Recently updated on December 1st, 2023 at 05:46 pm
Love is on the mind this month, so there’s no better time to toast to the love of friendship. From “Galentines” to “Palentines”, we’re all about celebrating the genuine friendships that blossom on tour. Here we share seven inspiring stories about friends who met on tour with Trafalgar – and still keep in touch and travel together to this day.
1. Justine and Julie
Julie and Justine met on our Imperial Europe tour in 2017 when Justine photobombed Julie’s selfie in Budapest. They’ve stayed in touch ever since, and even travel together, despite living in different countries.
“I had just gotten divorced and started exploring my life on my own trying to find myself,” Julie says. “Justine always travelled alone prior to this trip. Justine was paired with another single traveller, but I was solo. On arriving in Munich, I was immediately adopted into a group of ladies on a girls’ trip from San Francisco as they realised I was alone. It wasn’t until the third day when we were on the nighttime illumination tour in Budapest, and on the boat she photobombed me. We instantly clicked at that point and were inseparable for the rest of the trip. We travel together all the time and are each other confidants, even though she lives in the US and I in Canada.”
READ MORE: Meet Julie and Justine, two best friends who met on tour
2. Cyndi and Guenevere
Cyndi and Guenevere met on a Trafalgar tour around Northern Italy. Now the two are travel buddies and love to explore the world together. “In 2014 we were both travelling solo on the Best of the Italian Lakes tour,” says Cyndi. “We both share a love of travelling in Europe, and we loved the itinerary of that tour. We immediately hit it off as like-minded travelers who share a passion for travel and adventure. As we are both single and both Cat Moms, that kind of broke the ice. A year later we did a Trafalgar tour of the Greek Islands and had a great time together.”
Guenevere says, “We clicked right away as friends and travel buddies. Over the next 10 years since we met on tour, Cyndi and I have traveled together every year (except during pandemic lockdowns), including a wonderful Trafalgar tour of Greece. Our next Trafalgar tour is coming up in a few weeks in April when we will explore Ireland’s Legendary North.”
READ MORE: We met on a Trafalgar tour and are still friends 9 years later
3. Debbie and Christopher
When Canadian traveller Debbie was gifted a Trafalgar trip to Ireland for her 50th birthday, she found a lifelong friend and travel buddy in Australian Christopher. Despite living oceans apart, their friendship has lasted more than a decade.
Debbie says, “There were only four singles on the trip: my roommate Marian, Christopher, another Aussie named Patrick and myself. We tended to hang out together. I remember the night that we went to the Medieval Banquet at Knappogue Castle, the wine was flowing and we had many laughs and were quite the happy bunch boarding the coach at the end of the evening. After the farewell supper, we all went off to our rooms to pack as we were on different shuttles in the morning. I slipped a note with my email address and street address under his door and said how much I had enjoyed meeting him and that I hoped to come to Australia someday.”
“The following summer I went on my second Trafalgar (Great Britain and Ireland Delights) Tour. As we had kept in touch by email, we discovered that he would be visiting friends in England at the same time as my tour. He came to meet me the day I arrived in London and he was my private tour guide.”
READ MORE: Debbie and Christopher met on an Irish trip, the rest is history
4. Laura, Alice & Jennifer
In April 2016, three ladies from very far-off countries met on the “Highlights of the Italian Lakes” Trafalgar tour. Alice was from South Africa, Jennifer from Canada and Laura from the USA. “We soon realized on that trip that we had so much fun together and a long-time friendship was being built,” says Laura. “Through Facebook, we planned our next trip together. We met in Athens, Greece in May 2018 for our next tour, “Highlights of Greece with 3 Day Cruise.”
“In May 2019, we came together again and met up for our third Trafalgar trip in Rome, Italy. This time, we took the “Southern Italy and Sicily” tour and took a very special picture together. Jennifer, who works in the mental health field brought each of us a shirt of “Hope” with the flags of our countries on them to celebrate her work. The picture was posted on her company website as their proclamation was “Mental Health Support has No Borders. Words Matter. ”
Then Covid hit in 2020 and our trips had to stop. This past year in 2021, Laura was able to travel to South Africa and visit Alice. While there, Laura spent time with Alice, saw her new home and had dinner together. As you can see, friendship has no borders with Trafalgar! “Thank you, Trafalgar for giving me two of my very best friends!”
RELATED BLOG: Why friends you make on a Trafalgar tour last a lifetime
5. Wayne and friends
“I met these incredible people on a Trafalgar tour in 2016. We are still friends to this day and I talk to them all the time. They are scattered all over the world but I am as close to these people as I am to my family at home. This dinner was so much fun and really is just a metaphor for what we mean to each other. This was taken in Karlstad, Sweden. So much love for these people and I miss them every single day.”
RELATED BLOG: 7 tours perfect for reuniting with friends
6. Ramona and friends
“On our first night in Rome, we had the good fortune of being seated with these wonderful couples for our first dinner,” says Romana. “We found ourselves spending a lot of time with each other throughout our tour. On a rainy evening, we all decided to find a nice local restaurant to enjoy a meal together. While dining, I mentioned that I never made it to the Spanish Steps during my high school trip to Rome. Well, the whole group decided that, since I was of Spanish descent, I absolutely HAD to get there. We headed out together, trying to dodge the heaviest rain by ducking under overhangs, and I got to see the famous Spanish Steps up close!
“But that’s not how our evening ended. The rain was beginning to subside, so someone in the group suggested that we continue on to see the Trevi Fountain again. We had seen it earlier in the day and it was extremely crowded. So on we went. To our delight, there were only a handful of other tourists there! I snapped this selfie of our group in front of the fountain, and it has become one of my favorite memories of our Great Italian Cities Trafalgar tour.”
RELATED BLOG: Why friendships are even more important in retirement
7. Melisa and her friend
“I shared this wonderful trip with the most incredible friend I met on a previous Trafalgar holiday. We decided when we met in Spain that we would try to meet every two years. Ireland was our second special holiday filled with so many happy memories, the incredible people we met along the way, our delightful tour guide, and the beautiful landscape. Not to mention Guinness and the best whiskey-filled days. I would love to travel again especially after being stuck due to Covid restrictions. Trafalgar has always made my dreams come true with its affordable amazing offers.”
Do you love making friends abroad? Have you got any special friends you met on tour? Let us know in the comments below!