You had a great time on your group tour and really bonded with one of the travelers. You laughed, cried, and shared beautiful moments. At the end of the trip, you both vowed to keep in touch and exchanged emails.
But once you’re home, you realize you’ve lost a traveler’s email the one person you truly connected with. You cross your fingers, hoping your new friend reaches out, but weeks go by with no message.
Check with other travelers
Your tour guide or another traveler in the group might write down a list of everyone’s emails during the trip. If so, they’ll send this out to everyone and your friend will probably on that email list.
Ask other travelers from your group you hear from – they may have also exchanged contact info with the friend you’re looking for.
Ask the tour company
Call or email the tour operator and leave them your contact information, trip details, and the name of the traveler you’re trying to connect with.
For privacy reasons, the tour operator probably won’t share the other traveler’s details with you, but they can forward your information and leave it up to the other traveler to contact you.
If the tour operator’s website has a forum, you can post something there. For example, GAP Adventures has an “Alumni” forum and Imaginative Traveler has a forum as well.
Search Online
Although there’s no central directory or “phone book” for the internet, most people have some presence online.
In the time you spent together, you probably know your friend’s details like full name, the country or city they live in, their profession or employer name, or if they have special hobbies or certifications. This information will help you search for them online.
Social Network Profiles
Facebook and Twitter are two of the most used social media sites worldwide.
Start with a search on Facebook with their name. If you’re logged in, you can search by name, then refine your search by location, school, or workplace. There may be many results if their name is common but hopefully, they have a recognizable photo with their profile.
Next, search on Twitter with their name, the tour company, tour name, or the country you visited in case they ‘Tweeted’ about their trip.
For a list of social networking sites that are common in various countries, check this Wikipedia entry.
