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How Can You Build Real Friendships While Living or Traveling Abroad?
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Jul 29, 2025
Traveling the world or living overseas can be thrilling, eye-opening, and endlessly rewarding. But let’s be real—it can also get lonely. Even when you're constantly surrounded by people, making deep, meaningful connections isn’t always easy. Whether you're exploring Southeast Asia, working in Europe, or settling into life in South America, this video shares practical tips to help you create lasting friendships abroad. 🔗 Read more here: https://abusonadustyroad.com/how-to-make-friends-while-traveling-or-living-abroad/ #ABusOnADustyRoad #TravelTips #LivingAbroad #MakeFriendsAbroad #SoloTravelLife #ExpatLife #CulturalConnection #DigitalNomadLife We loved to hear from you! Check out our blog at ABusOnADustyRoad.com https://abusonadustyroad.com/ Find more great travel videos, recipes and food ideas, tips about ex-pat life, and ancestry travel.
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[Music]
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Hi, this is Anita from the Dusty Roads
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podcast. In this podcast and in our
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blog, A Bus on a Dusty Road, we are all
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about living our lives as a global
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citizen. I've recently written a blog
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entitled How to Make Friends While
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Traveling or Living Abroad. We'll put a
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link in the description below in case
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you'd like to read it. I've lived and
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worked in overseas my entire adult life
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since I've graduated from college. So I
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think I have a lot of experience and be
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able to talk about how to make friends
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while traveling or living abroad. I can
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also say too it can sometimes be
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difficult to be able to make friends or
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to get to know people. And one of the
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hard things about living overseas is
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that a lot of people move and change.
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Especially, you know, if you're in an
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area where there's an embassy community,
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every three years the embassy people
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move. So maybe you meet someone, you
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become a great friend of theirs and
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within three years or a couple years
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they're gone and they're on to the next
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posting. So there can be a lot of change
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for things overseas. Even you know
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teachers people that are here teaching
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can move and constantly be a you know
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you can be constantly be looking to find
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new friends. So if this is something
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which is really hard for you if you are
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somebody who just wants to you know
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you've kept the same friends you've had
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the same friends your entire life you
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know you've you've never had any other
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friends except for those you went to
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high school with or you know those you
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you know you knew since you were in
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elementary school. This might be hard
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for you.
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But let me talk about some ways that you
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can uh find some friends or ways that I
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have. One of the most ways is to attend
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a local church or religious service. A
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lot of my friends I found through
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attending church here overseas. And
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that's, you know, given me friends in
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all different walks of life that I
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normally would never cross paths with if
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I didn't attend church. people that are
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in the embassy. I would never have been
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gotten to know unless I actually, you
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know, attended a church. Just like
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church services, if church is not your
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thing, you know, and that's fine because
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it's not for everybody, you can join a
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club, a social group, or, you know, some
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type of hobby circles. you can um you
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know a lot of times there's women's
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clubs or other things going on overseas
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here or there's ams or other type of
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clubs that you can join or people have
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the same type of hobby that you have.
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Maybe it's a sports club, you know,
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which is the next one. Get connected
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through fitness. Join a local gym or
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fitness class. A lot of times you can
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find some fitness groups here. people
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that are maybe riding bikes together,
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people who are, you know, exercising
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together, uh people who are swimming
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together, you can get to know people
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that way. Join an expat or national
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clubs. If you like to play things like
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football, maybe you can find a football
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group or pickle ball group or, you know,
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you could join some type of clubs that
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are around which have to do with fitness
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or just any type of clubs. There's some,
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you know, English clubs, some language
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clubs. There's many things like that.
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volunteer for a local charity or an NGO.
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You know, this can be a great way to be
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able to meet people if if that's some
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things that you join. You you can find a
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local charity or an NGO that you can
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volunteer for or spend some time there
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with them. Explore the meetup and event
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platforms. A lot of times there's some,
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you know, meetup things that go on.
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Depends upon the country, whether or not
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they have it. There could be language
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exchanges, cookie nights, board games.
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There could be quiz nights at a bar, uh
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movie clubs, day trips, and hikes that
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you could join.
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stay in hostels or join a co-l
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livingiving space if you are if that's
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kind of your thing. You want to be able
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to, you know, get to know other people.
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You might, you know, get yourselves in
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an area with some roommates or you might
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join a hostel or, you know, if you if
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co-l livingiving is not your thing, if
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you're able to work, you know, work in a
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space with other people, you don't have
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to go into an office. You could join a
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maybe a co-working space. Take a
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language class. There's usually always
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language classes overseas that you can
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take. A lot of foreigners are in those
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language classes. You can get to know
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other people. Use social media forums.
