Download directly, on iTunes, or Stitcher.

One of the occasional downsides of long term travel is that you can sometimes feel that you lose your sense of community. On our first few trips we didn’t necessarily get this feeling as we were expecting to return to our community base at home. We enjoyed regularly meeting new people in hostels, but there were a few times where we missed our friends and remembered how nice it was to consistently be around the same group of people. When we returned home, our realization of the importance of community was only furthered after we moved to Canmore and built a strong community of value based friendships.

When we started working as Digital Nomads in Asia we stayed in AirBnbs more than hostels and as a result met less people we could develop friendships with. We nourished our need for community by building a wide network of friends and travelers around the world that now give us that great sense of community! Our extended stays at language schools and coworking spaces especially gave us the time needed to make great friendships, and taking advantage of online communities on Facebook and Meetup proved to be a great way to meet people who shared our interests or were in the same area.

On this episode we talk about how we realized the importance feeling like you’re part of a community and how to make sure you can build and maintain one when you’re on the road long term. We assess the pros and cons of having a community based out of one location as opposed to around the world, how it can be tough to miss out on community events at home, and not knowing the next time you’ll see friends you’ve made on the road. We also share tips on how you can create a new community online and where you are while you travel, as well as how you can ensure you keep in touch with your community back home.

Enjoy!

What we talk about in this episode:

• The common problem of feeling like you lose out on your community when traveling long term
• How during our first trip we didn’t necessarily feel the need for community as we expected to come back home to our family and friends
• Some experiences on our first trip where we realized the importance of our community back home, like missing our friends during a pub crawl in Australia and how it was nice to consistently be with the same people during our Greek island hopping tour
• Feeling FOMO when we saw social media updates from friends and family on life events
• How and when we further realized the importance of community after we returned to Canada from South America by moving to an open community more aligned with our values, and how this move resulted in more value based friendships than circumstance based friendships
• Steps you can take to have a sense of community even when you’re on the road long term like establishing a network of friends and acquaintances around the world, and intersperse your travel plans with stops to visit them along the way
• The pros and cons of having your sense of community in one location as opposed to multiple places, and how the internet can help to bring together your community around the world
• The difference between having an interconnected community as opposed to having individual friends around the world who may not know each other
• How our time in Asia felt a little more lonely as we were working more and not staying in hostels where we were always meeting people, but how the growth of our online community helped to bridge this gap
• How going to a place with like minded people can definitely help, like our time spent at a coworking space and going to Meetup events
• How it can be tough to make good friends around the world but then have to leave and not really know when you’ll see them next, and the effort it takes to maintain these friendships
• Other practical tips you can use to build a sense of community on the road: incorporating travel stops where you know someone into your itinerary, traveling slower, taking advantage of tours or online communities like Meetup, making a plan to travel with someone you meet on the road for a while, or joining a coworking space, volunteer project, or language/skill school
• How you can use your social media networks and online groups to meet people in your area or share your interests
• The importance of prioritizing time for catching up with family and friends back home, taking the initiative to maintain those relationships, and how travel can help you discern which of your friendships may be circumstance versus value based
• How finding a coworking space helped us in meeting like minded people, and our recommendation to seek one out if you are working remotely

You can also check out our new travel community on Facebook where you can ask questions, get travel recommendations, and find community members in your area!

This episode of the podcast is brought to you by YOU, the listeners of the show! Thank you to all of our supporters on Patreon – you are the reason we can continue producing TWW! If you want to support the show AND get great rewards, join us at www.patreon.com/theworldwanderers.

Music Credits:

www.bensound.com