9 Questions to Ask Travelers Instead of “Where are you from?”

About a week into my solo trip through Europe last year, I was exhausted from meeting fellow travelers. I wasn’t tired of them – I love new people! – but rather the predictable routine of questions we’d go through.

“Where are you from?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Where are you going next?”

Suddenly no one was interesting anymore. This cycle of questions was just too mind-numbingly boring. But travelers are exceptionally interesting people and I did genuinely want to get to know them.

You just don’t accomplish that by asking when they arrived in the city.

So a friend and I devised alternative conversation openers, questions to ask travelers that we dropped as soon as we could to derail the conversation away to any topic more engaging than travel itineraries. The discussions that resulted were much more interesting, fun, and random.

And I noticed that the other travelers got into it as well. Going through the same rapid-fire get-to-know-you routine, everyone’s eyes kind of glazed over, but ask someone if they’d rather be chased by robots or zombies and they perk up.

Everyone wants some relief from the typical traveler small talk. So as I continued traveling, I curated a list of go-to questions for when conversations start to stall.

1. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

There’s always a great story behind eating weird things! Whether it’s snacking on bugs in Cambodia or nibbling on sheep brain in Morocco, there’s bound to be some juicy bits in this answer. And this is one of the sneaky questions to ask travelers because you get to hear more about someone’s adventures without the boring old standby, “So where else have you been?”

2. What fictional world would you like to live in?

So many things to discuss here! First of all, you get to talk about people’s favorite movies and books. Second of all, you get to learn a lot about the person. Would they prefer a life of adventure or to live in a world of pleasure? Do they pick a realistic fictional world or do they go straight-up fantasy? Did the two of you even pick the same world? Look at all the things you have in common!

3. Where in the world would you go back to right now if you could?

Less standard than the “What’s your favorite place?” question, this jumpstarts a discussion about best experiences and favorite memories. Instead of describing a place with a bullet-point list of facts, your new friend will open up with stories about one of their most beloved places.

4. What’s your zombie apocalypse plan?

It’s always good to get new tips on this.

5. What’s a new skill you’d like to have?

Ask me about my hopes and dreams and I’ll probably answer, “Finding a wedge of decent Camembert.” But ask about new skills and you’ve got a future-focused conversation that could inspire someone to actually start pursuing something. And who knows? Maybe your new friend can teach you something about your undeveloped passion.

6. What music have you been listening to recently?

This is one of my favorite questions to ask travelers because when I’m traveling I don’t have access to all my typical sources of new music so I get stuck listening to the same songs over and over again. This question helps breathe some life into my playlist. And if you’re lucky, maybe someone will know if your favorite band is playing a show or in a festival somewhere nearby.

7. Do you think space exploration is a worthy pursuit?

This leads into one of the greatest topics in the world – alien life! Is it out there? Are they benevolent or aggressive? Why haven’t they contacted us? Are they avoiding us?

8. What’s your superpower?

I have a whole arsenal of superpower questions but I like this one because it’s enigmatic. A person can either choose to interpret it as “What’s the thing you’re best at?” or “What superpower would you like to have?” And if they haven’t thought about it at all then they’re probably not going to be a very good sidekick in the zombie apocalypse.

9. What’s a scary thing you’ve done recently?

This one’s a bit heavier so you might want to save it for after all the zombie and superpower questions. But if you want to talk about real, life-changing moments with people who are being intentional about experiencing the world, here is your gentle opener.

Now you have some ideas to jumpstart your own catalog of alternative questions to ask travelers. Next time you’re on the road, you can whip one out and swerve the conversation away from the mundane towards the imaginative. Because we’re all tired of talking about where we’re from. There’s a reason we’re not there now, isn’t there?

Do you have any conversation starters in your back pockets for when you’re traveling? Share them below so I can add them to my rolodex!