Tips on how to 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 might attend irrespective of the place you had been on the earth. It was among the best methods to fulfill locals and vacationers on the highway. It was one in all my favourite websites.

Just about everybody on the workforce right here used it loads over time. My Director of Content material, for instance, was not solely an avid traveler who went on a number of multi-day journeys with strangers due to Couchsurfing, however he was additionally a bunch, and he was even featured in a calendar they made one 12 months!

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 cherished it. I met folks 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 through the pandemic, fewer and fewer folks have used it. As of late, it’s a shell of its former self.

Whereas researching the most recent version of my e-book on funds 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 number of dozen lively profiles inside 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 inside the final month. That’s an enormous, large distinction!

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

So, with Couchsurfing (and related web sites) fairly useless, the place does one go to fulfill folks now?

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

However, at any time when I signal into Fb, I hold seeing posts from all kinds of teams in my feed, with folks searching for journey buddies: backpacking Europe, backpacking Australia, digital nomads in (insert vacation spot), discover a journey buddy…the checklist of teams goes on and on.

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

Whereas female-only teams have been a professional strategy to meet folks for a very long time (Women Love Journey being one of the vital well-known), the mixed-gender ones at all times felt slightly sketchy. However they saved popping up in my feed.

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

Are these teams actually a great way to fulfill folks? 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 acquired tons of of responses and direct messages, which was fairly overwhelming.

Lots of it was spam: folks telling me to return go to them in India (I’m posting about Europe), folks sending me hellos, a number 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 girls, who I typically see edit their posts to ask folks to cease approaching to them. Fairly unhappy.)

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

I had an superior evening out in Freiburg, Germany, with a gaggle of parents, and one other with an Italian woman and her associates in Amsterdam. Every time, they took me round to locations I wouldn’t have seen in any other case, and I acquired to fulfill locals. It was a great way to make new associates and discover folks to speak to.

Although it’s important to wade by quite a lot of rubbish, I feel these teams are nice, particularly if you’re touring alone. Whereas I don’t have the persona to go on a multi-day journey with a stranger, I did love the flexibility to fulfill folks as I traveled.

When you’re trying to make use of them, listed below are some ideas to attenuate (however not remove) the rubbish replies:

1. Be particular about the place you’re going and when (in any other case, folks 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 searching for (age, form of journey associate, gender, and so forth.)

My present favourite teams are:

From there, for security, I might extremely suggest trying on the profiles of respondents to verify they’re actual and solely meet in public locations. Past that, have enjoyable! These teams won’t be as simple to make use of as Couchsurfing was, however at the very least 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.