As avid campers, we meet a lot of people along the way. Some of those people have become good friends. Others we would have liked to stay in contact with but have lost touch over time or just kind of forget.
Don’t get me wrong, we don’t want to, or can’t possibly, stay linked in with ALL the people we meet. That is one of the perks of camping—saying hello, meeting people, and then bidding safe travels as they leave.
But for those that we have connected with and want to stay in contact with we have developed a few tricks. Here they are:
Ways to make, and keep, RVing friends
“Business” cards
Early on, I made a number of business-type cards with our name, email and phone numbers to give out when we traveled. Lots of other folks do the same. I quickly learned when going through a stack of cards I had no idea who they were anymore. Now I write details on the back saying things I can identify such as the type of their RV, where we meet and where they are from.
I am making new cards to add our RV on the card to help others remember, too. Adding my constantly changing hair color won’t help!
Phone contacts
Sometimes we just exchange phone numbers instead of personal cards. If so, I have to do the same thing as above, add notes to their contact list so I don’t go, “Who is that?” when I see the number. Or, worse yet, I delete it.
Text messages
Along with having the phone number is the ability to stay connected through text. A simple “Hi, how are you?” opens the door for what can be years-long friendships.
Sometimes texts are just too short and we want to share more of our lives or ask for information on campsites, RVs or any number of things. Email works best for that.
I have stayed in touch with many new folks through Facebook. I get to share lives and travels that I would not have had a chance to share otherwise. Facebook thankfully has ways to take a break from an individual’s post, quietly unfriend or completely block if their posts go south. I am careful also to not accept friend requests without reviewing their site and confirming that they really are the people I know.
FaceTime
We have met one friend that has become a regular visitor at our campsite over the years and we have gotten close enough to FaceTime and catch up live and face-to-face. We always look forward to our summer conversations in person around the campfire.
Meetups
This is new to us but is a real advantage of staying in touch and developing deep friendships. I noticed that a good friend was on a similar travel path as us, just in different directions, and we managed to meet up at a Harvest Hosts location. We had a great time catching up as well as an introduction to tasting fine whiskeys. What’s not to like?
Another time I saw on Facebook that we were in the same town as an RVer I knew from work and we managed a night out to have dinner with the couple.
Establishing connections
My husband is the ultimate extrovert. As a matter of fact, one fellow camper put a sign in our window that joked, “Camp host,” which we were not, or at least not there.
Every night at the campground where we are really camp hosts, he has a campfire going, brings out chairs, and invites others to join in.
We have met so many folks in the RV repair lounge. One was even a star, Eddie Levert of the O’Jays! It is amazing how much there is to talk about while whiling away the hours waiting for an RV repair.
Making memories
We have met so many friendly, kind, and interesting people. That is one of the things we so enjoy about traveling and camping. What a great way to create memories. Everyone has a story.
You might also enjoy:
- Oh, the places you’ll go and the people you’ll meet
- The people you’ll meet, the places you’ll see… RVing is still the best way to travel
##RVDT2113
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I’m a massive introvert. I’m not shy, just introverted. I don’t mind chatting for a quick spell, but I don’t have any social media accounts and I don’t share my contact info. I like to keep it short and sweet.
Thanks Nanci, great idea with the cards…
Thank you, Nanci! We met a couple at a state park campground a few months ago. They gave us one of their cards AND told us how cheap they were. We now have our own cards to give people we meet.
I’m an extrovert too but not so obvious. I like your husband’s approach.
The business card idea is so cool! We saw this from another RVer a couple years ago and decided to have our own. We’ve been handing them out for 2 years now.
As workkampers we’ve hosted our closest RV friends at campgrounds where we were working.
We’ve got some really great friends and other great acquaintances. All from our full time RV life!