What It’s Really Like to Make Friends While Travelling Alone

I remember my first trip to Indonesia as a solo female traveller.

My English was terrible, but I asked one of my first travel friends something like:

“…But we’re going to see each other again, right?
Like… when you get along this well, we’ll meet again. Right?”

Some of them said we probably never would.
Others said, “Yeah, of course” — but in a way that didn’t really mean it.

And I remember thinking… That makes no sense.

But at first, it’s true. We meet as strangers, live like best friends, and leave as if we’ll never see each other again.

Until we do.

Because we plan it and make it happen.

This one is to all my travel friends out there.

I love you guys.

Thank you so much for your friendship.

Let’s write about it.

You so well deserve it.

Why Travel Friendships Feel So Natural?

I could never have imagined making such valuable, meaningful friendships back in 2018 — and every year since, I’ve kept meeting incredible people.

Making friends while travelling was actually one thing I was most scared of before my first solo trip to Asia.

Back home in Canada, I’m a very social person. But I had no idea who I was with new people. Backpackers. Travellers. People from different countries, different cultures.

And then there was the language.

French is my first language, and back then, my English… well, I thought it was good. Until I got there and realized: meh.
How do I say this?
How do I explain that?

But then something shifts.

You realize everyone is alone.
Maybe not everyone, but many people are. Solo backpackers. Van lifers. People in between places.

And once you see that, it becomes easier.

It becomes natural.

You walk up to a table and say:
“Hi, my name is Lydia. What’s yours? What are you doing today? Can I join?”

Eight years later, I’ll be honest — it can feel repetitive sometimes.
What’s your name?
Where are you from?
How long have you been travelling?
Where are you going next? North or south?

Same questions, over and over again.

But still… that’s how it starts.

And when you’re alone, seeking connection, it becomes one of the most natural things in the world.

You want to share what you’re experiencing with someone.
And that’s not just beautiful… it’s almost necessary.

So go on. Say hi.
Exchange that Instagram. Follow people. Meet again.

I swear, travel friendships are pure gold.

The First Lesson: You Might Never See Them Again

Back to that conversation I had on the boat to Komodo Island in Indonesia. By the way, I wrote my full itinerary for this very first solo trip — you can read it here if you’re curious or planning your own Indonesia adventure.

That boat trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I met so many crazy, funny people I wanted to see again.

One conversation with my travel friend M really stuck with me. He said something like: “We might see each other again, but the odds are small.”

And he was right. If you want to see people again, you have to make the effort. Make that call. Arrange a trip to their country, or meet somewhere else. It doesn’t happen by magic — both people have to want it.

It doesn’t always work out, you’ll see. But if you really want it, it can happen.

As I write this, I actually talked to M on the phone earlier. We’re meeting again next month in France with S and another friend I haven’t seen in over seven years. M, S and I already seen each other with S more times than I can count — in Spain, Morocco, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey…

How great is this has been? Words can’t even express it.

But how many people from that same boat have I never seen again? Over 20. I saw 6 or 7 of them again — some just once, some twice. You need reciprocity to make it work. Just like anything else.

And it starts with yourself. I asked for that first reunion six years ago. I flew to Europe; they hosted my ass like a queen, showed me the best parties in the Netherlands — some I don’t even remember! That’s another story!

Of course, as Stoicism would advise, prepare for the worst and be ready to say goodbye.

But here’s my recipe for happy, long-lasting travel friendships:

1. Reciprocity
2. Time
3. Movement
4. A lot of fun and laughter

Number 1 is mostly out of your control — you can’t make someone want to meet you again. But 2, 3, and 4? Those are all yours. You can invest your time, keep moving, and share the laughs.

Some friendships will end with a goodbye. Others? They’ll come back around with a hello. That’s the beauty of travel friends.

Number 1 is mostly out of your control — you can’t make someone want to meet you again. But 2, 3, and 4? Those are all yours. You can invest your time, keep moving, and share the laughs.

Some friendships will end with a goodbye. Others? They’ll come back around with a hello. That’s the beauty of travel friends.

