We love long-distance travel as a family, but after a few days/weeks of travel, our daughter feels the need to meet up with some fellow travellers, and so do we!
In some countries, it’s very easy to meet other families – the Peloponnese in Greece comes to mind, for example – because we generally follow the coast, so we all follow the same itinerary. On the other hand, in Spain and then in southern Italy, we hardly saw anyone for 2 months.
So in this article, we’re going to give you some ideas on how to easily meet other families on your itinerary.
What’s the point of meeting other families on a trip?
The question may arise for some families, who generally go away to spend time together as a family. So why bother meeting other families? There are several reasons for this:
- To share with people who are generally like us, and with whom we’ve already had the crazy idea of leaving everything behind for a few months.
- To share our travel woes, laugh about them and feel less alone.
- For a little adult time while the kids are busy playing together, believe us, it’s a break that’s much appreciated by all.
- Share ideas for activities, itineraries and places to sleep….
The list of benefits could go on and on. As far as we’re concerned, we love all these encounters with travelers, which always enrich us enormously.
We learned to fish with Léo, we tested Justine and Rénald’s inflatable canoes, we discovered bicycle travel with Cyclofamily73… We even traveled for several weeks with some of our travelers.
Of course, if the feeling doesn’t take, which can happen even between travelers, everyone goes their separate ways and there’s very little chance of running into each other again.
Facebook groups / family sites around the world
During our 10-month trip to Southern Europe, we discovered the Familles Autour du Monde Facebook group. We advise you to visit the website, where an interactive Google map shows all registered families currently traveling. It’s very easy to see the other travelers around you.
Families around the world 2023-2024 we also used this Facebook group. Once a month, we would comment on a post to indicate the country or geographical area we were about to cross. In this way, we exchanged ideas with other travelers.
Whatsapp groups
It really is the best way to meet other families, but the problem is that there isn’t necessarily a whatsapp group for every country.
For example, there were none for Spain or Italy at the time of our trip. And it’s not always easy to find them.
Groups are generally shared on the two Facebook sites above. If the group doesn’t exist, you can create one, then add families around you.
We met a lot of people in Greece thanks to the Whatsapp group, as we were there from December to March with few families in the group and on site, so exchanges were quick and easy.
We even managed to get together with a dozen families to celebrate New Year’s Eve 2021 on a beach in Greece.
On the other hand, we were in the Scandinavia group during the summer of 2023, as we felt there were too many families in too large a geographical area.
Selecting your sleeping spots
If you want to meet other travelers, the best place to sleep is on Park4night spots with lots of reviews, or on spots with points of interest like a beach or a playground…
Share your trip on social networks
Sharing your adventure on social networks, on Instagram or Facebook, is also a great way to meet other families and find travel inspiration. We try to be as regular as possible, even if that’s not our strong suit.
The best thing to do is to share with other travelers who are planning the same trip as you. In fact, we’re going to try this out on our motorhome trip this summer.
We also recommend sharing your trip on the Polarstep app, as many travelers use it. Once you’re on the road, the application uses your phone’s GPS to automatically track your route. Note that you can also disable GPS and create your steps by hand, as we do.
So you can follow the itinerary of the travelers you’re following. On the other hand, it’s more of a tool for reconnecting families, as accounts are generally private. Thanks to Polarsteps, we met the Cyclofamily73 again in Denmark in 2023, after having met them in Bulgaria in 2022.
If you have any other tips for meeting travelers, we’d love to hear from you. Share your ideas in the comments! See our other vanlife articles in the“Travel practice” section!
If you’d like to find out more about us, take a look at our“Who are we?” article and our ” Bilan 2023” article.
Don’t hesitate to ask us any questions here or on Instagram.
