Wednesday, December 3, 2008

How to Meet People While Traveling or on Vacation

By Ada Denis

Do you travel often for business? Well, if you're a regular road warrior, you know how constant traveling can wear you down. You're away from home, stuck all day in mindless meetings, only to return to an empty hotel room at the end of the day. Wouldn't it be nice to have a friend in whatever city your business plans happened to take you? Well, now a service called TripLife is offering a way for travelers to connect with other people while on the road.

a. TripLife is not a dating service, but offers a way for business travelers to connect with other folks while traveling. The TripLife Website suggests shared activities such as a work-out buddy, lunch or dinner companion, or the chance to meet someone in your same industry to swap stories and to network

b. Log on to TripLife to create a free profile. TripLife suggests a photo and some background information indicating some of your interests. What kind of things are you interested in doing while out of town? Go to a concert or Art Gallery? Visit a local health club? Your profile helps to ensure that whoever you meet through TripLife is compatible with your interests.

c. TripLife is new, so the majority of members are located in major metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles, but new members are added daily. However, you'll have many more choices in companions when you're traveling to New York than Des Moines. So, be patient TripLife is still in beta development.

d. Once you've created your profile, enter the dates and destination of your next business trip. You'll see some profiles appear of people who live in your destination city or other members from TripLife who happen to be traveling to the same city on the same dates that you are. If any of the other TripLife members seem interesting, you can contact them through the site. You can limit the amount of information that you make public, so you can reveal only the information that you feel comfortable with.

e. After you connect via eMail, you can make arrangements on how and where to meet when you arrive. Just like that, you have a new friend in a new city. Traveling can be a great way to meet new friends. - 16492