In this episode of the Worldschooling Q&A Podcast, Astrid and Clint answer how families can help their kids with making friends while traveling.

Worldschooling Q&A Podcast - Episode 44

Hosts: Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter

Title: Episode 44: What Are Tips For Making Friends While Traveling?

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Worldschooling podcast episode summary

Making friends while traveling comes up constantly in our Facebook groups and in conversations with other worldschooling parents. People want to know how our kids stay connected to friends back home, and how they go about making friends while traveling to new places. It's a real challenge, and we don't pretend otherwise.

We split this episode the way we've come to think about it ourselves: staying connected to the friendships our kids already had, and making friends while traveling with people they meet along the way. Both matter, and both take some intention on the road.

On the practical side, we cover messaging apps, video calls, virtual play dates, letters, and meetups that make staying in touch easier across time zones, all of which support making friends while traveling. We also get into why making friends while traveling with local families is often harder than people expect, and where we've actually had luck instead.

This episode is for any family wondering whether their kids will feel isolated on the road. Making friends while traveling looks different than it does at home, but it's absolutely possible, and some of the friendships it produces are deeper than the ones that come easy.

Making friends while traveling: staying connected to friends back home

Making friends while traveling doesn't mean giving up the friendships kids already have. Keeping those relationships alive takes some tools and a little planning, but none of it is complicated.

Messaging apps and video calls

When our kids were younger, we used Facebook Messenger for kids because it let us control who they connected with. As they got older, apps like WhatsApp became the obvious choice once they had their own phone numbers.

We also like Marco Polo for video messages. It works like a video walkie-talkie, so kids can send a quick video update whenever it's convenient, then get one back later without needing to be online at the same time. That kind of asynchronous option matters a lot when you're making friends while traveling across different time zones.

Another thing we do is share pictures with our families back home through an Aura frame. It lets us upload photos of our travels to an app, that automatically updates the frame that our families back home have.

Virtual play dates and gaming

We used to set up virtual play dates over Zoom, timed around Minecraft sessions where the kids would connect on the same server and talk while they played. Your mileage may vary with virtual play dates. Some worked great, others fell flat.

As our son got older, gaming with friends became one of the easiest ways to stay in touch. It's really no different than being on the phone with a friend growing up, just with a shared game running in the background.

The biggest logistical hurdle is time zones. When we were in Asia and his friends were back in the US, an early morning meetup for him meant an evening one for them, so a little flexibility went a long way.

Meeting up in person and writing letters

Making friends while traveling isn't only about people we meet along the way. One of our favorite ways to stay connected is inviting friends from home to meet us somewhere on the road.

We did this with friends in Bali, booking rooms at a homestay next door to theirs and spending a full week together. It gave our daughter's friendship with their daughter a completely different depth, since they got to share a real experience instead of just a visit.

We also had the kids write letters to friends back home, then took a photo of the letter and sent it to the other parent to read aloud. It solved the problem of not having a permanent address for real pen pal mail, while still keeping the personal feel of a written letter.

Making friends while traveling: building new friendships on the road

Making friends while traveling with people you meet along the way is a different skill than keeping up old friendships, and honestly it's often the harder of the two.

Why making friends while traveling with local families is hard

Across four years of travel, we struggled to make close friendships with local families almost everywhere we went. Sometimes it was a language barrier. Other times, English-speaking families locally were simply more settled into routines and community than we were as a transient family passing through.

We eventually realized it's hard from their side too. A family with deep roots in a community doesn't necessarily have room for a friendship with people who will be gone in a few weeks. That's just the nature of making friends while traveling as a family that keeps moving.

Finding community through other traveling families

Most of our real friendships came from other foreign families living abroad or other traveling families, not local ones. Worldschooling hubs, meetups, and Facebook groups for traveling families in a given location were consistently the best way to support making friends while traveling.

There's something freeing about meeting another transient family. You skip the small talk about the weather and get straight to the heart of a friendship, because you already share the experience of being far from home.

Classes, parks, and short-term friendships

Not every friendship needs to be long-term to be worth having. We signed our kids up for local classes and activities when we could, which gave them a chance to interact with other kids even if the friendship only lasted that one class.

Parks work the same way, and they're one of our favorite ways to support making friends while traveling. Playground games turn out to be remarkably universal. We've watched our kids jump into games in Mexico and Indonesia without missing a beat, because playground games are built to be picked up on the fly. Local kids are often just curious and want you to join in, which makes making friends while traveling with kids at a playground as simple as walking up to a game already in progress.

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Key topics covered in this episode

Messaging apps for staying connected

• Facebook Messenger for kids let us control who younger kids connected with
• WhatsApp became the default once kids had their own phone numbers
• Marco Polo works well for asynchronous video messages across time zones

Virtual play dates and gaming

• Zoom calls paired with a shared Minecraft server worked as a virtual play date format
• Results with virtual play dates varied, so we kept expectations flexible
• Gaming together became a natural way for our son to stay in touch with friends as he got older
• Time zone differences between Asia and the US required flexibility on meeting times

In-person meetups and letters

• Inviting friends to meet us on the road, like our trip to Bali, deepened friendships in a new way
• Booking homestays next to each other let two families share a real week together
• Letters photographed and emailed to parents solved the no-permanent-address problem
• This approach worked especially well while kids were younger

The challenge of local friendships

• Language barriers and different lifestyles made local friendships harder to form
• Local families are often more settled and less able to invest in a transient friendship
• We came to see this as a natural trade-off of transient family life, not a failure

Community through other traveling families

• Worldschooling hubs and meetups were consistently the best source of real friendships
• Facebook groups for traveling families helped us find others in the same location
• Shared transient experience meant skipping small talk and getting to real connection faster

Classes, parks, and short-term connections

• Local classes and activities gave kids low-stakes chances to interact with peers
• Short-term acquaintances are still valuable, the same way adult friendships often are
• Parks and playgrounds were reliable spots for making friends while traveling
• Playground games proved to be nearly universal across Mexico, Indonesia, and beyond

Tools that support making friends while traveling

• Digital messaging and video tools reduce the friction of staying in touch across time zones
• A digital picture frame can keep extended family and friends visually present day to day
• Simple tools matter more than fancy ones when you're making friends while traveling with kids

Episode chapters

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:25 – Astrid's Welcome: "This Is Worldschooling Q&A"
00:00:55 – Today's Question: How Do You Help Kids Maintain Friendships While Traveling?
00:01:15 – Staying Connected With Friends Back Home Through Messaging Apps
00:02:30 – Video Messages, Marco Polo, and Virtual Play Dates
00:03:45 – Gaming Together Across Time Zones
00:04:45 – Meeting Up in Person and Writing Letters Home
00:06:15 – The Challenge of Making Friends With Local Families
00:07:30 – Finding Community With Other Traveling Families
00:08:45 – Short-Term Friendships, Classes, and Playground Games
00:10:15 – ↩ Source of Intro Clip: The Aura Digital Picture Frame
00:11:15 – Outro and Sign-Off

Further worldschooling resources

• 6 Useful Tips For Keeping In Touch With Family During Travel
• Travel With Kids Blogs! 30 Inspiring Families To Follow Right Now
• 7 Amazing And Diverse Family Blogs To Inspire Travel With Kids
• 4 Amazing Traveling Families Of Color You Need to Follow

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