BumbleB6

Although I forgot about the very nice gentleman in Granada, Spain, who owned the "carmen" we rented there. He and his wife lived right next door, across the courtyard, so we saw them a lot. He was very chatty, and we talked to him quite a bit. The two houses, connected by a little courtyard, had belonged to his parents, and then he and his wife had raised their children in the house we rented - later, they moved into the bigger house next door, where his parents and previously lived. He gave us a parting gift when we left, a novel his father had written (I confess I still haven't read it) and he wrote a little note to us inside the front cover. The experience of renting his house, and meeting him, definitely enriched my stay in Granada.

limmy

"Does anyone really meet "locals" when they travel?"
-yes, I can't think of a trip when I didn't actually. And it happens organically, it did not happen because I took a class or because I rented an apartment from Airbnb (or any other particular source or type of accommodations).

"That's not my goal when I go to Europe."
-It is not mine either. Though most occasions I've had meeting locals have been pleasant ones and a nice part of the overall trip experience. And a very few times it turned out that meeting locals defined the trip itself. (Town drunks excluded, mostly)

I'm a bit confused by this post. It's as if these two things cannot be mutually exclusive. It implies that one doesn't meet locals without it being a primary goal. This doesn't add up to me. But maybe I'm missing something.

northie

When we go to London , New York and Minnesota we certainly meet the locals because we stay with our friends who are locals . When our son and daughter lived at different times in London and Yorkshire we mixed with locals as they were our family. Other places any meeting with the locals is incidental and our experience are different.

danon

The only locals I " meet" are taxi drivers
(in countries whose language I speak.)

greg

More than half of the trips we met the locals. Ok, they were not someone we just met. We visited families of the students we or our parents have hosted before. Sometime they spent a whole day with us and sometimes they took us around the whole weekend. I have also spent days with pen-pals and language teachers who have retired back in Europe after teaching careers in the U.S. While I also look at architectures, history, and cultures, observing how they framed the issues from the completely different points of view helped looked at issues at home in different lights.

When I tell people in the U.S. I am learning such and such language, the usual reactions is, "I don't have a knack for foreign language." When I say the same thing to Europeans, they usual questions are, "Where did you learn it?" "Why are you studying it." If I stayed in the U.S., I would only frame the language learning as an in-born talent. I now frame it as yet another skill anyone can learn given an opportunity and need. Imagine how many opportunities one lets go during the lifetime by cringing only to the frames held by those at home.

quokka

I like the definition someone used in a previous post, to call such meetings a "snapshot" of local life. That is exactly what they are. Everyone has a different view and different experiences, and talking to someone you meet these individual views. But often snapshots make the most memorable photos, don't they?

We have done a couple of trips with our club (I'm a Soroptimist) that involved meetings with members of the local 'sister' club. Estonia, Sweden, and recently England, and regular visits to Switzerland. Does that count? Those were not spontaneous meetings, of course, but it was all planned, and we have the common background and basic idea of seeing our worldwide club as a network of mutual friendship.

kleeblatt

All the time. Sometimes I set up get togethers through this forum or Tripadvisor. I've met some very lovely people.

My best impromptu meeting of locals happened in a spa in Ireland...

di2315

When we did home exchanges we invariably met the locals. Either friends or neighbours, or the exchange family themselves. Some meetings were fleeting, others have lead to friendships lasting many years. Di

sparkchaser

"Meet the locals" sounds like a merit badge.

I think Fodors should start selling travelers sashes. Travelers can apply for various travelers merit badges to put on their travelrs sash so they can be recognized by those in the know as worldly travelers.

Nikki

Why does it sound like a merit badge? Why do people have to make fun of the way other people think about travel? Why do people who talk about getting off the beaten path get ridiculed?

The people who come here asking for tips about how to do these things are asking sincere questions. They think that meeting people who live where they are going sounds like fun, and that discovering uncrowded, interesting, scenic spots sounds like adventure.

I am naive enough to believe those things myself.

On the other hand, as a former girl scout, I loved earning those badges, learning about new things, going new places. I didn't think about what others would think of my sash; I liked looking at it myself to remember all the fun and interesting things I had done. Now that I think of it, I still have it, as well as the handbook describing the activities for each badge.

Edward2005

I have met locals a few times although I did not set out to do so.

