Anyone who has spent even a short amount of time traveling would certainly be familiar with the ‘travel date’. This is when we actively seek out another traveler to spend time with despite knowing that we will end up having the exact same conversation, one that revolves around a very typical set of questions, that we’ve had thousands of times before.

However, it is important to point out that there are some key differences between the ‘travel date’ and normal dating.

First, instead of love, travelers are often just looking for someone to hang out with for the day. Second, instead of having the luxury of sifting through thousands and thousands of online profiles hoping to find a good match, we travelers must use a different method to find our companions. We must sit in the hostel lounge, pretending to read a book, as we scan the room out of the corner of our eye, looking for someone that appears interesting and with whom we think we could handle an afternoon of sightseeing or a quick meal.

While there are certainly plenty of days when we travelers are perfectly fine with being on our own, it would be foolish not to admit that there are even more days when we prefer the company of others. Visiting the famous fortress in town or going down to the beach is often a much better experience when we have someone there to talk to and so we spend some time scoping out our fellow travelers in the hostel, eavesdropping on their conversations, just waiting for the right moment when we can suddenly interrupt and say, “Oh, you were in Indonesia last year as well? Sumatra was also my favorite island!”

Maybe we are welcomed into the conversation, maybe we are politely ignored. But if we are welcomed in, it feels great. The other person is interested in hanging out as well! It must be how my friends feel when they actually receive a response from someone they contacted through an online dating site.

From this point on, things usually become much easier. All we have to do now is wait for the other person to say something like, “I was going to walk over to the castle today” or “I heard about a cool pub in town” and then we can respond with, “Me too!”. And just like that, we have a ‘date’.

Of course, these are not dates in the traditional sense. But as you head out the door of the hostel a few minutes later, and those typical traveler questions begin to be asked, it certainly feels like a date nonetheless.

HUNGRY & DESPERATE IN BULGARIA

Usually, we have many travelers to choose from when we’re looking for someone to spend the day with, but there is always a chance that we end up somewhere that doesn’t offer us much of a choice, such as when it’s the low tourist season and there are only a few other people staying at the hostel. I imagine that such a situation would be similar to living in a town of 1,000 people in the middle of nowhere. When you’re really in the mood for some companionship, you just have to shrug your shoulders and accept whomever happens to be around.

And last week, this is exactly what happened to me during my stay at the Hostel Mostel in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. On my first night, there were only two people staying at the hostel, myself and a German fellow. The next morning, the German took off in his car to go to a football match in a nearby town, leaving me all alone (the nerve of him!).

So I sat down in the hostel lounge, turned on my laptop and decided to respond to some emails. After about an hour, and just as I started to feel hungry, the door to the hostel suddenly opened, and in walked another traveler. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as this guy checked in, put his backpack in the dorm room and then seemed to ask the hostel staff where he could find a good restaurant for lunch.

Upon hearing the word ‘lunch’, I turned off my laptop, jumped out of my seat and made my move, probably looking more desperate for a friend to eat with than I would have liked. I practically sprinted over to this guy, informing him that coincidentally, I, too, was hungry and about to go eat. So I asked him if he wanted to eat together.

Well, that’s pretty much how I ended up on a ‘travel date’ with Kaji, a 22-year old Japanese graduate student who spoke no more than twenty words of English. In fact, his English was so limited that I don’t even think he knew what I was saying when I invited him to join me for lunch.

He was probably scared of me, the strange guy who started babbling nonsense to him three minutes after he walked into the hostel. I wouldn’t be surprised if he followed me only out of fear.

But even so, the ‘date’ did seem to start off quite decently. Sitting on the terrace at the Ego Restaurant in the center of Veliko Tarnovo, eating pizza and drinking mugs of Zagorka beer, we eventually managed to communicate enough to ask and answer the usual questions – Where are you traveling? How long have you been traveling? What is your favorite country?

Unfortunately though, as soon as these were out of the way and we moved on to the next level of questions, we really started struggling.

Kaji asked me if I like music. I replied, “Yes.”
I asked him if he smoked cigarettes (no idea why this question came to mind). He said, “Yes.” Then he said, “No.” Then he said, “Yes” again.
Kaji asked me what I do for work. I said, “Blog computer stuff.”
I asked Kaji what he was studying. He said, “Chemistry.”
Kaji pointed out that I had spilled some pizza sauce on my shirt.
Ten minutes passed in silence.
I asked Kaji if he had any brothers or sisters. He didn’t say anything, not understanding my question.
Ten more minutes passed in silence.
Kaji told me he liked my titanium money clip.
I told Kaji that I love eating Okonomiyaki.
Kaji went to the restroom.
I tried to think of more questions.

