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In this clip from Episode 3 of the WeNomad podcast, Chris Blachut and I talk about meeting people while living in different places.
For more, watch the full 35-minute episode here. Aside from socializing as a digital nomad, we also talk about scaling a blog to get 1M+ readers, “pretirement,” and navigating Cape Town for digital nomads.
Key Takeaways:
- Making friends is important for happiness, and there are many ways to make friends while traveling.
- Participating in sports or other activities can be a great way to meet people with similar interests. Learning the language can also be a great way to meet new people and find out more about their culture.
Video Transcript:
Cam:
I want to shift to meeting people while traveling. I met you and Kim at a dinner party in Medellín, Colombia that you guys threw, which was awesome. That was super fun.
Talk to me about how you meet people while living in different places. You know, you’re doing dinner parties, you’re doing other things. Take me through your process and what has worked for you.
Chris:
Well, I’m an introvert, so I don’t really care too much about meeting that many people, but I know it’s good for me. If I make a few good friends, I’m happy.
First is sports, right? Even when I was going to university in France or living in Panama or Switzerland, it was basketball. I got involved in local clubs, played with them, and got to know the people that way. Learn the language, learn the local culture, and not only hang out with other ex-pats like most other people did.
Cam:
For me, I love surfing and surfing is how I’ve met a lot of people in different places. I meet them in the water, or you meet someone in a cafe and you find out they surf and then you go out and you surf together.
It’s just an easy connection point to do something with other people. And I imagine team sports like what you’re doing with volleyball is a great one because you’re on a team. You’re interacting with other people and you’re meeting people you’re playing against in a unique ecosystem. So I like that a lot.
5 Resources on Meeting People as a Digital Nomad:
- 11 Tips for Making Friends While Traveling Alone (Worldpackers)
- 10 Simple Tricks Guaranteed To Make Friends While Traveling (Forbes)
- How to Make Friends in a Foreign Country: 7 Ways to Meet People Abroad (Go Seek Explore)
- Making Friends Abroad: An Introvert’s Guide (The Portable Wife)
- How to Make New Friends When You’re a Digital Nomad (Lonely Planet)
