I've Got Friends in All Places

In my last post, I mentioned meeting locals so you can learn more about holidays that are occurring while you're visiting, but there are lots of reasons why you should befriend the locals. Here are what I think are 3 of the biggest reasons to engage with those who are a part of the culture:


Reason #1: These people could become lifelong friends.

Whenever I travelled to India and Japan, never did I imagine developing friendships with people that might go beyond my time there. I thought I would go there, make friends with people who would teach me about the culture, hang out with them and then just move on with life. I am so thankful that I was wrong!!! I am now friends with people that I met while overseas on every form of social media that I have so I can keep up with their lives and we still text each other every once and a while to catch up.

Reason #2: The friends you make can teach you more about their culture than you will learn on your own.

In Thailand, I tried to learn about the culture without really engaging with the people there. I learned little to nothing about the country whenever I was there. Looking back I could kick myself for neglecting the impact that their input could have had on my trip.

But, in India, Japan and even L.A., I talked to locals and spent time with them which really helped me to understand the culture of each place. (They were also able to show me different places that only people from the area would know about.)

Because I developed friendships with people in India, I was able to explore street markets I never would have found, attend engagement parties and visit historical landmarks I didn't know about. I was even invited in to the homes of some of the friends that I made.



In Japan my friends taught me about Purikura (hilarious and awesome photo booths), themed restaurants, Snow (basically Snapchat but with like a million more filters) and Japanese karaoke. All of my favorite memories in Japan were made while doing these things and I totally would have missed out on them if I wouldn't have befriended people from Japan!

I didn't necessarily make lifelong friends with people in L.A., but I did start conversation with all of my Uber drivers and they were extremely helpful with restaurant suggestions, places to visit that weren't "touristy", bars to check out and areas to make sure to stay away from. 

Reason #3: You have a reason to re-visit those places.

Now that I've made friends in each of these locations, I have someone to go see! If I ever decide I want to experience more of any of the cultures, I have someone to stay with and my own personal tour guide.


So be friendly, step out of your comfort zone and talk to those around you!