Solo traveling can totally alter your life, but let’s face it—sometimes it’s much better to have a buddy along on your travels. Whether you’re prepping for a backpack adventure or planning a relaxed city break, having a good traveling partner can make all the difference, allowing you to have each other’s company, save money, and make cool memories together. But how do you find that ideal buddy to accompany you on your travels? In this post, we’re exploring how to find your traveling buddy, ranging from social media options to safe plans, and also introducing our cool new feature to connect traveling buddies on JetlyGo.
Why You May Look to Find Yourself a Travel Companion
Before we move on to how to find your traveling buddy, good to know is that many of our traveling folks search for one out of necessity. Check out our top reasons here:
- Safety: It goes without saying that traveling safer is possible with your buddy by your side. Yes we know you want use to just skip right to the main question of how to find a travel companion? Right? Well we can say it from our experience that find a travel partner is easy but finding one whom you can trust, thats the tricky part mate! So forgive us if we take our sweet time in protecting you amigo.
- Sharing costs: With traveling, your wallet can take a hit on things like accommodation, traveling around, and noms, meaning your traveling buddy can share that expense.
- Social experience: Some people just can’t handle traveling by themselves and prefer to have company while discovering.
- Experiences to share: Your traveling buddy can really make your experience richer by enjoying that same atmosphere and checking out cool destinations together. Especially if you are in a country where no one can speak your langauge or english it can get pretty lonely, really.
Websites to Find Your Traveling Companions
There are plenty of websites that can connect you up with people traveling together by providing traveling buddies. Check out what’s out there real quick here:
1. JetlyGo's New Travel Buddies Feature
JetlyGo will launch its travel companion finder feature soon in coming weeks which is given a name Travel Buddy. It’s on its way, but we are glad that people are traveling together, making trips much better by bringing buddies together, locals, or guides together. And guess what, you also save money on your trips by sharing the costs with your buddy if you both agree to split the costs which most sane people do! Here’s a quick preview of what’s to come after this feature is released:
- Travelers: You can connect up with others traveling where you’re traveling or doing what you’re doing.
- Locals: You can connect up with locals that are up for coffee or will take you on a tour of where they live.
- Guides: Someday, you’ll have the option of finding certified guides on your custom experience.
- Q&A Forum: You’ll have your own corner where you can ask your travels questions and give out some helpful tips.
So keep your ears out for that launch date; it’s gonna make finding your traveling buddy easy peasy and much better!
2. GAFFL: A Global Network of Travel Buddies
GAFFL is where it’s happening if you’re traveling on your own but like to share your adventure with others. You can set up your profile, post trips up coming up, and connect up with other adventurers traveling your direction too. It’s really easy if people are traveling together but also like making friends on vacation. It’s easy to use—simply search trips or view people’s profiles traveling where you’re planning on traveling too.
3. TripGiraffe: Search For A Travel Companion by Trip
TripGiraffe is really cool because you can map out your vacation, view what others are doing, and even ask someone to join you. It’s great for people who like to venture out but might be afraid of jumping right in today. Whether you’re planning on taking a weekend break or an epic adventure, your group on TripGiraffe will link up like-minded adventurers to share the experience together.
4. Apps For Finding A Vacation Friend - Backpackr, Travello, Tourlina
If tech is your bag, there are plenty of apps that can connect you up with a vacation buddy. Although these days there are lots of web apps which are PWA (progressive web app which can be installed from your browser) but still some tourists might prefer a native mobile app. So without further wait here are some of our favorites:
- Backpackr: Great on hikes; helps connect up people on the same track. Its a simple social network for travelers.
- Travello: It’s social media on vacation where people can connect up to meet others traveling to where they’re also traveling, and share vacation stories.
- Tourlina: It’s women-only companion finder that connect up women together so that women can buddy up and venture out together.
All of these apps have you set up your profile and connect up others like you that have vacation plans, interests, and goals that are also like yours.
How to Be Secure When You’re Away on Holiday With Someone You Don't Know
Having a new vacation companion can be great, but safety should definitely be your top priority. Below are key things to remember:
1. Meeting Up For The First Time in Public
Make sure that your possible vacation companion is where people can view what’s happening before taking off on your adventure together. Hang out together on your first day out, grab a latte, or participate in group activities to ensure that everything’s cool and that you click.
2. Background Check
Hey, don’t forget also to scan through reviews and feedback on those traveling buddy apps. Many of them have people reviewing each other, rating each other, that can really give good vibes on how much people like traveling. Also some apps vet their users before approving them on the platform though this brings in some added cost to the app which they usually pass on to the users but its fair tbh!
3. Communicate Clearly
If your travels are gonna go without hitches, you need to communicate. Be clear on your budget, your plans, and what you’re expecting out of this experience. It'll save you avoiding any of that drama afterwards.
4. Share Itinerary Plans
Make your partner, sibling, or whoever knows where you’re off to and who you’re traveling with. It’s like putting on that safety net on your travels.
Why Online Platforms Are Good to Use to Find a Travel Buddy?
- Convenience: Meeting up on-line makes it really easy to hook up with possible travelling buddies around the globe without needing to meet up first.
- Access to Feedback: All your favorite apps have ratings and reviews by former travellers, so that you can have an idea of how well people might mix or how reliable people are.
- Niche Options: Loads of apps focus on specific groups—whether it’s lone adventurers, women, or activity enthusiasts.
The Final Word
Having your buddy along can really make your trips rock, making everything far cooler, cheaper, and far more enjoyable. Whether you're checking out JetlyGo’s new buddy feature or checking out others like GAFFL or TripGiraffe, there are plenty of means of finding great traveling buddies. We would also recommend you to check travel specific subreddits like r/travelpartners, r/backpacking, r/solotravel, etc where you can find people who are looking for a travel companion or at least real itinerary and advise on what to do and what to avoid in your destination. As always, if you are talking to someone on reddit or any other travel forum, do not trust them from getgo and always discuss in private chat first and look for their profile history. After that, you can always meet up in public places and make your first move. You will be fine as long as you use basic common sense and if you feel something is off, it probably is.
Just remember to keep safety top of mind, communicate your plans well, and use apps that let you vet your possible buddy through researching it out. With your buddy by your shoulder, your adventure will be better than you expected!
Sorry to keep bombarding you with this but if you'd like to learn more regarding JetlyGo’s travel companion feature, view demo links now and watch out for the official launch. Trust us, it is going make it way easier to find a traveling buddy.
