A few months ago I booked a flight to Madrid to spend a weekend with three near complete strangers from the Internet. I’d met Ashley for a few hours at a Japanese restaurant a couple of years before, but I knew Jessica and Julika only through their blogs.
No one I told about this weekend away blatantly said anything, but I’m pretty sure a lot of them thought I was nuts. Not only was I going to meet strangers from the Internet, but I was agreeing to sleep in the same apartment as them for an entire weekend.
Faceless bloggers at work. Photos courtesy of Julika.
I figured they weren’t murderers, as working extremely hard on a blog for a couple of years in order to find some girls to murder seemed liked too much effort. And I really didn’t think they would be complete weirdos, as I follow their blogs, Instagrams, Twitters and they all seemed like normal, fun people.
Plus, I don’t really find the idea of Internet friends that strange.
My history with the Internet and online friends goes back a long way. To understand this story you will need to know that as a child I was very nerdy and very shy. I had a group of friends that I would run around the neighborhood with, but I preferred to read books or look up things on our Encarta CD encyclopedia.
Then we got the Internet and I was introduced to an entirely new world of nerdiness. At this time I was probably around nine or ten and I was completely obsessed with Thoroughbred horse racing. (I’m pretty sure I was one of very few pre-teens with a crush on D. Wayne Lucas.) I don’t know how but I stumbled upon a horse racing sim game. The gist was that different people owned horses and they would enter these horses into races and competitions. I “bought” my first horse, a bay colt named Hard Copy, and was soon creating Geocities website (with a yellow background and white writing, naturally) for my horse farm. Though I never met any of the people behind these horses (they were all much older than me), this was my first sense of having friends online.
In middle school I spent most of my online time creating even more unattractive Geocities websites based on my other strange obsessions, like Tara Lipinski and obscure NHL hockey players.
Then, in high school, I found LiveJournal. I am forever thankful that I had enough good sense as a teenager to keep this thing password protected because, oh my, it is painful to read. I actively wrote on LJ (what the cool kids called it) for longer than I care to admit, but through it I discovered a community of people with similar interests and, honestly, similar issues.
Real life Internet friends! Photo courtesy of Julika.
Around 2008 I moved on to the newest blogging platform- Tumblr. Through recounting tales of my study abroad travels and reblogging photos of places I want to go and stupid inspiration quotes, I became connected to a lot of seriously awesome people. People I’ve kept in touch with for 5 years. In fact, one of my good friends in London is someone I met from Tumblr.
To me the Internet is not a place full of weirdos and creeps (well, I guess it kind of is that too), it’s a way to connect people who wouldn’t have normally found each other. And I think that is kind of awesome. Sheryll and I were both teaching in Korea at the same time, but would never have met if it weren’t for blogging. Now she’s one of my best friends and I’m forever thankful for that Korea blogger meetup in Hongdae and our mutual love for day drinking.
So no, going to Madrid to stay the weekend with a bunch of Internet strangers didn’t seem nuts to me. It sounded pretty damn cool.
And you know what?
It was more than pretty damn cool.
Photo courtesy of Julika.
From the moment I stepped through the front door of our GowithOh apartment, I knew there wouldn’t be any awkwardness, weirdness, or wanting to make a run for it. There wasn’t even any of that getting to know you small talk- we launched straight into travel missteps, photography tips, and bad breakup stories.
Our apartment matched my tattoo!
We spent the next 48 hours doing a lot of talking and even more laughing while Jessica showed us around Madrid, while we ate with Madrid Food Tour, and while we danced until the wee hours of the morning. When I said goodbye to Jessica, Julika, and Ashley (and our wonderful travel themed apartment) two days later I was legitimately sad to leave.
Photo courtesy of Julika.
While I have a lot more to say about Madrid in the coming weeks, one of the best takeaways from that weekend was the new friendships.
And what do I have to thank for it?
The Internet, of course.
Do you have “Internet friends”?
Haha love it! You were such an internet nerd! Far more so than I imagined
I am so thankful for the internet and it bringing us together! Here’s to trips together in the future!!
Pleasssee stay in Europeeeee aahhhh
haha it’s amazing I can even have a conversation in real life
And yes, yes, yes to more trips together in the future!
Great post! ..This whole blogging community is pretty cool. With blogger friends there is just an immediate understanding and always things to talk about! I’m glad you enjoyed Spain and wish I could’ve made it to the meet up! …excited to read more about your travels in Madrid
Kelsey recently posted..Spring in Madrid + Blog updates + *Lettr Giveaway*
Yes! The blogging community is so great! There are so many of you in Madrid, too. Must be fun
well I hadn’t heard of Live Journal, but at my school the “cool” thing was Xanga. which which probably similarly nerdy and thankfully deleted from the internet forever. I have a blogger (Colleen Brynn) staying with me right now down from Mumbai! So I totally understand
Rachel of Hippie in Heels recently posted..15 Tips for Drinking Bhang Lassi in India
Glad you understand and happy to find another person who was part of the nerdy online journal scene in high school
Hope you and Colleen had a great time together!
