Whilst many of us singles use Tinder, you won’t find us enthusiastically discussing it over the internet. Millions of us are using the app world wide.

But did you know that you don’t have to restrict yourself to your home country?

That’s right, I’m about to open up a whole tin of canned worms, I’ve been using Tinder on my travels worldwide and i’ve discovered it’s not just an app for finding a quick easy hook up.

Tinder has many uses whilst on your travels and I’m here to tell you all about them.

The first thing I do when I land in a new country, before I check my email, Whatsapp message or facebook is turn on my tinder and change the Geo Location. Then this shows all the locals that you’re in town and ready to meet up.

Normally I’m not in a set location for that long so it speeds up time.

Tinder is like Couchsurfing, but in complete reverse.

Couchsurfing isn’t for hooking up, but Tinder is, its important to not confuse the two services. Tinder however is in some ways like a quicker way of finding a local to hang out with compared to spending hours searching on Couchsurfing.

You don’t have to use Tinder for hooking up though, many people on Tinder might have different intentions and this can be fun instead of a quick and easy hookup.

Reasons why you should use Tinder on your travels

Here are some suggestions:

Language learning

When you’ve just arrived in a new location the first thing you struggle with is speaking the local language. You just want to pick up the basics and what better way than for a local to teach you.

Many locals want to practice their English as well, so it’s a win win! If they are typing to you in English it means that they have some basic understanding, this is a great way to meet up for a coffee and both help each other out with language skills, perfect right!

They know their way around

Many locals will have some type of transportation be it a car, back seat of a bike or know their way around public transport like the back of their hand. Isn’t it wonderful when you can stick with a local, not wasting time getting lost and they will know exactly where to go and all you have to do is follow them and both have a great time?

Ask if they would be up for showing you around their home city.

This is a fun way to meet a local, see some sights, both have a lot of fun and experience a unique look inside a locals way of life, you can’t find this sort of fun in a guidebook, its just the local way of doing things.

One word of advice, ask to let them take you somewhere that’s special to them, don’t demand them to take you to a list of places (one or two suggestions is helpful, maybe), go with the flow, put everything in their hands and you never know where you might end up, somewhere unique that’s for sure.

Get great tips for places to eat and drink.

The best places for affordable prices are often local places away from the tourist traps, by asking a local if they can take you out to their favorite local spot to try some local food, can be an exciting and tasty experience.

Many locals would love to take an opportunity to bring an international along to try something they are used to eating all the time, it’s both fun and exciting. It can be hard to find these spots and be sure to offer to pay for the meal as well (Unless they are Dutch then respect the 50/50 rule)

Meet someone you would have never had the chance of meeting

This is the best part about the app, just by having a chance to meet someone unique and awesome which you never would have been able to have done without the use of the app. The world is full of interesting people and its nice to have a solution to bridge travelers meeting locals and making the world smaller.

This is why Tinder is perfect for travel, it’s just fun.

When I think about going on Tinder dates in my home town, its kind of boring, it’s like going on the same date again and again, When you’re travelling your chucking yourself in a whole new culture, you have no idea what’s going to happen on your first date with a local and it can end up being a purely fun and awesome experience.

It can get lonely travelling solo

I have to admit, it’s great to have company in a new country, if you’ve just arrived its hard to meet new people, but by using Tinder, you have access to a global database of locals willing to meet up. Because you’re from another country you often seen as exotic or interesting and it’s far easier to find matches whilst on your travels. If your not in luck, wait till your next location, Never be a lonely backpacker, try out Tinder!

It just saves time

Finding romance can be time consuming, you have to go to a bar spend hours trying to chat with people that might not remotely find you interesting at all and you could end up going home empty handed.

Tinder can cut out all this time wasting and directly gets to the point of what you both want to do.

If it leads to romance, then fantastic, but as said above Tinder has many other alternative uses as well.

On your travels you’re limited by time, Tinder is a very helpful tool for quickly meeting locals that want to meet you, it just works.

You know what you’re both committing to

When you meet on tinder it’s very clear what’s going to happen next and you know the drill.

