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What Are the Best Ways to Build Meaningful Friendships 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 if people constantly surround you, that doesn’t mean you’re making real connections. Whether you're backpacking through Southeast Asia, teaching English in Europe, or starting a new job in South America, finding meaningful friendships takes effort—but it’s absolutely possible. 👉 Listen now to this episode of Dusty Roads with Anita to learn practical ways to make genuine friends while living abroad. 👉 You can also read more by clicking here: How to Make Friends While Traveling or Living Abroad (https://abusonadustyroad.com/how-to-make-friends-while-traveling-or-living-abroad/) #DustyRoadsPodcast #MakeFriendsAbroad #TravelTips #SoloTravelLife #LivingOverseas #ExpatsConnect #BackpackerGuide #TravelCommunity Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/globaltradegal)
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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 3 years the embassy people move.
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So maybe you meet someone, you become a
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great friend of theirs and within 3
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years or a couple years they're gone and
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they're on to the next posting. So there
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can be a lot of change for things
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overseas. Even you know teachers people
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that are here teaching can move and
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constantly be a you know you could be
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constantly be looking to find new
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friends. So if this is something which
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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 could
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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 and
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forums. You can, you know, do searches
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for expats in the city. Uh digital
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nomads, travel buddies. You can look for
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all of those things there uh for the
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city that you're at. You can do some
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searches there. There's a lot of times
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these cities will be will have like, you
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know, Facebook groups and other things
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where you can post things on. sign up
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for a class or a workshop, you know,
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like um you know, maybe you want to take
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a 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 big city,
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staying in one area longer gives you the
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time to deepen connections instead of
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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. So, if
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you're an animal person and if you have
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an, you know, if you have a dog, you
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know, you might want to consider getting
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yourself a dog and going out walking
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your dog in areas where other people are
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walking their dogs. And I've I've met
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some great sort of fun friends here
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where, you know, we're not we're not
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like social friends, but when we see
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each other, we talk. In fact, a lot of
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times I know their dogs names and we say
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hello on the street and we get to know
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each other because we have this common
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interest of a dog that we're both
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walking. And so if you're living in
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another other part of the world and
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you're feeling kind of a little bit
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lonely, if you like animals, consider
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getting yourself a dog and then taking
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that dog out to dog parks or other
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places and getting to know other people
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that are like-minded like you who have
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other, you know, dogs and animals. You
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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. Esp thinking of you know you
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need to move abroad for some reason or
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you are moving abroad and you're you
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know kind of worried about how are you
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going to you know meet any friends or
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get to know anyone this is a great blog
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for you to read and to consider or if
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you're just thinking of traveling by
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yourself this this hopefully can give
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you some ideas of how to meet some fun
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friends along the way. This is Anita
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from the Dusty Roads podcast. We're all
8:29
about living our life as a global
8:31
citizen. And we hope that you will join
8:33
with us and subscribe, that you will
8:36
become part of our community. We truly
8:38
do appreciate you, all of our listeners,
8:40
all of our watchers, all the people that
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are out there. We want you to know that
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we appreciate you and we hope that you
8:47
are enjoying this, too. We'd love to
8:50
hear from you. Thank you.
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[Music]