May 6th, 2020 | Posted by: Grace Kim
Don’t you feel as if the more you travel, the more open minded you end up becoming? Sometimes we travel to cities where we know a handful of people, or know absolutely nobody in. It could get a little intimidating traveling to international countries by yourself. Who will you explore the city with? Who are you going to eat at restaurants with? Are you planning on going to the bars by yourself? These are all things to consider, especially while solo traveling.
You might be planning your next trip where you know absolutely no one in. How do you meet people in those cities you want to include as a part of your journey? Or, to simply build relationships of intention and trust?
As my father would say, as a solo female traveler, safety should always be your first, second and third priority. I do advise that as you are attempting to find your community in any visited city, that you ensure your safety. Once you have that locked down, then you can scout and reach out to communities that you want to include as a part of your journey.
In a New City
Now that you’re in a new city and know absolutely no one in, what do you do in this given situation? Utilize the power of social media. You heard me! There’s so much power if social media if used intentionally. The hours you spend scrolling on your feed to checking up on people’s updates may come best to your advantage. Every new city that I go to, I reach out to at least 5 people who have similar interests as me, then I cross my fingers that they end up responding.
But how do you find these people? In a few ways. First, choose your destination. Then, scout out for people whose interests align with yours. For me, it helps that one of my passions fall within photography. I choose to travel to places to take nice photos and if you enjoy traveling, you also probably are somewhat into taking nice photos. Well, you’re in luck because Instagram is the biggest visual platform used to showcase photography. Even if you’re already in your planned city, it’s never too late to reach out to other like-minded people.
Knowing Absolutely No One
Earlier this year, I traveled up to San Francisco as one of my destinations. Before coming to the city, I wanted to meet up with photographers too shoot with, and as another way to get to know the city with locals. But in order for me to pinpoint which photographers I wanted to shoot with, I looked up a few hashtags on Instagram along the lines of #sanfranciscophotographers, #sfphotographers and #sanfranciscophotography. Luckily, I found a couple accounts that I’ve resonated with, followed them, and reached out to them.
The beauty of social media is that you can learn a lot about an individual’s life with just a few photos. A lot of creative profiles I’ve found online tend to showcase their daily lives on social, whether it’s through creative posts or short stories. If I resonate with someone’s posts and lifestyle, I will then ‘slide into their DMs’ and complement them on their content and the way they curate their photos. If I get a response back, I’ll then let them know that I’m visiting their city and ask if they’re open to meeting up to go shoot, or to simply grab a cup of coffee. I’ve been lucky that majority of the people I’ve reached out to has either made the time or grabbed coffee with me.
The number of photographers and other fellow travelers I’ve connected face-to-face with has opened up amazing, genuine, and long-lasting relationships. Many have also introduced me to their friends within the area, which is another way I’ve been able to grow a community in each visited city. As a recent solo traveler, I’ve connected with countless number of creatives who share similar interests as I do. And because of how genuine these relationships have been, I now feel as if I’ve gained trust from those who are for my journey, as I am for theirs.
Post Visit
After creating these relationships, let’s say your time in the visited city is approaching an end. You’re about to leave and realize you’re going to lose touch with those you’ve connected with.
There are times where I feel as if I’ve created deep connections with some but then lose the spark when moving onto the next. Personally, this is the hardest part of traveling for me. If this happens to be the case for you, what now? Follow up.
Consistently following up with others is such an important skill. Yes, it can be a tedious task, but it’s probably one of the most powerful. Following up with people not only show that you care, but also expresses character.
If someone has impacted your experience memorable enough, it doesn’t take up too much time thanking them for their company and time, does it?
I will ‘slide right back into their DMs’ and thank them for meeting up with a stranger like me. These short messages seal the bond of new, underlying friendships and is another way of connecting with people from all around the world.
Create a Spreadsheet
I guess we can go back to school teachings. Another highly recommended tip is to create a separate spreadsheet on an Excel document or any other organization platform. I use Asana, a platform that provides calendars and boards to help organize any type of content. If you are serious about maintaining long term relationships, go the extra mile and create spreadsheets. I know this may sound like a lot of time and effort, but trust me, you’ll thank yourself for putting in a few more hours of organizing the contacts you’ve created.
If I resonated with someone, I’ll jot down a note of the conversation we had, where I met them, where they live, and dates that are important to that specific person – such as their birthdays, important life events, etc. I’ll then mark those dates on my calendar so that once those dates come around, I’ll be sure to reach out to them and send them a friendly message of the event. If it’s a birthday, I’ll wish them a happy birthday. If it’s the date of launching their business, I’ll wish them the best of luck. If it’s their anniversary, I’ll wish them and their partner a healthy, loving relationship. Most of the time, people are utterly surprised that I remember their important dates but the reason why I do this is because everyone deserves to feel special. The memories created to the impact placed on others – there is such a rewarding feeling when these relationships are intentional and formulated.
Thank the Strangers on the Internet
Reaching out to strangers on the web is not the norm for many. I get it. If you have a more introverted personality, these strategies of creating intentional, long-lasting relationships may not come easily. However, I believe that the beauty of solo traveling will force you into situations that will force you out of your comfort zone and will have you seeking discomfort quite often. What if reaching out to strangers break that habit of keeping everything to yourself? What if the one person out of hundreds of people you’ve reached out to on media opens up doors that you thought were once impossible? Sending that initial message to someone of similar interest over social media can be a friend for life, as they have the power to impact your journey wherever you are in the world.
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