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You can, you know, do searches for
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expats in the city. Uh digital nomads,
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travel buddies. You can look for all of
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those things there uh for the city that
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you're at. You can do some searches
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there. There's a lot of times these
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cities will be will have like, you know,
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Facebook groups and other things where
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you can post things on. sign up for a
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class or a workshop, you know, like um
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you know, maybe you want to take a
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cooking class in Italy or in Vietnam.
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Vietnam has lots of great cooking
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classes, surf lessons in Bali, tango
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lessons in Argentina. Sign up for some
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type of class. Say yes even when it
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feels awkward. Now, this is a hard one.
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You making friends means stepping out of
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your comfort zone. You accepting
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invitations even if they're outside your
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usual interest. Go to barbecues, rooftop
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parties, the cultural festival. Many
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friendships start because someone took a
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chance, you know, on an invitation. You
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never know who you'll meet.
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Start something yourself. If there's not
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something there, try to start something
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yourself and get like-minded people to
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join together. Be a regular somewhere.
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Be a regular at a coffee shop or
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neighborhood bar where staff and patrons
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and others can get to know you. Talk to
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strangers. Yes, really. You know, I talk
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to strangers all the time. You could ask
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people, "Is this your first time here?"
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know any good local spots? What brings
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you to the city? Get to know people, you
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know, just reach out and get to know
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other people. Most people you'll find,
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especially if they're sitting alone. If
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you're in a if you're in a restaurant
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alone and someone else is alone, reach
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over and talk to them. Find out more
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about them and their life. Find out who
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they are. Who knows, you might just find
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yourself a new friend. Fast travel is
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fun, but slow travel builds friendships.
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When you spend more time in one place,
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you'll naturally start seeing the same
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faces and the routines. You know,
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whether in your small town or a big
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city, staying in one area longer gives
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you the time to deepen connections
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instead of just making acquaintances.
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One of the most important things in all
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of these, these are all great things,
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but if you're a closed off person and if
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you're somebody who, you know, really
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wants to stick to yourself, and that's
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fine. Some people, they like that. they
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they want to stick to themselves. They
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don't have to make friends. Then that's
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okay. Then understand that you are that
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way. But making friends abroad, you
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know, isn't always instant. So you have
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to have an openness for it. It gets
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easier the more practice, you know,
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being open, curious, and intentional.
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You know, it does become easier when you
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do that. You know, not every
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conversation will turn into a lifelong
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bond. And that's okay. You know, you're
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planting seeds. Some will grow quickly,
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others over time. Some may not even grow
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at all. You know, you may you may get to
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know some not grow at all. Remember,
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you're not alone in feeling alone. Many
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other travelers and expats are looking
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for a connection, too. Be proactive. You
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know, one thing I didn't put down on
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here, but living overseas, I have met a
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lot of people walking my dog.
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So, if you're an animal person and if
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you have an, you know, if you have a
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dog, you know, you might want to
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consider getting yourself a dog and
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going out and walking your dog in areas
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where other people are walking their
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dogs. And I've I've met some great sort
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of fun friends here where, you know,
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we're not we're not like social friends,
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but when we see each other, we talk. In
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fact, a lot of times I know their dogs
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names and we say hello on the street and
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we get to know each other because we
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have this common interest of a dog that
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we're both walking. And so if you're
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living in another other part of the
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world and you're feeling kind of a
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little bit lonely, if you like animals,
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consider getting yourself a dog and then
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taking that dog out to dog parks or
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other places and getting to know other
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people that are like-minded like you who
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have other, you know, dogs and animals.
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You might be surprised what kind of
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friendships you meet along the way. I'm
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going to put into the description our
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blog we've written on this, how to make
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friends while traveling or living
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abroad. As if you're look thinking of,
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you know, you need to move abroad for
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some reason or you are moving abroad and
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you're, you know, kind of worried about
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how are you going to, you know, meet any
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friends or get to know anyone, this is a
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great blog for you to read and to
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consider. Or if you're just thinking of
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traveling by yourself, this this
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hopefully can give you some ideas of how
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to meet some fun friends along the way.
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This is Anita from the Dusty Roads
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Podcast. We're all about living our life
8:30
as a global citizen and we hope that you
8:32
will join with us and subscribe that you
8:35
will become part of our community. We
8:38
truly do appreciate you. All of our
8:40
listeners, all of our watchers, all the
8:42
people that are out there, we want you
8:44
to know that we appreciate you and we
8:46
hope that you are enjoying this too.
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We'd love to hear from you. Thank you.
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[Music]