As a blogger also, I have heaps of ‘internet only’ friends, some of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I love meeting my twitter friends and blogging friends because I already know we’ll have loads of stuff to talk about, we’ve read about eachother’s lives and pretty much all have a mutual love for travel.
I’m so glad you had a nice time in Madrid! Also I flippin’ LOVE your tattoo! I have a bird on my wrist but a map is definitely going to feature somewhere soon
Beverley – Pack Your Passport recently posted..This Is What Happens When You Move To London
Thank you! Map tattoos are the best. Definitely get one
And yes, whenever I meet Internet people we always have so much to talk about and it’s not like meeting someone you don’t know. So much fun.
Love that you met up with virtual friends in real life! Travel has taught me that people definitely aren’t as scary as we think. I’ve found kindness and honesty in so many strangers around the world… if only everyone would have a little more faith in each other, like you did.
Vanessa recently posted..Why Korea is So Safe: My Theory
I love that sentiment and completely agree with it
One of the greatest things about travel is the connections we make, small or large, with people around the world.
Hahaha Encarta?! I so forgot about those good old days! My two best friends in Vancouver, both from Australia like me, I met through a page on the Meetup.com website. My journey would be completely different, and definitely not as fun, without them! x
P.S. I also hope we get to meet one day in person too
Hayley recently posted..A Seasonal Reflection
Ah, Meetup is a good one. I met my best friends in Rome (and current flatmate) on a Facebook group and, agree, would definitely not have been the same. Hope we get to meet one day, too
I love this, Amanda! Although I have to admit that I haven’t heard of half the platforms you are talking about here, I totally get what you mean — when I told people that I’m flying to Madrid to meet up with friends I hadn’t met yet, I earned a lot of confused looks. I’m glad it all worked out so fabulously though! It was so, so great to finally get to know you in person and please let’s do this again soon!
Julika recently posted..Madrid via Instagram
Yes! We need to make something happen again soon. Hopefully I’ll be staying in Europe next year so it will be easier to facilitate another fun weekend
Tumblr 4EVA. And I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid…I was all about me the hard copy myself. My mom still has those encyclopedias. They still have an article about the USSR as a thing.
Gabriele recently posted..Birchbox: March 2014
Tumblr <3
I would love to get my hands on some outdated encyclopedias. Would probably be a fun read.
this is quite an adventure and i love your tattoo, btw!
duaba recently posted..Worst Experience (TTT & #indie30 Day 8)
Thank you!
Sounds like such a fun weekend! And that picture of everyone taking pictures of the churros is hilarious
Laura recently posted..Gruyeres: The Climb to the Chateau
It was a great one! And ah, I know. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us
This really is a great post, thanks for your honesty! I sometimes still get strange looks when I tell people about the online friends I made about ten years ago in some forum. Or, even worse, when I tell them about the three LJ friends I met in real life back when I was still using it.
I even met Julika through some kind of Instagram/blog mix-up when I realized she had just moved to my town.
So, after all it really just is about common interests and, as you say, meeting people you otherwise wouldn’t have met. There’s nothing weird about it.
Yes! Another former LJ-er
People do still definitely judge online friendships (even more so than romantic relationships that began online, I find) but honestly, like you, I find nothing strange about it and am going to try to break this stigma!
So sorry I missed you guys, it looked like such a fun weekend! and I totally had internet friends too, starting way back in the MSN chat days, even before Xanga (I won’t tell you publicly what nerdy things I made internet friends over…)
Edna recently posted..Return to Paris
You were missed, Edna! But it looks like you had a lot of fun in Belgium. Next time we meet up I am going to need to know about these nerdy things
I used to have tons of internet friends when I had time to play computer games. Although I never met any of them, it still felt great to know that I had a small community of friends that I could talk to all the time. We didn’t have to know each other in person, it was just nice.
Taylor recently posted..Photo of the Week: The Lion of Lucerne
I agree! Having a community anywhere is such a nice feeling.
I think the internet’s an amazing place to meet people on your level. One of my best friends in the world is someone I met online (through Twitter actually) but, yeah, there is definitely still a stigma attached to meeting up with someone you’ve never met (obviously because of the weirdos
).
It looks like you guys had such a fun time.
You all look fantastic.
Ceri recently posted..Thoughts From Korea
Yes! I love hearing other successful internet friendings.