Once I was at a pub in London shooting pool by myself. A few locals joined me once workers started filtering in after work. We had some beers and some laughs and went to a football/soccer match afterwards. Very fun evening.

The key seems to be doing stuff the locals do. Locals don't go to the museums and tourist sights, but they do play pool and go to football matches. If you want to meet locals the key seems to be speaking the language and doing whatever ridiculous thing the locals do for entertainment.

jaja

Quick reckoning I have stayed in +/- 46 bed and breakfasts and most of the local hosts/hostesses have been quite friendly and helpful.

IMDonehere

I live in NY and people often say, I want to meet and see how the locals live. I tell them buy some toilet paper and walk around. No one else will do that. And when they are done with that can do my laundry and go to my doctor's appointment at 8:30.

I am always happy to help people on the street. I often stop when I see people fumbling with a map or guide book and ask them where they want to go. But locals are not zoo animals to be examined.

IMDonehere

BTW, I disagree locals do go the museums, restaurants, and all sorts of events. NY'er do not however go the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, chain restaurants, and 67% of people who go to Broadway shows are from out of town.

The Highline is extremely popular with NY;ers and Central Park has all sorts NY activities like softball leagues and theater in the park where you wait on line for hours.

dfourh

I once worked for an agency (which I will not name) that supplied 'locals' to charm the tourists at some big-name 'cute' and 'quaint' places, which I also will not mention.

Oh, all right, for example, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Long before Rothenburg o.d.T was sold to Disney (which, you might be interested to know, is soon planning to unload it to Pixar, and the entire burg will soon be entirely virtually animated) there were no actual locals living there, as they had long since fled. The population was reduced to Polish and Romanian maintenance and sanitary workers, but after Disney got a hold of it, they sprung for feathered hats, green vests, and loads of rouge to rosy up the cheeks of the workers as they slinked from half-timbered house to half-timbered house in the course of their toils. But before long, tourists were stopping them in the street asking them to pose for photographs, and this so affected their work efficiency, that Disney then co-opted the Mickey/Pluto autograph session concept, such that 'locals' were conscripted from the Bavarian Actors Guild and hired to make strategic appearances with the feathered hats, green vests, and rosy cheeks - - but with theatrical panache: actually smiling, feigning interest, patting tourists on the shoulders, and pretending to share long-lost relatives in Poughkeepsie and Tallahassee and other places that only thespians could pronounce.

This worked famously for daytime photo ops, but to promote the restaurant franchises after losing customers to the salad bar and groceries at Edeka outside the city walls and the endless picnicking that ensued, the next step was to expand the 'locals' industry to pubs and restaurants within the city walls. There, a different strategy was necessary, and a lot of talent had to be brought in from the Surly School in Paris, the Aloof Academy in Oxford, and the Indifferent Institute in Anderlecht to portray 'locals' who could be 'won over' by the charm and compelling sincerity of visitors, mostly American, and foster a greater sense of depth in having "met the locals."

The actors had a narrow but reliable playbook from which they operated, with key phrases including (to use Americans as a prominent example), "I have always wanted to visit Tallahassee", "So you Americans have 'McDonalds' too?", "I have a cousin in Poughkeepsie", and, the surefire winner, "I would like to stay longer, but I must go home now and practice my accordion."

Nikki

Most of us are local somewhere. And most of us do lots of interesting things in addition to buying toilet paper and doing the laundry. Amazingly, this is also true of people who live in New York and Paris and London.

Leely2

Good points, Nikki! I also like StCirq's description of interactions as snapshots.

Peg, surely you must have found it easy to "meet locals" when you were young, attractive, going out to bars and dance clubs at night? Come on, we were all wild once. Being sociable doesn't necessarily preclude seeing the sights.

IMDonehere

The difference is NYC had 60 million visitors in 2015 and Paris had over 45 million despite terrorism attacks. And London had almost 18 million just of foreign visitors.

cynthia_booker

Although it is not my main goal in my travels, I often meet local people on my trips. Often when waiting for a bus or riding a bus. Usually someone speaks to me and I speak back and then we take it from there. Have a lovely chat while we are riding across the city and then say goodbye. Once a nice French man and I rode together quite a long way, got off at the same stop, and then he kissed my hand while departing. Maybe it is easier because I travel alone.

Blueeyedcod

I met a local - and married him.