicated to bringing travelers together are popping up all over the world. From the Chicago Tribune:

It’s a Tuesday evening, and about a dozen men and women sit around tables in a back room at Goose Island Brewpub in Lincoln Park. Peter Wagner, a professional photographer, talks about his experiences with travel photography. He offers tips on how to use the knowledge of local people to scope out a good vantage point for shots, what time of day offers good lighting and how to approach someone you want to photograph.

The group listens attentively. One woman jots notes. At the end of his talk, Wagner shows a handful of his photographs, with scenes from Chicago and Ft. Wayne, Ind., to Paris, Lucerne and Venice.

After the presentation, attendees mingle, as they had at the beginning of the evening–laughing, asking one another questions and sharing stories.

All in the name of travel.

It’s the monthly meeting of the Chicago Travel Meetup Group, a social gathering for travel enthusiasts. The group is one of many offered through meetup.com, a national Web site that indexes theme-based groups you sign up for online and attend in person.

Not from Chicago? No worries, there are travel meetup groups all over the place. Check out Meetup.com’s Travel portal to see if there’s a group where you live. If not, feel free to start one of your own. Your friends and family might thank you.