It sounds obvious once it's written out like that. But nobody had actually mapped it out before, and from my last few months of manually matching people in our Facebook group, I can tell you it's not a coincidence. The more questions you ask at the beginning, the more you actually learn about the person you're about to spend the next few weeks with 🙌(not just a few hours' drive).

1. It starts in the chat

Almost everyone said the same thing: they commented on someone’s post, sent them a DM 📩 and started chatting. The conversation from there is usually logistics: what dates, do you have a spare seat, is there space to sleep or are you camping outside.

One common pain point: you send a message you really put thought into, and never hear back. More often than not, that's not a rejection, it's Facebook automatically filing DMs from people you don't follow into the message request folder to cut down on spam.

✨So a quick tip if you're hunting for a road trip buddy: check your message requests, and check your email too 📧. If you shared your email when you joined the community, we'll reach out if someone matches your trip, so keep an eye on your inbox 👀.

2. Then a call, before anything gets confirmed 📞

This tends to happen naturally once travel plans and logistics are lining up. A five minute to one hour voice call tells you more about someone than any amount of texting. Almost everyone we spoke to said the same thing: one call and you know if you can trust this person or not.

When we started our sailing trip ⛵(with zero sailing experience!) from Hobart to Gold Coast in December 2024, we found another couple on Facebook who wanted to join our trip. One video call in, we could tell it was a good vibe, and we started the trip two weeks later.

3. A meetup, if it's possible

It's not always doable, you might be in completely different towns. But where you can, meet up somewhere public for a coffee ☕ before the trip starts. It's the fastest way to know if the in-person vibe matches the online one.

4. Planning the actual details together 🗺️

Doesn't need to be the whole trip, just the first few days. Where you're sleeping night one, roughly what time you're leaving, who's driving (the "captain"). Talk through the stops you really want to hit too! 📍

5. Then, and only then, they actually went 🚗

The best experiences came from travellers who talked through every possibility before they left. It clears out the friction before it has a chance to show up on the road.

Most people got through all five steps in a few days. It's not a long process, but it's the difference between a good match and a rough one 🚐 And if someone doesn't feel right, that's reason enough to pass, even if you're keen to get moving.

What almost nobody skipped ☎️

Out of everyone we spoke to, the call was the one step that came up again and again as non-negotiable. If someone won't hop on a five-minute call before you commit to anything, that could be a red flag 🚩 as well.