How you can Use Fb Teams to Meet Different Vacationers

Bear in mind Couchsurfing? It was an internet site that allowed you to stick with locals (totally free) and at all times had a plethora of occasions and meetups you may attend irrespective of the place you had been on the earth. It was among the best methods to satisfy locals and vacationers on the street. It was one among my favourite websites.

Just about everybody on the crew right here used it rather a lot through the years. My Director of Content material, for instance, was not solely an avid traveler who went on a number of multi-day journeys with strangers because of Couchsurfing, however he was additionally a number, and he was even featured in a calendar they made one yr!

I used it to remain in locations like Copenhagen, London, Oxford, Munich, Broome, Paris, Osaka, Athens, and so forth and so forth. I imply, I beloved it. I met individuals in cities like Lyon simply to hang around, did meet-ups in NYC, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and so many different locations.

However ever for the reason that website began charging round 2013, after which instituted a paywall in the course of the pandemic, fewer and fewer individuals have used it. As of late, it’s a shell of its former self.

Whereas researching the newest version of my ebook on finances journey (popping out in March 2025!), I rejoined Couchsurfing to see how lively it was, and even within the largest metropolitan facilities, there have been barely a couple of dozen lively profiles throughout the earlier month. For instance, London confirmed 229,457 whole hosts however solely 896 lively hosts within the final six months — and solely 496 lively throughout the final month. That’s an enormous, huge distinction!

It’s an actual disgrace as Couchsurfing actually modified the best way individuals traveled. It was as ubiquitous as Lonely Planet!

So, with Couchsurfing (and related web sites) fairly lifeless, the place does one go to satisfy individuals now?

Reply: Fb — which is truthfully the final place I’d have thought, as a result of, nicely, it’s Fb, and most youthful vacationers don’t use it as a lot as TikTok or Instagram. In spite of everything, Fb additionally has a well-deserved popularity because the place your aunt posts memes or your loopy cousin rants about racist stuff.

However, every time I signal into Fb, I hold seeing posts from all types of teams in my feed, with individuals in search of journey buddies: backpacking Europe, backpacking Australia, digital nomads in (insert vacation spot), discover a journey buddy…the listing of teams goes on and on.

I used to be skeptical of them at first, as a result of once I took a deeper take a look at the posts, it at all times felt like they had been simply sleazy guys hitting on younger ladies and AI-generated woman accounts designed entice somebody. “Hello I’m Anna from US seeking to journey dm me” doesn’t strike me as one thing an precise particular person would say.

Whereas female-only teams have been a reputable strategy to meet individuals for a very long time (Ladies Love Journey being one of the well-known), the mixed-gender ones at all times felt somewhat sketchy. However they stored popping up in my feed.

So I regarded into them extra fastidiously to see in the event that they actually had been spammy. Whereas there have been many pretend profiles and creepy dudes (sorry, guys, however it’s the web, and there are tons of these), typically I did come throughout actual individuals who appeared typically inquisitive about assembly others, nonetheless few and much between they had been.

Are these teams actually a great way to satisfy individuals? There was just one strategy to discover out.

I used the group Discover a Journey Buddy whereas in Europe and posted a few of my tentative plans. I received a whole bunch of responses and direct messages, which was fairly overwhelming.

A whole lot of it was spam: individuals telling me to come back go to them in India (I’m posting about Europe), individuals sending me hellos, a couple of marriage proposals, and a few actually inappropriate feedback. (Aspect word: if I get these sorts of responses, I can solely think about what it’s like for ladies, who I typically see edit their posts to ask individuals to cease approaching to them. Fairly unhappy.)

However I waded by way of all of the junk and ultimately discovered actual individuals to satisfy up with. In the long run, I solely met a couple of of them, as both my plans shifted or theirs did. However the interactions I had had been actually nice.

I had an superior night time out in Freiburg, Germany, with a gaggle of oldsters, and one other with an Italian woman and her buddies in Amsterdam. Every time, they took me round to locations I wouldn’t have seen in any other case, and I received to satisfy locals. It was a great way to make new buddies and discover individuals to speak to.

Though you need to wade by way of quite a lot of rubbish, I feel these teams are nice, particularly in case you are touring alone. Whereas I don’t have the character to go on a multi-day journey with a stranger, I did love the flexibility to satisfy individuals as I traveled.

Should you’re wanting to make use of them, listed below are some strategies to reduce (however not remove) the rubbish replies:

1. Be particular about the place you’re going and when (in any other case, individuals will spam ya with “come go to X!”).
2. Ask individuals who reply to be particular about themselves.
3. Be clear about what you’re in search of (age, type of journey companion, gender, and many others.)

My present favourite teams are:

From there, for security, I’d extremely advocate wanting on the profiles of respondents to verify they’re actual and solely meet in public locations. Past that, have enjoyable! These teams may not be as simple to make use of as Couchsurfing was, however no less than there’s something today that will help you meet locals and different vacationers. I’m now a believer in and fan of those teams and will certainly be utilizing them extra on future journeys.