Meeting new travel friends online...

There are meet-ups posted on this site quite often. I just missed the August Seattle meet-up because I had to rush out to Iowa for some family business. Drat. :( Dunno if anyone has met in person otherwise, but the meet-ups seem cool.

I think it is more directed to city get togethers. The cruise ships have the advantage of having a lot of people together at the same time headed in the same directions. Here is more difficult for single or couple to find someone to cross paths with.

Well, I have a few facebook friends through here and I also intend to meet someone in Fl. who has visited many of the same locations I have and we have a similar travel philosophy. I think it is fun to find people who share that passion. Being a photographer the same thing has happened. I have become really dear friends with people from all over the country due to our shared love of photography. A lot of them I would never have become friends with had we not shared this love. (When you are passionate/obsessed with something it is sometimes hard to relate to people who don't understand) My photo friends also share my love of travel, so we all have a great time traveling together and planning the next trip, but I am probably the one who goes to Europe the most.

We meet in Sacramento once a month. In addition to that, I/we have socialized with a several people from the helpline. I have not yet traveled with any of these people, but I wouldn't rule it out in the future.

When is the Sacramento meeting? I will be in Ca. next week... or does one have to apply????

Is there more info about these groups that meet? Do you have to be a member? Are they only meeting in one place?
Thank you.

Lol...no membership is necessary!! If you love travel, whether you are new to it or a seasoned vet you are welcome to come. In Sacramento we meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:00 a.m. It is always the same location. Occasionally there will be a change in the meeting day. For example, next month 3 of the regulars will be traveling. We will likely meet on the 2nd Saturday so we can all attend. All the groups (Denver, Atlanta, Seattle and of course Sacramento) post a reminder under the General Europe heading about a week before the meeting. For anyone out there that is in the Sacramento area, or just traveling through...we would love to have you join us.

A person posting on this hotline (who lives @20 minutes away from me) contacted me with England questions about 2 years ago. Since that time we have met, e-mail each other frequently and have lunch once a month to talk about travel - England is a passion for both of us, so this has been a very good friendship that started here.

Andrea said "All the groups ... post a reminder" With the exception of the Sacramento group for which "post a reminder" is just the teeniest bit of understatement. Apropos of which see the most recent bump on that topic.

I'm sorry, call me ditzy. I dont understand. Who organizes these meetings? Where is this board people are posting to?
I didn't see anything about one in Orlando. Sad face. :( Thanks for the info everyone! :)

@Nigel...come on now! You have been responsible for a couple of those bumps! :-) @Stacy, there is no 'speical' board. The information is posted by individual helpline users about a week before the meeting. I was the original organizer in Sacramento. I saw that there was a group meeting in Denver and I thought it sounded like fun. It is!! Our first meeting we skyped with the Denver group. There are now 4 different groups from the board. Actually, I think there may have been a meeting in NYC once, but if they still meet they don't 'advertise' it. If you would like to organize something in your area you could post it under General Europe.

Stacy... if you organize something in Orlando I would come if I am in town. My daughter lives in Lake Mary, so I am down there quite frequently...keep me posted!
I may also pop in on the Atlanta meeting as I get there a number of times a year as well.

Go to www.tripadvisor.com, select the city forum you are interested in, and there will be lots of chances to meet fellow travelers to London, Lisbon, Paris, Istanbul, etc. There are more of us globe trotters than you might think and we all have lots to offer each other in the way of tips and advice. There are TA meetings at least quarterly in many cities overseas.

I too met up with a group of people in London thru tripadvisor. It was at one of the monthly pub get togethers that the London "local experts" plan that any TA poster is invited to. It was fun meeting several of the London "experts" that answer travel questions along with several other Americans that happened to be in London on that date. I took my 5 travel companions with me on our trip to London & they loved it.

I got to meet Jo in Frankfurt. Thanks to her advice here, I put Frankfurt on my itinerary, and it turned out to be my favorite place in Germany. There are more get-togethers on Trip Advisor. I went to one in London - they have pretty regular pub meets there. And I have a couple of new friends here in Israel through a TA brunch. It was really interesting to meet face-to-face.

I made contact with Claudia of Land of LA on here 3 years ago when I asked a question about London. After becoming email buddies, she suggested we meet on a RS tour of Istanbul, which we did in May this year. It's been great getting to know each other and we had fun in Istanbul (it was a great tour with a fantastic group and terrific guide, Mert).

I have met three posters(three different trips, posters not together) through tripadvisor.com. Started pming each other over little things,, and eventually discovered we were going to be in Paris at same times.. with one poster I for lunch , planned two day trips together( one to Brugges, one to Fontainbleu) . Another poster had a child about same age as mine and met her and spent an hour or two at playground at Tuilleries. And finally third poster and I just managed a quick hello chat in hotel lobby( I took his recommendation on a hotel and we ended up staying there at same time!) Since I was alone on two of those trips,it was a nice break to just chat in english to another person for a few hours.. and the trip I took with my 11 yr old it was nice for her to meet another little girl to play with for a bit. Some of my friends were freaked out when I said I was meeting people, but really I chatted to them for months( in one case a few years) before we met,, and in all cases met in a public place first.

Had a great time with Chani while she was here and recently met up with Nigel and his wife for a day of fun sightseeing. Have met many more people on here, but don't know if it is ok to name everybody. Some have become good friends, with personal emails, facebook, etc. I am always up for meeting people from the forum over a cup of coffee and a chat. Have met a couple of people from TA, but not a lot.

We have met up recently with Jo for a great day in villages around Frankfurt-a-M, and previously with another regular for dinner near an English canal. We relish meeting up and if we were not so remote in central England I would see if we could get a monthly get-together in London. We don't have a Panera Bread here though.