I took a small video here in Barranquilla on the second to last day of Carnavales, which was a Monday night. People were partying outside of my apartment until the sun came up. It’s not uncommon to see block parties like this one, not just in Carnavales but for birthdays, holidays like New Years as well as other festive dates. This isn’t exclusive to Colombia. It’s a common to see block parties all over Latin America especially during New Years and Carnaval season.

Traveling alone can be a tough decision. Sometimes it’s a little nerve wrecking going to a foreign country by yourself. I’ve had this feeling myself many times when traveling alone, but over the years I’ve found ways to make every trip lots of fun, even when I’m traveling alone.

Step 1: Make some friends online. This is a must do, especially for those shy guys out there. If you don’t think you’ll be able to approach women on the streets or in clubs when you travel, you have to do the dirty work on the Internet before you get there. The good news is that it’s really easy, especially when you’re trying to meet foreign women. So get on the Internet start chatting with some women and start building some trust and friendships. After a few weeks of chatting on a regular basis, you’ll see that these women will warm up to you greatly.

You can get my book if you want the nitty gritty details about meeting foreign women online: Meet Foreign Women Online: The Complete Guide

I’ll give you one example. I was headed for Barranquilla, Colombia, and on this particular trip, I was going to head down on my own. I started sending out emails and making friends a month before I got to Barranquilla. By the time the final day of travel arrived, I had already made about 15 new female friends in that city. I have all of their email addresses and out of those 15, I’ve chatted consistently without about five of them, and I have those five ladies phone numbers. Two of them offered to pick me up at the airport; I opted for the one that I like more… So when I got to Barranquilla I had this beautiful girl, waiting there to give me a warm welcome! The moral of this story is that you need to get your butt online.

Step 2: Make friends on the plane, and in the airport. One of the best places to make friends and meet people, both men and women, is on the plane ride over. Plane rides are long and boring, and it’s the perfect place to start up a conversation with a stranger. A simple “where are you headed?”, can start up a conversation that could last the entire flight. I’ve met many male and female friends on the airplane and at airport gates while waiting for my flight.

Step 3: Approach and make friends! If you haven’t done step 1 and 2, then you’re last and only choice is step three. Some good people to befriend are taxi drivers, hotel personnel, waitresses, and cashiers. This approach is probably the toughest out of all three, and one of the main reasons is because of the time limitations you will most likely have on your trip. You’re also going to need some conversational abilities in the local language. This is why I strongly recommend going online first.

However, if you decide to take this route only, once you meet a girl in town, it’s going to take some time to build some trust, and if the girl works or goes to school you might not have enough time to make something happen. The benefit of meeting women online before you get there is that you will already have a certain amount of trust with the girl when you finally meet in person.

Approaching people on the streets is not easy for everyone but look at this way, if you’re in the lower tiers, there’s no easier place to approach women and people in general in the entire world.

But here’s a tip that will work in just about any location you travel too. If you see someone interesting, just ask them a question about the city. These are questions that should park YOUR genuine interest. Some questions can be:

• Do you know a good place to eat?
• Do you know a good place to get a drink?
• Can you tell me how to get to so and so? (park, court, hotel)

After you ask your question, you can add. “The reason I ask, is because I’m not from here, I’m visiting”

Those are some of my tips for traveling alone! Remember, you don’t have to be alone for the entire trip, most likely the only place you’ll be alone is on the ride the airport when you’re leaving because after that, it’s time to meet the women you met online and make more friends on the plane.

Talk soon,

Live in direct form Barranquilla, Colombia!

It’s been five weeks since I touched down in Barranquilla, and it’s been a hell of a time. Carnavales, good food, friendly caramel skinned ladies, and lots of sun… I can’t complain and I hope some of you guys can someday make the lifestyle change I’m in the process of making now. As the author of The Global Dating Revolution, I felt I really had to lead by example. I had a good, high paying, comfortable job back in New York but I left all that, including my apartment, and my girlfriend (I have a new girlfriend in Barranquilla, and a new apartment ), in order to prove to myself as well my readers that I don’t just talk the talk, I’m really walking the walk and am now living in Latin America. I don’t know if I’ll stay in Colombia longer then 6 months, I’ll play it by ear, but all I know is that I’ll be living somewhere in Latin America for the foreseeable future. So, I now give you part 1 of my recap of my five weeks here in Barranquilla Colombia.

