{"id":108,"date":"2021-11-27T02:59:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T02:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/?p=108"},"modified":"2021-11-27T21:20:52","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T21:20:52","slug":"social-contact-while-traveling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/2021\/11\/27\/social-contact-while-traveling\/","title":{"rendered":"Social contact while traveling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Some people enjoy having little or no social contact while others (especially extroverts) thrive on lots and lots of social contact. Many of us are somewhere in the middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many who have moved &#8211; or traveled solo to another country for extended stay &#8211; may arrive as students and have built-in social connections through their university programs. For those traveling as students, contact with other students is typically part of the deal, obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those traveling on work, there is likely to be direct contact with others in your field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But others traveling solo (extended travelers, retirees or digital nomads) may find themselves facing loneliness soon after arriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making social contact can be very difficult. In some countries, the culture discourages impromptu conversation and chit-chat between strangers while in others, friendly discussions are encouraged at the local coffee shop. This depends on which country you are in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/worklife\/article\/20170111-how-do-you-make-friends-in-a-new-country\">a BBC<\/a> report on ideas for making social contact in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Learn the local language &#8211; this can be key to making local contacts.<\/li><li>If you staying long enough, join local groups, clubs, organizations, or churches to establish contacts and friendships. As the linked article says, being part of a faith community can provide excellent contacts.<\/li><li>Look in to groups listed on Meetup.com. I presume another avenue would be to seek out clubs oriented around your own special interests. This could be anything &#8211; skiing, jogging, bicycling, and other hobbies.<\/li><li>If planning to move abroad, such as at retirement, you might choose areas with an existing ex-pat community. I read of one mountain lake community in central Mexico where an estimated 10,000 ex-pats from the U.S. and Canada have made their home.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no easy solution that works for all, says the linked report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For shorter term visits &#8211; measured in perhaps 1-3 months, there may not be opportunities to know locals. They might not wish to spend time getting to know someone who will soon leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Do you have experience or ideas with dealing with making social contacts?<\/em> Leave your thoughts in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When traveling for an extended period, and particularly if moving to another country for a period of time, how do you make social contact? Some travelers develop feelings of isolation and loneliness. How can you address this?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}