Meeting a new friend from Africa with the help of Travel Pal: Beijing, China

By Tiefeng (铁峰)

My name is Tiefeng and I’m from Wuhan. Now I am a senior student majored in English. My university is located at Beijing China. I am very interested in language learning. I am good at communicating with foreigners. I enjoy traveling at weekends or summer vacations. Travel Pal came to my world by accident. I like the idea of traveling shaking hands with socializing. Inside Travel Pal, you can see other people’s destination or hosing places. My hosting place of course is at Beijing, China. I also filled in several travel destinations such as my dream city Paris.

The Trip Process

It was one day in May. I received a request from King Fashion (name) on Travel Pal. He needs to find someone who stays at Beijing and speaks English to guide him and give him some travel advices. I saw this request and chat with him first. From the conversation with him I knew that his real name is Sergio and comes from Africa. He speaks French and English. He is going to be an exchange student at Tianjin University. He already booked a hotel and hope a local to travel together with him. I think maybe I can do that. So I accepted his request and send him my contact way and location to him on Travel Pal.

When Sergio arrived in Beijing, he sent me his hotel’s address through Travel Pal, and he also told me when he wanted to meet. We agreed to meet at the subway entrance, and as soon as we saw each other, Sergio gave me a warm hug. In my head I thought, “wow, this is my first time meeting a foreigner in person!” We spent the day together, and we visited the Great Wall, a very famous Chinese landmark. He seemed very interested in learning more about China, so we talked about a lot of things in English. There were a few times when we didn’t understand each other, so I tried using Travel Pal’s translation tool and it worked very well. Sergio thought the Great Wall was amazing and he couldn’t believe that the ancient Chinese people were able to build such a great structure. We took a picture at the wall and he said he’ll show it off to his friends.

The “Visit China” Promotion

I joined Travel Pal’s “Visit China” promotion when I was finalizing Sergio’s booking, since he is visiting me. Just in time for our meeting, I received a package of cool Travel Pal T-shirts for the both of us. I gave Sergio’s shirt to him when we met, and I hope it helps him remember me and his trip to China. Here’s a picture of Sergio!

My Feelings About The Trip

When I was showing Sergio around, I think my English speaking skill really improved a lot. I also learned something new about another culture. Face-to-face conversations really helped me speak in English better.

I’m so happy that Travel Pal gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of things. Thank you, Travel Pal, for this new travel experience where I was able to meet foreigners online and in person. Even though I only spent a short time with Sergio, I feel that we got to know each other better and this is just the beginning of a long-lasting friendship.