Recently updated on August 1st, 2023 at 12:47 pm
Making friends while traveling can be a bit daunting. It can be hard to strike up conversations with new people, especially as you’re already out of your comfort zone. Sometimes you do meet like-minded people, only to find out your schedules don’t align, and then they’re gone. This International Day of Friendship, we’re presenting the solution. Take a guided tour – one of the best ways to connect with other travelers. From shared meals and interactive activities to the guidance of charismatic Tour Directors, these curated adventures help forge friendships that can last a lifetime. Hear it best from our past guests, whose heartwarming stories of blossoming friendships show how going guided is one of the best ways to make friends while traveling.
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You meet people from all over the world
Attracting guests from almost every continent, your Trafalgar tour will put you in a group with travelers from all over the world. You’ll make friends with like-minded travel aficionados, while gaining a fresh perspective by meeting people from all walks of life.
‘The best part of the trip will be the friends you make!‘
‘This was our first “bus” tour we ever took. One of the first things our Travel Director, Kevin, told us was that we would have great memories on this trip, but the best part of the trip will be the friends you make! He wasn’t wrong! We made friends forever from Alberta, Canada and Australia. Since our trip, we have visited our friends in Western Canada and our Aussie friends are coming this year to visit us both! My husband and our new friend from Alberta have the same sense of humour. Here they are pretending to break into a castle in Ireland!‘
Patricia on Britain and Ireland Grandeur
During our Best of Germany tour we met a delightful family from South Africa who became our new friends in no time. From the medieval town of Rothenburg to the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, we enjoyed our tour of Germany so much that we kept in touch with our friends and two years later we all went to the Best of Spain tour! Barcelona with our friends was especially memorable with a visit to Sagrada Familia and a scrumptious paella lunch. This is what the five Trafalgar tours we have been fortunate to take have meant to us – wonderful tour directors who made everything run smoothly and treated us like family, and making new friends to share in the discover of these beautiful countries.
Christine on Best of Spain
This trip was a gift to our daughter when she graduated from high school. Not only did she get to experience a new part of the world, but we got to meet new friends and cultures from all over the world. Everyone on this trip became a quick family and we loved traveling together!
Brian on Britain and Ireland Highlights
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Connect through shared experiences
Want to know how to make friends while traveling? Through the power of shared experiences, which is what Trafalgar tours are built on. Throughout your itinerary, you’ll explore new restaurants, cities, and make discoveries together with your group. You’ll break bread and dine with your new friends, enjoying the local cuisine and sharing stories about one another, helping build your new bond. Often, friendships are made that can last a lifetime.
‘On every one of our five Trafalgar Tours, we have made new friends in several countries for life‘
Had the trip of our lifetime to Greece and Santorini. Sites and food were beyond my expectations. Also met super lovely people and made many new friends. Will treasure the memories forever.
Li on Best of Greece
You’ll also explore local sights together and connect over your shared passion for the place you’ve chosen to travel to. In this, you share a wonder for the world that brings you closer together. That’s not mentioning all the incredible hands-on experiences you’ll share, like cooking classes, weaving workshops and mountain hikes.
Seeing Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful was amazing, but meeting such wonderful new friends made the adventures spectacular!
Donna on USA National Parks Wonders
Sometimes, special things happen. This story, from Craig, tells us how the new friends made on tour became inexplicably tied to their lives. In fact, they’ll be seeing them again quite soon…
I proposed to my partner of six years on a romantic sunset cruise under the Eiffel Tower and the many bridges of the Seinne. Our Travel Director, Kevin Marshall, helped to make the moment extra special, by telling the other tour guests about my secret plan and arranging for some piccolos of Moet to celebrate. It was the most magical moment of our lives, to share the engagement surrounded by the wonderful new friends we had made on the tour and to hear their cheers of happiness. We will all be reunited again when they attend our wedding next year.
Craig on Grand European.
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Making friends while traveling is easier with our Tour Directors
Sometimes, you need a little push in the right direction. Each Trafalgar tour is led by a Travel Director who helps bring the group together and encourages everyone to share the love of travel. This is one of the biggest differences of taking a guided tour as opposed to traveling by yourself. Your Travel Director is the glue that helps bring you and others together, glue that can set and create a friendship for life.
Traveling solo can be intimidating, especially when traveling far outside of your comfort zone. When I booked the Best of Morocco tour, I was terrified and excited. I’d never been to such an exotic location and it was my first time traveling to Africa, but it wasn’t my first Trafalgar tour. On previous tours to Spain, Scotland, Ireland, and Italy, I realized that I could travel solo but not be alone. The knowledge of having a Travel Director to guide my way though Morocco and the hope of new friendships made me at ease with traveling solo and out of my comfort zone. Watch[ing] the sunset in the Sahara Desert with my new friend Mary is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Patrice on Best of Morocco
On every one of our five Trafalgar Tours, we have made new friends in several countries for life because I love meeting new people. This group picture in Budapest during our Highlights of Eastern Europe exemplifies this point as the absolute pinnacle of these tours. It was sensational every day. Our Tour Director Collette Engstrom was amazing with her knowledge and organisational skills of such a mob, but more importantly was her genuine friendliness and love of her job at all times; and as you can see by her positioning herself front and centre in the picture . . . hates a photo opportunity. Our driver Janos although not in the photo, complimented Collette beautifully and there wasn’t a person in the group who wanted this tour to end, which sadly like all good things, it did; everybody the next day asking ‘Where did that 15 days go?’ However all this isn’t what made this trip such a highlight and doesn’t explain why this photo brings a smile to my face when I look at it regularly as it hangs in my home office. From this group we have become firm friends with four couples based in Queensland, Victoria and New Zealand, all of whom have either visited us in Western Australia, or we’ve visited them, or both. Several others including from our home state, scattered around other Australian states and even in the USA remain close to us and with one another through regular Facebook contact; and even amongst the remainder there is still a loose and semi regular email contact with quite a few.
James on Highlights of Eastern Europe
Ready to give it a go? Explore all the places you could go and make new friends while traveling