Occupying Your Freetime on a Business Trip?

Eric asks: "I just learned that my employer is sending me on a project abroad, in a medium size city for 3 months, starting early August. This will be a 12-hour flight from home and I have friends just an 8-hour drive from there. This is not the first time I am being sent on a remote location, but it used to be short trips (one week, typically), so I didn't have time to get really bored. What do you do while on a long business trip? how do you meet people when you cannot use your network of friends and don't have months to waste on building a new network?"

"Getting to know people from the opposite sex would be nice, but I'm also looking for chaps to simply share a beer with. I'm your average geek, with normal social skills, but it usually takes me a long time (around 3 to 6 months) to make friends in a new area. Hobbies that do not need to be pursued thoroughly are good too.

Here are a few things that I've thought about:

• join a sport club, though the sports I'm into (swimming, rollerblades, hockey on rollerblades) aren't the best for meeting people or aren't practiced everywhere
• lurk in clubs and bars, but going there by yourself spawn images of sorrow drowning in my mind
• take dancing lessons; a good way to meet girls, and it doesn't usually require to get a yearly membership
• learn a new skill; I've registered on a distance Spanish course some time ago; not very successful so far (mostly due to laziness)
• the geeky way: join an open-source project, though I'm not sure if I'll have a proper internet connection at the hotel

What do you do on your freetime, while away from your relatives for a couple of months?"

Comments

Wha???

[GuyMannDude]

I'm your average geek, with normal social skills...

Um, don't those two statements contradict each other?

GMD

Hashing

[illusion_2K]

I was working in Africa last summer and found that for me the best way to meet people was by joining the local Hash House Harriers. I won't get into too much detail, but it basically bills itself as "a drinking club with a running problem." The runs were typically on farms and in the woods just outside of the city where I was staying and the landscapes were beautiful. Plus, the runnning was good and the beer was insanely cheap. :-)

You didn't really give any details about where you're going, but if it's anywhere internationally, chances are there's a local HHH. It's got a lot to do with the whole ex-patriot community.

-Gameboy, Lusaka HHH