The first time I saw Cristina, she was standing at the arrivals gate at Venice airport holding a piece of paper with my name on it. All I knew about her was that she is 35, a teacher, likes hiking, is interested in Eastern philosophy, and speaks perfect English. More importantly, she loves meeting people from all around the world, learning about their country and teaching them about hers.
I'd been introduced to Cristina through Women Welcome Women World Wide (5W), an organisation that "aims to foster international friendship" by introducing women from different countries. Its members include women of all ages and types - students, housewives, professionals, married, single, retired. With 5W, you can experience other cultures, get insider knowledge of the places you visit, and make new friends. If you are nervous about travelling alone, it provides a safe and welcoming structure, and, of course, you don't have hotel bills to foot.
There is, however, the small matter of getting on with a stranger for several days. And as anyone who has used dating agencies will know, the fact that your list of hobbies matches does not necessarily mean you'll hit it off. Conversation can be a little forced, and on the drive back to Cristina's home town of Vicenza, we covered the weather (unseasonable), Italian politics (dodgy), Italian men ("traditional"), and England in general (wonderful).
Vicenza, an hour from Venice, is not a place I had ever thought of visiting, but that is one of the unexpected benefits of 5W. I found it has graceful squares with Palladian columns and arches. We strolled around town while Cristina explained any local oddities, like the half-built palace which ran out of funds, and the local university tradition of lewd comic caricatures plastered around town by celebrating graduates.
I was treated more like a long-lost best friend than a total stranger. Despite my protests, Cristina insisted on giving me her room while she slept on the sofa. She laid out breakfast for me before she went to work, sorted out my travel arrangements, and took a day off to show me around Venice. Other than taking her out for dinner to show my gratitude, there was not a lot I could do to repay so much hospitality; for the organisation to work, you must simply do your best to extend your own hospitality to other travellers.
I spent my first day in Venice on my own. St Mark's Square, the tourist hub of the City, heaved with tourists, crowding over the bridges, queueing for entrance to the Basilica, hands outstretched to feed the pigeons and staring up at the architecture. There's no denying it's an incredible place, particularly the shimmering mosaics of the Basilica, but in the summer it's enough to make a sane person flee for their life.
The next day, Cristina showed me parts of Venice I hadn't been aware of - the cramped twists and turns of the Jewish ghetto, the quiet and relatively spacious Cannaregio canal which is so much less visited than the Grand Canal, and the shops of San Leonardo. After lunch, we got lost together in the San Polo and Santa Croce area, where there are so many quiet little streets that even Cristina found herself in places she had never seen before.
But these added hours in each other's company began to highlight our differences. I began to appreciate why 5W suggests that you spend no more than a couple of nights on the first visit; although we both made the effort, it became clear that ultimately we were still two strangers with not a lot in common, whose attitudes to life were not always compatible.
Let's face it, meeting strangers can be a bit of a trial, so you have to go in with the right attitude. If you find it difficult to adapt to a different lifestyle, or annoying to hold conversations in broken English, then you would need to choose your hostesses carefully. And if you find that being a guest, weighed down with a debt of gratitude and tangled up in a web of good manners, is more of a constraint than a liberation - don't bother. The system doesn't work when it is used just for free accommodation; you have to want it to work socially.
Cristina has had 5W visitors from England and Hong Kong, and has stayed with members in England, Wales, the Shetlands and Amsterdam as well as meeting members in Vancouver and California for lunch. 5W has the world more or less covered, with 3,000 mem bers in 70 countries from Norway to Tasmania. If you are at a loose end one evening in Argentina, or looking for someone to show you around Lithuania one afternoon, 5W can supply the contact - the rest is up to you. You could even tour Australia staying with different members around the country, or - why stop there? - the whole world.
Cristina likes to travel on her own, but not to be alone. And, like many women travellers, she doesn't find it either safe or easy to meet strangers while abroad. An organisation like 5W inspires trust, and makes solo travelling an altogether friendlier experience.
Stay at home and meet the world
Regina, an Austrian member of 5W, has been providing hospitality to guests for more than 10 years in her flat situated near the centre of Vienna.
However, due to work commitments, she has never yet had the chance to visit any other members of the organisation.
"I probably wouldn't have joined if I had known I was never going to go anywhere," she says, "but I still enjoy having people to stay.
"It motivates you to do things you wouldn't normally do, and it gets you more and more interested in your own city."
She stays in touch with many of her guests, and even some 5W members who have never been able to visit her.
"Some of the women from Hungary, Russia or Ukraine, for example, simply can't afford to come here, so we just exchange letters," she says.
"I write to quite a few others, including a Japanese woman. It is wonderful to have contact with women from all backgrounds all around the world."
The practicals
For information and membership details on Women Welcome Women World Wide, write to 88 Easton St, High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 1LT, or call the office 9.30am-1.30pm Mon-Fri (tel/fax: 01494 465 441). The suggested membership donation is £20. Go, the low-cost airline from British Airways (0845 60 54321) flies to Venice from £80 return including taxes.
