Women/Men looking for travel partners

shanthi

You're absolutely right crvlvr, of course! No, no one can vouch for another they meet online. NO ONE, unless they are a personal friend, or colleague! Too many people have been duped into countless scams and worse, from contacts they have met online. It's extremley dangerous territory. Personally, I would rather travel alone than take the chance of meeting up with a stranger. I'd feel MORE comfortable about meeting up with someone of the same sex mind you, than a member of the opposite sex - but then I would take all the precautions necessary, i.e. meeting in daylight in a very public place, never giving phone number etc... and then decide, after a few meetings if I wanted to travel with that person or not. I am pretty cute when it comes to sussing out people I just met, face to face, and would rely on that intuition when it was needed.

manreet_16

may i help someone..?

caro

Hi, So glad you are keeping an eye out for creeps. I used this site to find travel companions on my last Indian visit and met great people, but also had replys from some idiots obviously looking for more than a travelling companion.

Keep up the good work!

tintin8801

to know ur steps is always healthy........

BlueRose

Please, please be ever so careful. Unfortunately this scenario happened to me last year and I was introduced to the person, not just someone I met on the web. It took a long time for me to get over the feelings of stupidity in trusting someone that in all appearances seemed to be a good person and yet was out for everything he could get and more. Stole, lied and cheated. To be sure there are creeps everywhere! I still am wondering if I should report this person to the moderators, however it has been a long time and it is my word against his.
I am not a troll looking for trouble or a woman scorned either, it was just a terrible situation that happened.

SarahM

I think the advice is great and i guess i also have been 'trusting' of the travel partners forum without thinking to much about the vunerability of the site. If it is potentially attracting the wrong "travel partners" surely it would be a good plan to remove this forum??

We all do need to have the guard up and i thank those who have identified the problems, but it is a shame as probabily most threads are started in innocence and are real.

jivan

BlueRose & SarahM I'm in complete agreement with u but (with Indian there's always a but) BlueRose as well SarahM atleast I'm not happy with the way u associate the two. I've been cheated enough no. of times (in relationships & business) & each interaction teaches u something whether the costs are low/high materialistically (that's karma for u. )
I'm in total agreement with shanthi but then people also change over-time also. That's what dynamics is all about & that's what we search for in people.

Juberry

I was let down by a good friend and found myself going to India on my own. I found Indiamike.com and looked for like minded female travel partners.

I met 3 great chicks, 2 english girls and a fellow Aussie. I met up with one of the girls and travelled with her for 2 weeks. The other girls and I kept in touch in the hope that we would be in the same town at the same time (sadly not), it was so nice to be chatting to others along the way and making sure we were all safe and sound. Like an extra safetly net.

I am still in touch with all 3 girls and am hoping to meet up with the two other girls sometime, somewhere in the world - INDIA again anyone?

Although I am outgoing, it was very much against my better judgement to travel with strangers, be careful, just as careful as you would at home. You are no more safer with a dangerous stranger then you are on your own. Read the warnings and keep your head screwed on.

Contact the person by phone, swap parents/friendsaddress details, photos etc - it is not a blind date so find out as much as you can and likewise be giving with information on yourself, its a two way street and they also need to feel safe.

THANKS INDIA MIKE and to the 3 girls I now call friends!

indianpeet

advertising for travel companions in india?weird.have no itinerary and go wherever the person/people you meet and like are going or want to go and off you go,simple.it's how i do it and have great fun too.smile and the world smiles with you and wants to tag along too.that's the beauty of india.me i'm just a happy guy who loves this kind of travelling meeting great people.

shilpaks

i love this thread
somone told me that you have more danger coming ur way from some one u know a little, rather than from a stranger(coz u let u guard down with someone you know a little).
thanks shanti this is something everyone(irrespective of gender) must take care of while travelling.
n kudos to the mods !!!!


Shilpa

anilkhare

Well there are exceptions to the rule .. there are negatives travel partner stories all around the world but if precautions are taken u could still meet wonderful people off the internet and enjoy travelling.

After all there are a few in our Im community who have hosted or travelled with foriegn tourist and they have had wonderful experiences. There have been few single tourist who have felt good about having some one recieve them. As I look at it there are two sides of a coin

People should take the plunge only after discounting the risk and still finding some potential value in travelling with that person they have met on www.

There are sometimes in life u miss out on the people who could make a difference to u if u simply have a blanket ban.

In a lot of cafes,restuarants in Dharamshala, Manali, Ladakh there are posts with email ids seeking travel partners on pin boards and thousands of people travel after contacting each other over the email in these places. There are a few bad incidents but that doesnt deter the majority... hence why should it be any different here.



Dear in life u always need to take a calculated risk.... Cos yes there could be positive sides or negative sides to it

Pebble

Hi everyone.

First of all Shanti, excellent thread for making people aware of some of the unfortunate pitfalls when looking for travelling partners.

