The art of making local friends on the road

In the quest for an ‘authentic’ travel experience, befriending a local is one way to really get under the skin of a place. Many experienced travelers will advise you to “just ask a local” or “make friends and you’ll see a different side to x, y or z”.

Yet you can’t force anyone to be your friend and it isn’t always as simple as it sounds, particularly in places where the locals can be suspicious of, wary of or downright hostile to foreigners and tourists.

As someone who is traveling permanently with no fixed end to their wanderings, forging a sense of community, of friendship is something I always strive for wherever we stay but it hasn’t been easy. One commenter on a previous post, recently asked me whether we miss friends and family as we travel. My answer? Not really, due to the multitude of choices we have nowadays for keeping in touch with folks back ‘home’ but making local friends on the road is one of the best ways I’ve found to create that sense of belonging that long term or permanent travel can sometimes take away.

How do we do this? By being patient, giving, smiling, accepting and acknowledging that not everyone may want to be our friend!

That’s the beauty of vagabonding; you can take your time and forge real friendships instead of rushing on through expecting to take without ever having to give of yourself.