You’ve both indicated that you find each other attractive, you’ve both had an enjoyable conversation that you’ve ended up with each others Whatsapp number, this means you like each other, you trust each other, perfect!

If your first date is going well and you both like each other you can make the most out of your time in the location until you move onto the next place, its short and sweet and you’ve prepared to move on when the time comes about.

If it’s true love, then of course, arrange to meet in the future whilst travelling around or maybe even go screw it and scrap all your travel plans together and stay put and start a new life in said place.

Who knows what will happen?

One thing is for sure, you will be travelling onwards soon, so make sure you don’t get too attached or it can be difficult. Have Fun with Tinder on your travels and make the most out of it whilst you can.

Tinder does add some sort of risk/thrill to your travelling adventure.

I have to say jumping into a stranger’s car in a new country on the first day you arrived was not within my safety net, in fact, it was sort of a thrill, a risk a sense of adventure, that to me is why I love to travel and if you never step out of your comfort zone how can you truly live.

Tips on how to Tinder like a pro

Here are some tips on how to best use Tinder whilst travelling that I’ve picked up whilst using the app over the year:

Add good clear, up to date photos to your tinder profile

(Not sure the confused selfy would work…)

Adding out of date photos of yourself because you think they show the best of you is not fooling anyone.

Upload 2-4 photos of yourself, make them look clear, but also showing what you get up to, this helps with breaking the ice on your first conversation, you can reflect on the photos.

Adding 4 pictures of you and a selection of hot friends is also annoying and not helping anyone. Add some profile shots that reflect you, people want to see you.

Also, do not include the following in your photo:
• Posing on a car
• With your top off
• With any sort of pet (not fooling anyone)
• On your wedding night (Yes, I’ve actually seen this!)

If you are picky you wont get anywhere

You will find a lot of vain people on Tinder, they just want to get justification that they look hot, not for a hook up. It’s the shy nice looking girls that need your attention and up for a meet up (This is starting to sound like I’m Mr Gray).

All I’m saying is the more right swipes you do, the more chance you have of a match, Normally Tinder places your recent matches first so by swiping right with the first people that pop up on the screen gives you a better chance.

What to add in your profile description

You must mention your nationality and that you’re travelling, some Tinder peeps like that your international and travelling around on an adventure, they might have a week free and would like to use this time to get to know someone who is briefly visiting.

Mention what you like to get up to in your spare time, this helps create first dates easily.

If you’re not interested in an easy hook up, mention this in your bio, then you won’t be attracting the wrong people.

When you get a match wait a little

Don’t jump the bullet straight away, wait a little till you message them, it’s not playing hard to get it just showing your not an eager beaver.

Then when you message them, you can wait for them to reply, once you have a reply that means they are online and able to chat, get chatting away!

Get straight to the point, chat a little but move quickly over to Whatsapp as soon as possible.

Be quick to get the number before they give up if the conversation is going dead, then it can be hard to win them over, Tinder chats is horrible and its way easier over at Whatsapp.

Why you should be quick to message back and why you should keep it short on tinder.

Many people that I go on Tinder dates with say they only use the app when they want to feel loved and don’t normally hang around that long on the app.

Some use it for a few days, then delete it or leave the app for weeks until they use it again.

That’s why it’s important to not milk the conversation for too long and get straight on over to Whatsapp which is a far better chat application to flirt on. It’s quicker, snappier, you can pre read messages without opening, you get notifications and most importantly send photos.

Try and work out a 10 chat message step that works for you to end up with their number by the end of it, make them interested enough that they want to keep chatting but more importantly want to chat in real life.

Tell friends you’re going on a Tinder date

It’s important that you tell close friends that you’re going on a Tinder date, Tinder is still not 100% safe and its your own personal decision to use Tinder on your travels, I’m purely offering advice which you can choose freely to use or not.

Thank you for reading my post about how to use Tinder for your travels, I hope you found the tips helpful! do you have any stories or experiences you would like to share? Feel free to post in the comment section below: