Do you meet friends in person after you meet them online?

When Gransnet started up over 3 years ago, MrsPickle, many of us commented that we probably wouldn't meet up in real life, and that we didn't think it was a good idea. A few months later, many of us did, however! All round the country lots of Gransnetters have met up for lunches, etc. I've made some really lovely friends by doing so.

Well done MrsPickle
I've very much enjoyed meeting other Gransnetters (you know who you are!) and I now consider them as friends - I hope the feelng's mutual
I've met other people too through a professional forum, it's interesting how online friendship complements real life friendship.

A friend's a friend for a' that! The internets a great way to find kindred spirits or at least people with something in common eg Gransnet. I did wonder a bit if I was daft going to the first Gransnet lunch -the family wound me up re meeting"strangers off the internet"! All was fine: better than fine. Maybe its because if communicating on the net you are writing so have a chance to think about what you are saying and can take time to reread and ponder on what people have written?

I'm not sure that everyone thinks and ponders as you obviously do, Jane10, before they click on 'post message' .
Just as in RL they sometimes don't put brain into gear before opening mouth!

I love meeting other people from Gransnet and consider them real friends .We find we have a lot in common and can talk openly about our lives simply because they are detached from the rest our family. It is surprising how much we have in common and we can give each other advice sometimes about purely practical matters. I bought my GTECH floor sweeper on someone's advice last year and wouldn't be without it now. We try to meet about once every 6 weeks: sometimes there are only 2 of us; sometimes the group is bigger and people come from farther afield. I really look forward to the meet-ups.

How lovely. I love that you had a lovely weekend in Birmingham. Good old Brum! I realise that you would have had a lovely time wherever you had met but I love it when people have a nice time here.

Yes! I have been surprised by how easy it is to become friends of friends by chatting on posts on FB, former colleagues and such.

It works with Gransnet contacts you have a lot in common with, whether it's a sense of humour or family circumstances.

The Northwesters have been meeting around Manchester for lunch a couple of times a year, for about two years now and having great fun.

I have almost managed to drive to the Premier Inn at The Trafford centre without going three times around the car park now.

Yes, I have met females when on the previous Saga Zone website ,and also through the Penfriends/relationships although that was not internet linked.
I still retain contact with some with meet ups, also using social media sites where now on Facebook Brum Chums and used to organise meet ups myself in Banbury you got to know the person other than there user name.
Mick

Time we arranged another meetup, Nellie

Recently I have met up for coffee with a few GN ladies and we all had a nice couple of hours chatting I enjoyed their company , I wouldn't call any of them friends as yet maybe further down the line if we have more coffee meetups..
I do have friends in the USA who I met in an online forum , we've never met most don't travel abroad as it is with a lot of Americans but 2 or 3 I've now known for over 10 yrs , our mutual grandchildren have grown up while we've chatted and we know each others circumstances/family inside out so they are good friends but we'll probably never meet . A shame I guess. I have suggested a meetup in the US and I'd fly over but the distances between them is almost as far as to me so was a non-starter..

I have had some great meet ups with other GNs, and it is quite amazing how well we "know" one another if we are relatively frequent posters, and even if we aren't, the fact that we have GN in common links us.

Thinking back to The Mill on the Exe....

I`ve been to one GN meet up, in Birmingham, and very enjoyable it was too, but due to my inability to manage getting on and off trains, and the high cost of train fares, I haven`t been able to get to any more. A few years ago, I did manage a few meet ups with folk from another forum, but we haven`t done it for a while now, plus I wouldn`t be able to go anymore. I do have one very good friend, who I met through a question I asked on a forum, and she is responsible for me joining GN. She knows who she is!

That's right When. We need a meet-up again in the NW. I've met quite a few people I'm happy to call friends. Greatnan started as an online friend who became a good friend and I still miss her.

number - she does know who she is - she is me!

anno, for anyone who never did 'meet' Greatnan on here, she would have been hard to describe, wouldn't she? Quite a legend, indeed.

Indeed, Marelli. She was a 'one off'.

That`s right Marelli, and lovely with it you are, to be sure!

And who encouraged me to join Gransnet? Yes you know who you are and since then we've had some wonderful afternoon teas, lunches, dinners, Burns lunches and even a theatre visit. May I say I've met a great bunch of folk and many more adventures to come.

Closest I've seen a meet up to me was 170 miles away in Edinburgh!

The Edinburgh bunch went to absent's 'leaving do' in Darlington a couple of years ago, Katek! Not that I'm saying you should be travelling all those miles for a meet up. Absent was emigrating, so it was a bit different - we knew we were unlikely to see her for some time.

Yes elizabeth1 some people will go anywhere for cake...

Cake and scones glassortwo

Are there any Gnetters north of Aberdeen?

I visit North of Aberdeen at least once a month

I've met many wonderful people via a French expat Forum and a Swiss one too. Two British ladies said they would love to try xcountry skiing about 5 years ago, and I invited them. DH thought I was totally nuts- but they turned out to be absolutely wonderful and are great friends with both of us and will always be. We have met great Brits and other expats in Switzerland and Eastern France- many youngsters we sort of 'take under our wing' and also some surrogate grandchildren- which I so enjoy, with mine so far away.