How to Meet Locals While You Travel

One of the best ways to experience a new destination is by getting a local perspective on your destination. If you don’t know how to go about finding locals to talk to on your trips, don’t worry simply continue reading to learn how to meet locals on your international travels.

How to Meet Locals While You Travel:

Choose to rent a private room in a home:

Instead of choosing to stay at a hotel or resort, you can meet friendly locals by choosing to book a private room in a local’s home through a platform such as Airbnb. One of the advantages of opting to rent a private room is that many hosts are willing to act as local tour guides and to show you their favorite cafes, restaurants, hikes, and beaches. When searching for a room to rent, carefully choose a room in a home that has a friendly host who mentions that they love to make new friends from around the world.

Take classes with locals:

Another way to meet locals is to take local classes. As an example, you may want to take a tango class in Argentina or to take a yoga class in Waikiki, Hawaii. Simply pick a new skill that you’d like to learn or take a class that relates to an activity that you participate in back home. For example, if photography is one of your passions, you may want to take photography classes from different teachers, in each destination that you have the pleasure of visiting.

Be open to conversing with strangers:

You never know when a stranger may strike up a conversation with you. So you should always be open to conversing with strangers. For example, you may meet a friendly stranger in an elevator who comments on the shirt that you’re wearing or you may meet a group of friendly strangers at a restaurant.

Go to local events:

Instead of rushing from one landmark to the next, take the time to see if there are any local events that coincide with your trip. As an example, you may find that there is a food festival taking place during your trip, which you’ll be able to attend. Where you may be able to meet locals who are willing to talk to a friendly tourist. One way to engage with locals is to ask them simple questions about the local events which you attend. For example, if you attend a food festival, you might want to ask strangers if they recommend a certain dish.

Consider becoming an English teacher:

If you are interested in visiting specific countries for long periods of time, you may want to become a part-time English teacher. As not only will you be able to befriend local teachers but you’ll also get to know the students in your class well. If you’re lucky they may even share information about their unique cultural practices with you.

So if you want to see new destinations in an authentic light, do yourself a huge favor and try to talk to and befriend as many friendly, open locals as you can. If you’re lucky you may even make new lifelong friends who’ll visit you in your home city.