1) Go to bar
2) Sit at the bar
3) Order a drink
4) Get out a notebook
5) Wait

In my experience, sooner or later, someone will come up and ask what you are writing about.

In Miami, I was also blessed with some good luck. On my first night, I went to Haitian restaurant Tap Tap and I didn’t even have chance to get to step 4. I asked the barmaid who owned the bar and she said ‘You’re sitting right next to him’. Before long, we were engaged in deep conversation, broken only when he disappeared to fetch props (and people) to illustrate his point – a Haitian DVD here, a map there, until finally he brought me to meet Manno Charlemagne, a revolutionary musician who also served as mayor of Port-au-Prince and who now plays in the bar every week.

Local Diner / photo by Flickr Creative Commons Marcin Wichary

Luck plays a big part, but open-mindness and an ability to go with the flow is even more crucial. Also, I should point out that there are a few sub-rules to the above plan:

a) A notebook works better than a laptop. Hiding behind a screen makes you look unapproachable.

b) Go easy on the alcohol. No one wants to talk to the strange drunkard. As a solo female traveller, you definitely don’t want to be this person.

c) Mid-afternoon to early evening during midweek is the best moment. Not at 10pm on a Saturday. In the latter scenario, you’ll lose the aura of an enigmatic stranger who just happens to have popped in for a little refreshment between other plans and instead you’ll look more like a loser with no one to hang out with on a Saturday night.

d) Note that this technique doesn’t always work. Sometimes you have to be prepared to make the first move yourself. Or sometimes you don’t meet anyone at all. If you’re comfortable with your own company for half an hour or so and not completely starved of company, this shouldn’t be a problem.

e) Sit at the bar, not at a table hidden away in the far corner. Similarly, don’t go and bother the person already sitting at the table hidden away in the far corner. They picked that for a reason. People sitting at the bar are the ones more open to spontaneous chat with strangers.

Continue reading Vicky’s tips on her blog, Going Local Travel.