First a little about Barranquilla:

Barranquilla is a coastal, port city, located on the north coast of Colombia. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region, and the fourth largest city in Colombia. It lies strategically by the delta of the Magdalena River, serving as port for river and maritime transportation. It is also known as the cradle of Colombian aviation and for its carnival.

Barranquilla’s Carnival (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla) is celebrated for four days before Ash Wednesday. It is broadly recognized as one of the world’s largest carnivals; it is second only to the carnival of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In November 2003, UNESCO proclaimed it as one of 28 different “masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”

Week 1 (carnavales):
I arrived in Barranquilla with two lists. A list of phone numbers of the women I had met online, using my strategies for meeting women online, and a list of phone numbers and addresses to the apartments I had looked up through the Internet. The first step was finding a furnished apartment here in Barranquilla. These apartments are called “amoblados” and they are cheaper then hotels and they can be rented for the long term. I arrived a few days before the official start of carnavales, so I knew prices would be a little steep, by Colombian standards. Luckily for me I had met a nice girl named Vanessa online. Her cousin was a taxi driver and she picked me up at the airport with her cousin. Together with my little posse, we drove all over Barranquilla and called up every apartment on my list (with Vanessa’s cell phone). After an exhausting day of searching I finally found a decent apartment at a decent price. I paid about $450 for the whole month in a decent furnished apartment with Internet access. After I got all settled down I started getting ready for carnavales.

Although I have traveled extensively through Latin America, I’ve never been to any of it’s Carnavales and all I can say is WOW was I missing out! I’ve never been to the Brazilian Carnival, but it’s hard to imagine it being any better than the ones in Barranquilla. Rather than write about how great they were, I’d rather show you some pictures so you can see for yourself.

I’ve never been in a city where the entire population (1.2 million people) is in party mode. Think New Orleans Burbon Street on Mardi Gras, except that it’s not just Burbon Street, it’s the entire city! It was four days of drinking, parties, dancing, good food, and just plain old fun. I really wish they had something like this back in the United States, but the sad fact is that with all the rules and regulations back in the states, there’s no way in hell that something like this could ever take place.

Week 2:
I spent the second week meeting some of the women I had met online and also hanging out with some of the girls that I met during Carnavales. Towards the end of the second week, I ended up going to my first introduction agency event. Through a series of events I ended up attending Sam Smith’s I love Latins introduction tour. Sam was a great host and spending some time with Sam, his staff, and the guys who attended his tour really gave me a different view of introduction agencies, how they operate, and what they have to offer.

Over the years, I had heard a lot horror stories about some of the bad agencies/tours out there. But, Sam’s tour helped me gain a new perspective. Here’s the two main things that I took from Sam’s event and the time I spent at his event:

1. Introduction tours can be great for men who are a little hesitant to take their first trip, either because they’ve never traveled to Latin American country, don’t know the language, or are worried about the negative press and safety issues. When you go through an agency like Sam’s you get picked up at the airport, they provide translators for you, and they host events in hotel where you will most likely be staying. These events are places where you will be surrounded by hundreds of single local women, who are looking to meet an interesting foreign guy just like yourself.

2. It takes a long time, sometimes years, to convince a guy to take his first trip. But 90% of the time, after they take their first trip, they get hooked, they never regret it, and they never look back! Sam has noticed this through his agency, and I’ve noticed it through my website as well.

I spent the whole weekend at the I Love Latins events and I made a ton of friends, guys and girls throughout that entire weekend. That took me into the start of the third week. I’ll get into the next three weeks of my trip in part 2 of my Barranquilla summary.

To be continued…

I’m back! And this time live and direct from Barranquilla Colombia… It’s been a crazy few weeks for me. I’m finally settled down in Colombia with my own apartment.

Here is the first video from the two weeks that I’ve been here in Colombia.

To watch it in High Definition, Click on the link below and then when the video comes up, click on the “watch in HD” link on the bottom right of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuTFtgCH1g

Talk soon,