The Different Travel Friends You Meet on the Road

There’s the annoying one on a free walking tour — the one who asks 100 questions just to show they know the answer, or debates every fact the guide says. You roll your eyes, but secretly, it makes the stories more memorable.

Then there’s the know-it-all in the bunk above you in the dorm. The person who claims they’ve done everything, seen everything, and eaten everything, and somehow makes you feel both small and inspired at the same time.

But then, there’s the cool chick (or guy) you travel with for a month, who’s more experienced than you and patiently shows you how it all works — how to navigate the local transport, how to order in the language, which hidden cafés are worth the detour. That kind of friend teaches you the ropes, but also makes the adventure feel safer, richer, and way more fun.

A couple of years later, I got the chance to do the same for a younger French girl just starting her journey. Passing the torch, sharing what I had learned, watching someone else light up with the same excitement I felt on my first trips… it’s one of the most rewarding experiences of travel.

And then there are all the random connections in between — the brief encounters that leave a mark, even if you only spend a few days together. Maybe it’s a shared bus ride, a hostel dinner, a random hike, or a night dancing under the stars. Those moments can be fleeting, but somehow they stay with you. They remind you that travel friendships aren’t always about longevity — sometimes it’s about intensity, spontaneity, and connection at the moment.

Every single type of travel friend teaches you something: patience, humour, flexibility, or even how to navigate yourself in new cultures. And sometimes, they’re all rolled into one person over the course of a trip.

Why Strangers Can Feel Like Family While Travelling

Especially for full-time travellers, you’ll understand what I mean when I say you spend birthdays elsewhere, Christmas, or random holidays on the road. Sometimes life throws curveballs: a travel friend accompanies you to the hospital after an accident, or shows up to cheer you up after hearing that a family member is sick.

Maybe a one-week vacation doesn’t hit all those moments, but life on the road creates them naturally. I remember celebrating my first Christmas abroad in Vietnam, singing karaoke with a bunch of locals who invited me to their table, shared a meal, and made me feel included. I met an American girl there, and we drank wine and went on a scooter adventure the next day to Ninh Binh. Never saw her again, but for a day or two, she was like my sister.

Or T, my Belgian friend I worked with in a hostel in Taiwan for six weeks — she hosted me in Belgium, and we met again in Croatia. Or that woman I met in Thailand, who later hosted me in Ireland.

Even now, after a breakup and suddenly becoming vanless, my friend C — who I met for just a few days in Malta six years ago — is once again showing up. She hosted me four years ago when I passed through France on my way to Spain, and now I’m going back to her place, this time to see her new home and share a whole new chapter together. I honestly can’t wait.

In situations like these, phone calls from friends from back home are insufficient. You need a presence. Physical ones.

And M & S? They invited me into their home again. I met their parents, shared meals, birthdays, New Year’s Eve, and we binge-watched reality TV on Sundays after a strong Saturday party…

It doesn’t just feel like home.

It is home.

Presence, shared experiences, and vulnerability build durable travel friendships. They understand the highs and lows of your journey in a way friends from home sometimes can’t. You share everything together — the joys, the mishaps, the adventures, the mistakes — and those memories stick.

Travel Friends vs. Friends From Home

The biggest difference? Actually, there are two.

First: travel friends live what you’re living. Only they can understand it. That might seem small, but it’s huge. Friends from back home, with their regular lives and family responsibilities, will never fully get what it’s like to hike a volcano and almost collapse from missing oxygen, swim with whale sharks on a Tuesday, or get wasted with a bunch of locals in the morning. That travel friend who was there with you will, and the connection runs deep.

Second: you are different when you travel. You show vulnerability, courage, and a side of yourself that only comes out in a new place or in a second language. That side of you shines differently with travel friends, and they see you in ways your friends from home cannot.

And maybe that’s why, when life gets hard, when heartbreak hits, or when you feel completely alone in a new city, travel friends have a way of showing up exactly when you need them. They aren’t just friends — they’re chosen family, connected through experience, vulnerability, and shared adventure.