On and on we went like this for about an hour and a half, with the conversation never really flowing too smoothly. It was still a pleasant afternoon in the end as Kaji was a really nice guy and I was certainly happy to not be eating alone, but once we finished our food and we paid the bill, as is often the case with real dating, it was obvious that our relationship was not going to continue beyond this one meal.

We simply shook hands, thanked each other for the company and went off in opposite directions, two travelers wandering the streets alone once again, each hoping the next ‘travel date’ they have out there in the world will prove to be more successful.

Here I am, sitting on a pile of comfy floor pillows in the common area of a hostel in the small Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo. I’ve been here for several days now and the town certainly lives up to it’s reputation as a place that most travelers find difficult to leave. But alas, I must pull myself away from this beautiful town along the Yantra River as I’m taking the overnight bus to Istanbul at 9pm this very evening. The time has come for me to move on to the next exciting stage of my crazy six-week itinerary.

However, as excited as I am about my upcoming travels, I am also excited these days about a few other projects that have recently been launched by some wonderful other bloggers. And I’m confident that you’ll find these projects to be quite interesting as well.

So, here’s some cool stuff that’s now out there for you to take advantage of…

Everything Everywhere Travel Photography App

First up is a new iPhone app that was created by Gary Arndt. If you’re not familiar with Gary, he happens to be the man behind one of the most popular travel blogs on the planet, Everything-Everywhere.com. His site has an abundance of interesting posts from his own life of travel which has so far taken him to over 100 countries. And Gary also takes some amazing photos during his global wanderings, the kind of photos that make you want to pack your bag and immediately book a flight to some foreign land.

Gary’s new app, Everything Everywhere Travel Photography, simply takes it all to the next level. This app is perfect for anyone who loves to daydream about faraway places and to look at stunning photographs from around the world, all of which Gary took himself, in order to get ideas for their own travels. I played around with this app myself and I must say, it’s quite addicting. Every photo I viewed simply increased my desire to discover even more of this planet! And Gary adds new photos every day, ensuring that you never run out of travel inspiration.

Info: You can learn more about the app on Everything-Everywhere.com or download the app from the iTunes store.

Unanchor.com – Less Research. More Travel.

Imagine you’re heading to Istanbul and you’re not really interested in following the well-beaten path around the city that you find in every guidebook. You’re looking for something different and you want some local recommendations. Enter Unanchor.com, a great concept created by Jason Demant that allows people to submit and upload suggested self-guided tour itineraries for cities around the world. So whether you’re traveling to Istanbul or Bangkok or Prague (or anywhere else), you’ll be able to find a unique itinerary that was created either by a local resident or by someone who has spent a great deal of time in that city. For many destinations you’ll even find itineraries geared towards specific interests, and while each itinerary does cost some money, the cost is very minimal, usually less than $10 USD.

During my last trip to Istanbul I used this itinerary. It certainly included most of the main sights but it also led to more local experiences, and I loved following the advice of someone who clearly knows this city in and out. These itineraries really are a cool way to explore as all you need to do is follow the suggestions and enjoy the adventure.

Info: All of the itineraries can be found at Unanchor.com

Grassroots Volunteering

Last summer, during a trip to Florida to visit my family, I was lucky enough to meet up with one of my favorite people in the blogging community, Shannon O’Donnell from ALittleAdrift.com. And as we dined on some southern food in a small local diner, she told me about her plans for the near future. First of all, those plans included spending six months exploring Southeast Asia with her 11-year old niece, which seems to have been quite a success for both of them. However, her plans also involved creating a website that would act as a massive database of free and low-cost volunteer opportunities around the world as well as local businesses that work hard to benefit their own communities. This way, whether you are interested in volunteer work or supporting local businesses during your travels, you would have a central website to guide you in the right direction.

Well, that project has now been launched and for anyone looking to do some volunteer work and support local communities around the world, this is absolutely where you should start your search. The site is very user-friendly and listings can be found in over 18 countries so far, with the database continuing to expand all the time.

Info: GrassrootsVolunteering.org – connecting travelers with local causes and communities


If any of the above sound interesting to you, I really hope you’ll give them a try as all of the people I’ve mentioned are also very dedicated to helping others achieve their own travel goals.

And in case you were wondering, this is not paid advertising at all and I receive no money for mentioning these things. I genuinely wanted to help promote these websites/app because I believe in their usefulness and value. In fact, I have interacted with, either in person or online, Gary, Shannon and Jason and I’ve also personally used Gary’s app, Shannon’s website and Jason’s itineraries.