for W3c validation

If you’ve traveled by yourself, it’s all but inevitable you’ve gone on a “travel date” at some point during your travels. Unless you are a total hermit and stay in your room and don’t talk to strangers.

Travel dates are exactly what they sound like — a “date” with a fellow traveler to discuss travel and life. Even though you inevitably ask the same questions over and over regardless of the traveler, travel dates really are a great way to pass some time and get some fresh perspectives in the process. Sure, there are the occasional romantic dates that start from travel dates – but it’s certainly not the norm. While the early stage discussion is always the exact same — ie “where have you been, where are you from, how long are you traveling, where are you going next, what did you do in city X, etc” — the end almost always is unique. The goal of the early stage discussion is to identify a few common interests outside of travel. If there are none? Well, it’ll be a boring travel date.

I’ve gone on “travel dates” with multiple travelers in this fashion – the most recent being having a few beers in Vientiane with a 24 year old from English web designer as a result of connecting through Couchsurfing.org.

The actual business idea related to “travel dates”?

Create a matching making service for travelers who want to meet other travelers, and figure out a way to cut out the first part of the conversation from the equation — ie connect travelers based on some shared interests outside of travel rather than just based on geography (which is how most travel dates originate now).

Revenue model:

• Ads
• Charge a “per meeting” fee (it’s got to be small)