I’m a firm believer that friends from home are also the family you choose. I’m a friends person — I couldn’t survive without them. But maybe here’s one last distinction we can make: friends from home remind you of who you are. Travel friends remind you of who you want to become.

When Travel Friends Show Up at the Right Time

I’ve mentioned it before, but right now in my life, I feel so damn lucky. My travel friends have my back. I cannot wait to spend time together again and host them in return one day — in Canada, or wherever the hell I’ll settle down if I do at all.

Feels like the only way I could ever thank them enough is to give my time, friendship, a bottle of wine, champagne even, a nice homemade dinner, laughter… lots of love. Maybe that’s all it really is: pure, unconditional love in small, little gestures. Never waiting for anything in return, but more time together. How beautiful is that?

And honestly? That kind of love can be harder to give or get from romantic relationships sometimes — at least for me. And that’s freaking sad.

But in friendship, it’s genuine. It’s generous. It’s everything.

It’s the love that shows up when you’re sick in a hostel, celebrates your birthday in a random city halfway across the world, or listens without judgment when life gets messy. Travel friends don’t just join your journey — they become part of it.

What Travel Friendships Teach You About Trust

Travel friendships aren’t just about sharing meals, sunsets, or party nights. They’re about trust — real, messy, human trust. I’ve learned this countless times on the road.

Like that week in Southeast Asia when none of my credit cards worked, and a friend I had only known for seven days stepped in to pay for my ticket, saving my ass.

Or the time I bought a van in Mexico. You can read the full story here.

And another travel friend helped me withdraw pesos with her own card, letting me pay her back over the next few days because I had reached the withdrawal limits.

And then there was Guatemala, hiking El Mirador for a couple of days in the jungle. I had to leave Karma behind, and I trusted a travel friend from the hostel to take care of her. I trusted her, and she trusted me in return.

That’s what makes travel friendships so special: the ability to rely on each other fully, even in small or huge ways, without hesitation.

Travel friendships teach you everything about trust — and in some ways, more than any other relationship. Trust can be tricky. For some, it’s hard to earn and easy to lose. For others, it’s easy to earn and hard to lose… or easy to earn and easy to lose… you get the point.

With travel friends, you have to trust them to break the ice, to step into a shared adventure, to turn a random encounter into something meaningful. If you keep your guard up, stay in your corner, and don’t let yourself go 100%, you’ll never fully experience it.

Open up, let them in, and risk the messiness of real connection. Only then can the magic of travel friendship really happen.

Are Travel Friendships Just Temporary?

By now, you probably know my stance on impermanence: nothing lasts forever. Ok, maybe I’m a little pessimistic right now — excuse my French, tabarnak!

But here’s the thing: travel friendships aren’t always temporary. Sure, many of them fade as paths diverge, but the handful you nurture can last for years. I’m living proof. I’ve seen my favourite travel friends again and again over the last eight years, and every reunion feels like the first time, every time. Fresh, exciting, and full of laughter.

So here’s to those friendships — the ones that endure, the ones that feel like home no matter where you are.

Will You Ever See Them Again?

I’m no clairvoyant. How should I know? But if you follow my recipe for long-lasting travel friendships — reciprocity, time, movement, and a lot of fun and laughter — your chances go way up.

Some meetings are fleeting. Some come back into your life like magic. And sometimes, just sometimes, a person you met halfway across the world ends up being in your life forever. That’s the beauty of travel friends: you never really know where the story ends… and that’s exactly what makes it worth it.

Travel friends show up at the right time, in the right place, with the right love. They remind you who you are and who you want to become. They make life on the road feel like home. And sometimes, they teach you that love doesn’t always need to be romantic to be life-changing, loyal, or transformative.

So here’s to all the travel friends — the ones who open their homes, share their stories, lend their cards, watch your dog, laugh until your cheeks hurt, and remind you that the world is full of people worth trusting. May you meet them, cherish them, and never take them for granted.

Because at the end of the day, it’s the friendships that stay with you long after the sunsets fade, the buses leave, and the tickets are used. Those are the ones that matter.

What’s the most memorable thing a travel friend has ever done for you that made you realize how much you could trust them?