Travel Is About the People, Not the Place

A trip isn't complete until you make a new friend

My family with our new French friends Matthieu and Marie we met at a waterfall in Colombia

It’s no secret that turning strangers into good friends is a common occurrence while traveling. Perhaps one of the best parts of solo traveling is that you end up meeting more people because you aren’t tied to your bubble of companions. In my experience, when we are by ourselves, we become more open to talking to people and others seem more open to talking with us. 

For me, a trip isn’t complete without having turned a stranger into a new friend in every city I visit. There’s something so fulfilling about knowing you have a connection to a person in a different place.

Luckily, my family shares this philosophy, too. We visited Colombia earlier this month, and all of us agreed that the highlights of the trip were the people we got to meet along the way. 

For instance, we met two French travelers during a hike to a waterfall and one evening my family and them all got aguardiente together at the village plaza. We laughed for hours and shared a special connection despite being total strangers. Now we remain friends on Instagram where we get to see their trip and exchange trip advice. 

On the same waterfall hike, we chatted with our hike guide, Luis Angel. The next day we got coffee with him and interviewed him for a story we are documenting about the next generation shaping Colombian villages.

At the last town we went to, we hadn’t formed connections with anyone but we decided at the last minute to visit a local coffee farm. This is where we met another new friend, Juan David, who helps give tours of the coffee farm and is also leading the way for the latest generation to take the reins of the coffee industry. It felt good to leave the town having made at least one new connection.

Or the 10-year old kid I met in Concepcion who was so bold in starting conversations with strangers, his knowledge about nature, and broke every stereotype we have about young kids being glued to screens. He was the complete opposite and I enjoyed deep conversations with him a lot more than some conversations I have with adults!

It’s rewarding to know you have people you can contact in all these big and small places in the world. Whether it’s the Australian in the bunk next to me at a hostel in Turkey who I became friends with and traveled together for 4 days then I stayed at her house in Sydney. Or the stranger I met at a park in Paris who I ran into in Miami a year later.  

Whether we met briefly or spent multiple days together, these connections are really special. Nowadays with social media and texting, it makes it easier to maintain these friendships at a distance. But we can also do things like send each-other postcards.

A few months ago I got a postcard from a friend I made while in Japan. She sent it to me from Taiwan. I also exchange long letters with a person I met in New York who lives in Paris. There are many ways to stay connected.

Not only does it open our eyes to learning about other cultures, traditions, and languages, but it also strengthens our understanding of the world and how other people live. It presents us with learning firsthand about our differences and our similarities. 

It’s important to maintain these connections and relationships because we never know when we might be able to help one another. The world feels like a much smaller place once we open ourselves to others, especially while we travel. 

Traveled “solo” but met lots of new friends along the way. Nicole I met in Paris and she spontaneously joined my trip to Turkey. Rhianna from Australia I met at a hostel, and a Turkish store owner we befriended who invited us to coffee.

When we prioritize connecting with people (whether locals or other travelers), it becomes less about the destination and just checking off the the “must-sees.” It’s about being open to who you meet and what they can teach you. About opening yourself and your story. About mutually learning from each other and sharing an experience or just a simple moment. 

I challenge all of us that next time we travel (or even while exploring our own cities), to go out there with an open mind an just see who you meet. Go up to a stranger. Spark that conversation. You never know where it will lead. 

Once I read a phrase somewhere that we meet people for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I think that’s true for all the strangers we meet along the way.