How to use Workaway to find your travel BFF

One of our favourite parts about travelling (especially solo!)? We could just wander around crowded streets in a foreign country, walk up to someone who looks friendly in a cute cafe, strike up a conversation, and walk away with a new buddy to go on your next excursion with.😌 Now this may not happen every day or for every trip, but the cool thing about being a Workawayer is you're already far more likely to develop meaningful friendships, simply by being part of our massive community of friendly hosts and travellers from around the world! Here are a few pointers on how you can make the most of your Workaway membership to connect with fellow travellers and find your future bffs -- all just a few taps away!

Update your travel status

Before you reach out to potential buddies, make it easier for yourself (and them!) by putting yourself out there. Update your travel status to let everyone know that you’re active on the site and happy to chat. Whether you are looking for a travel buddy who’s down to roam unfamiliar streets for hours just to find the best Pad Thai, or you’re just flying solo and keen to meet up for a cup of coffee. There’s a whole community of travellers interested in doing different things, so let’s stop playing cool and start connecting! :)

You can view and update your travel status on your Account page.

Don’t forget you can also add statuses for each of the destinations you are planning on going to!

Do a language exchange

What if you could become fluent in any new languages you want, while making new friends and learning about new cultures? If this sounds like a good deal, check out our new language buddy feature, where you can connect with workawayers who are happy to teach you their language, AND workawayers who want to learn your native language as well! Language and culture go hand in hand, which is why our travels are made so much more memorable when we get to practise our new language skills through cultural immersion. Even if you are just staying home, you can always continue to practise a new language with fellow workawayers from around the world:) 

Enter the languages you're interested in learning and teaching, and check out your potential language exchange buddies!

Find someone with similar interests

The wonderful thing about meeting friends on the internet is that we can skip the slow and sometimes awkward process of ‘How do I start a conversation with a complete stranger? Do we have anything in common?' Make sure you’ve added  your interests on your account page, and then you’ll see which globetrotters are also into blogging, and social issues, and veganism -- just like you! If you see a green ring around their profile photo on the meet up , travel buddies or language buddies pages, you can click into their profile to see your matching interests. From here, dive into a common topic that you’re both passionate about, and connect with your perfect travel soulmates to explore the world with :)

Hover over a workawayer's profile photo to see how many matching interests you have with each other!

Check out your matching interests on the workawayer's profile.

Join and host a local event

You know how with Workaway, you're already part of an active travel community, with people from around the world, who are ready to connect with the other travellers or likeminded people? Our brand new ‘Workaway Events’ feature lets members discover, attend, and host all kinds of fun local events to share their interests and meet like-minded members of the platform. Whether you're a host looking to share your neighbourhood's hiking trails with more travellers, a traveller on a break who wants a coffee and a wanderlust boost chat with other visiting Workawayers, or a Workawayer wondering how to explore the local entertainment scene in a new destination -- you can do it all by posting up what you'd like to do as an event, and opening up the invitation for everyone who might also be interested in doing the same thing with a bunch of new friends!

Click on the 'Events' tab on your Account page to create and discover events.

Be spontaneous!

Of course it’s great to plan in advance and match up with our perfect travel buddies before meeting in person, but some of the best encounters are also made spontaneously. Whether you wanna look for a fellow traveller to go on a weekend excursion together, or you’re sat at home alone and hoping for another friend to reminisce your past adventures with, these potential connections could just be a click away. Hop onto the Workawayers Nearby  as well as the Hosts Around You lists, and reach out to see if they’re down to hang out! 

You can find Workawayers and hosts near your location on the 'Community' tab of your Account page.

Stay connected with buddies on the road

All these encounters online and on the road can certainly be spontaneous, but they don’t have to be fleeting! To help make your friendships last, now you can add the other workawayers to your new Friends list so that you can easily stay connected with all the workawayers you’ve clicked with. Simply head over to your travel buddy’s workaway profile, click ‘Send friend request’, and they’ll appear on your Friends list once they’ve approved your request! In the meantime, make sure to check for friend requests on your account page (your ‘My Friends’ shortcut will show any new requests), and update your privacy settings to allow friend requests too ;)