Travel Partner Board

Barry... although I have not traveled with someone from that board I did meet up with Jo from Frankfurt after her responding to a few questions last year, so I met her at the Christmas Market in Heidelberg and she showed me and my grandson around Frankfurt. I am going again in a few weeks and will meet up with her again. A few other people I have exchanged emails with and will meet up with one day. It would be hard however to just find someone on that board and spend a long period of time with them.

Believe it, James. :-)
I have too good a time on my own to risk ruining it by traveling with some stranger.

Wrong James - My best trips have been those where I travelled alone because then I get to do exactly what I want to do, when and where I want. If I have a specific itineray or goals for a trip. I don't want anyone else's input. When you have a travel partner you have to take their feelings and perferences into consideration.
I am an only child, so I am and always have been very comfortable being on my own. I understand being alone is scary to some people.

Barry, about 5 years ago I met a lady through this forum, this was before the |"Partners Forum") when I went to Paris with my 11 yr old dd, she was taking her 10 yr old dd..and we spent a nice afternoon in the Tuillleries Park , the kids played at a playground and went on a few fair rides together.
On another forum( tripadvisor) I met two posters, one was a lady from eastern Canada in Paris with her 11 yr old, I was childless on that trip, but we shared two lunch dates , and then a daytrip to Brugges..and the other poster was a male leading , we met and chatted in hotel lobby of hotel we were both staying at (he had recommened this hotel on forum and it was great). I think you CAN meet awesome people through forums,, meet in a public place,and have a alot of correspondence ahead of time.

Thanks for the replies. What I find interesting in one way the board is designed to arrange extended traveling with someone you don't know, one can arrange a day meeting too if desired. It's one thing to travel on your own and I can see the side of people being perfectly content to travel by themselves, it has a lot of advantages as previously mentioned, but as people we sometimes need interaction with others and solo traveling would preclude this for the most part except for occasional meeting someone along the way and spending a day or so together. But it seems meeting someone on a message board and planning to travel together for an extended period of time is a different thing altogether, some of the posts for traveling together to different countries. As Terry kathryn mentioned her meeting Jo in Frankfurt is the perfect combination of using this board for its travel information and finding someone along your route you know a little about, they know a place well and can show you the sights you might not see or even know about, you can spend the day together but will go your separate ways soon afterward, no commitment. But to look for people to travel with for days on end seems to me at least a bit odd, it might work for some but how in the world would we know we will get along with that person? We all have our idiosyncrasies and they're going to come out sooner or later. I did a cycling trip in Ireland, I was a single, was paired up with another single to share a room, I didn't have a problem with it, was expecting it, but he did have a problem with it, he'd paid a single supplement and voiced his displeasure about it to the guide, but guess who else got to here about it when the guide wasn't around, it got old real fast. I fully understood his concern and luckily they corrected the situation in a day or so. To plan a trip with someone you know absolutely nothing about it would be wise to build some type of out into the equation.

"we sometimes need interaction with others and solo traveling would preclude this for the most part" On the contrary, I interact with others more, and meet more people, when traveling alone than I do when I travel with someone. Other people are more apt to strike up a conversation with a solo traveler than they are with a couple or family. Couples and groups tend to stay to themselves rather than interacting with others.

Yes, I posted a message on the Travel Partner Board back in June, met a lady responding to my posting, spoke on the phone and exchanged emails a few times before our respective trips and spent two fun evenings together in Rome in September. It was a good experience. I generally travel solo and like the freedom to choose when and where I will end up in any given travel day. It is nice though, to have company for dinner and to share some of the joys of travel with a new found friend. Linda P.S. There is some discussion going on now on that Travel Partner Board about forming a "over 50 travel group" of solo travelers that want company.