Just before I carry on, I'd like to say that I am a 28 year old guy and when I do go to India in August, I'll be travelling on my own and I am NOT looking for a travelling partner, just in case anyone thinks that I have any ulterior motive for writing this.

I've been on this site for a few days now and I must admit I haven't read all of it. I'm on here because I believe that you should do your homework before setting off anywhere and get a better picture of the destination that you intend to travel. I have been very fortunate, like many of you, to have travelled, I spent fourteen months in China, South East Asia and Australia and had the most amazing time of my life: I wouldn't have swapped that for anything.

However, while reading some of the things on this site, including this thread, I've started to become apprehensive about India. The more I'm reading the more worried I'm getting, it never ceases to amaze me how some folks can be so cruel: just reading the Agra poisoning scam - safe restaurants? thread sends shivers down my spine. Like I said, I've only read part of this website and maybe I should step away from the Scams and Annoyances thread.
I know this site is here for information, people are here to offer opinions and to make you aware which is brilliant and I'm glad it's up. There look to be some genuinely good folks here but for a minute there I was wondering whether going to India is such a good idea. Then I thought, "lets get some perspective here". I live in London and if I'm to believe what I read in the paper and hear on the news, here are the things that us Londoners have to contend with:
muggings, theft, stabbings, hoodies, car crime, hit and run, dodgy tradesman that fleece old ladies for everything they have over a broken washer, burglary, robbery, sex crimes, rape, shootings, and that's all before we get started on terrorism and bombings!!!! If I was a foreigner thinking of visiting London and read some of these things, I probably wouldn't go!! But then if that was the case I would miss out on all the wonderful things that London has to offer, bars, pubs, clubs, night life, history, culture, museums, landmarks, it goes on and on, there is so much to do here.

People often ask me why I would want to go to a particular destination that I've been to because they've heard a bad story about the place, then I would tell them my experiences and they would say how amazing it sounds.

Please excuse my rambling but there is a point to this, yeah there are some bad people are out there, but for all those bad people, there are just as many wonderful people. If you are travelling anywhere, it's simple, be respectful, keeps your eyes open and your ears alert and use common sense. I heard a story once about someone that went in to the Amazon rainforest to never be seen again and is presumed dead, later in the story I found out that he went in without a guide. As unfortunate as that is, these sort of things I find difficult to have total sympathy for: if you insist on going to a dangerous location, use a guide: don't complain and scratch your head wondering why it all wrong for you.

In direct relation with this thread, I would have two things to say, some of which have already been said: 1) girls, if you wish to find a travel companion, then for god sake use common sense, it's not rocket science. If you meet someone on here that you might like to travel with, only give your email address via a private message and don't leave it in a thread, maybe MSN for a bit. Then after a while, if you both feel comfortable, meet up, but only meet up in a public place. Once you've met, meet again, after a while you'll have a pretty good idea of what that person is like and whether you can trust them and would want to spend time with them. 2) I do understand that travelling alone for women is different than it is for men, but I would say this, one of my girl friends travelled India alone for several months, and although she did get hassled probably more than a man travelling alone would, she had the most amazing, wonderful time: in fact, she met a guy out there which she is still with and they have moved in together in Brighton: so happy days!! And for the sceptical, they are both English.

For me, I'll be travelling on my own and meeting new people because I know that when you're a traveller, you're never really on your own: I wouldn't have it any other way.

Please don't think I misunderstand what this forum is all about because I don't: it's great. It's easy to remember the bad things that happen, pass them on and forget to pass on the magic that was waiting just around the corner.

The last thing I would like to say is this: For any of you sad fucks that are reading this cos you're on the hunt, fuck off!!! Go back to the hole you came from and stop giving the good guys a bad name.

almond

Everyone is so concerned for em 'gurls' ...

Girls:2
Guys:0

robotvoice

Just ask Nick-h!
new poll idea:

where would you least like to walk down the street at night?

a) London
b)New York
c)Chennai
d)Delhi

Nick-H

Read a story on the BBC site the other day. Woman imprisoned for collecting men from dating sites, spending their money and dumping them.

Her line was that she was a terminally-ill wealthy woman who didn't want to spend her last years alone. But she was rather good at removing credit cards from wallets and using them.

Predatory woman and poor lonely, gullible men, eh?

Pebble... I don't imagine that anything worse happens here than in any other country you have been to so far. The vast majority of the scams will do no worse than relieve you of a few hundred rupees, often by simply playing on you lack of knowledge of the value of the currency.

As to walking out at night, of course I would do so in Chennai. But, as I've said before, there are shortcuts I'd take in the day that I would not at night --- but a tourist would be unlikely to be wandering those roads anyway. I'd be less keen on doing so in Delhi, I have to admit. But I used to sometimes think twice about wandering around East Ham (London, UK) at night, and I'd lived nearby for twenty years.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team