Connecting with Locals: 2008
Good travel requires connecting with people. Get creative: bring a Frisbee, look up a bridge club, assume a fake last name and get out a phone book. Connecting with locals puts a shine into your travel memories. How do you make sure you connect with the locals in your travels?
Read the Distillation: Connecting with Locals, 2005
- Please don't post questions here. Use our Travelers Helpline.
Talking with local kids
Last spring while in Amsterdam, husband and I took a day to go to Bruges. We took the train down from Amst. (I love European trains!). In Antwerp, two ladies got on with 2 young boys. Due to seating, the boys ended up sitting right across from husband and I, and the ladies were kitty-corner from us. Long story short, we got permission from the moms to talk with the boys (who were 12 and 7), and also to take their photo. They tried their best to teach me how to say numbers from 1-10 in FLEMMISH, and the older one enjoyed practising his English. When we got clear back home, I got 2 major league baseball caps and some other things, and sent them, with the photo, to one of the boys' mom. (She had given me her address.)
A couple of months later, a package came in the mail from the mom...a tin box of Belgian chocolate! Along with a lovely letter and a photo of her entire family.
Chatting with those boys is one of my favorite memories from that trip.
Margaret
USA Fri 10/31/2008
Haircut in Venice
rick steves says getting a haircut at the local barber is a great way to meet locals and since i want to trim about a foot off of my locks anyhow, i gave it a go. the barber he suggested in his venice book gave me a cute new 'do but kept my hair as a "souvenir." i found out from my b&b operator later that the barber can sell my hair for a pretty penny for carnivale masks. the thought of doing that honestly didn't occur to me and i feel my experience was ruined in that not only did i have to pay to get my hair cut, but the barber can profit off of my locks too? i wish someone had warned me beforehand; maybe he and i could have worked out a trade instead!
Rapunzel
Los Angeles, CA USA Wed 07/16/2008
Please & Thank You can go a long way
My husband & I flew to Vienna for 4 days, then to Poland by train for two more days. I was very worried about buying train tickets in a language neither of us speaks. We had Rail Europe tickets to get us to Katowice, but from there we would have to fend for ourselves, with the help of a one-sentence email in Polish (from the tour guide who would be meeting us in Ostrow Wlkp.) to show to the conductor on the train. I had written in my trip journal the Polish words for "please" and "thank you." As we sat in the train compartment, I showed my husband the two words, telling him I had no idea how to pronounce "thank you." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the mother of a traveling family with a big smile on her face. I pointed to her and said, "Polish?" She nodded her head. I showed her my journal and she taught us how to say prosze and dziekuje. She didn't speak much English but told us her name, her husband's name and their son's name, and said they were returning from a trip to Italy. I showed them the maps of the US and South Dakota that I had glued into my journal for just such an occasion. Later on, we were joined by a Polish software engineer who spoke English fluently. He translated for us. As it turned out, the Polish family was making the same train connection we were! They helped us find the right platform, and explain to the conductor what ticket we needed. The part of the trip I was most worried about turned out to be the most fun!
Charlotte
Vermillion, SD USA Wed 07/16/2008
For the love of cycling
I am not sure where to post this because it's just so darn hilarious, but certainly doesn't belong in "most embarassing moments". Anyway, we were on a bicycle tour of Tuscany. It was pure heaven. Our routes took us through small villages and hill towns. In one of the hills towns the tour women were all grouped together, riding up a narrow street. Out of one of the shops comes running an old Italian man yelling. At first I thought that he was upset, but then he was yelling that he loves cycling (in Italian). He was waving a flag and started smacking the girls on the butt as they rode past him, to encourage them up the hill. After they passed him he held his heart and repeated "cyclismo, cyclismo". I was told the Italians love cyling, but this guy was really into it.
April
Vancouver, WA USA Tue 07/01/2008
Post Office in Dutch
Just back from a trip to Netherlands, Belgium & Switzerland. Not the first time for any of them, but first time I noticed the Dutch term for Post Office and had to laugh at my first thought. TNT is where you buy your stamps and mail your cards, NOT what might occur to a safety/security saturated and jet-lagged American tourist these day.
Barbara Wolfe <email>
Lutz, FL USA Tue 04/15/2008
Festivals
Wherever you are, try to find out if there are any folk-festivals going on, usually the kind with tents. Small towns are typically better than large cities for meeting and hanging out with locals. Many towns will have some kind of festival or tent-party around spring and summer holidays like May 1st, Penecost, or St. John's Day (Summer Solstice). They usually have some kind of religious or pagan connotations to them, but that doesn't keep them from throwing a good party with live music, plenty of beer or wine, and street food, and sometimes these things go all day into the wee hours of the morning.
I've been to several on my travels throughout the EU and have always managed to get along very well with locals. Some remain my friends several years later.
Bryan
Atlanta, GA USA Wed 04/02/2008
Camping friends
A great place to meet Europeans is at campgrounds. We have camped in France, Greece, Germany, and Italy and were usually the only Americans. Many campgrounds have swimming pools, restaurants, and bars. I've met locals while washing my car, doing laundry, eating in the restaruant, walking to the loo, swimming, etc. Most of the campgrounds that we've stayed at have campers from all over Europe. We traveled in an old VW camping-van on one trip and with tents, blankets, and a rental car on another occasion (with our then high school-aged kids). Our daughter played soccer and brought a ball, leading to some impromptu fun with other kids. Many campgrounds also have bungalos for rent. Campgrounds are sold out during July and August so plan ahead.
Charles A. Robinson <email>
Lodi, CA USA Sat 02/09/2008
Rent A House
Last September we went to the Champagne Ardennes region and rented a cabin that was on the owner's property. It was a great experience. We went to dinner at their home and they ate with us in the cabin. The owner even made a tart one day. It was a great experience and I learned more about the French than I have in any of my many trips there. We learned about the economic problems first hand. We still email them.
Sue
Springfield, va USA Fri 01/11/2008