The truth is, I don't know how you would find someone before hand. I traveled around Europe by myself, and in most places met other people at the hostels. A couple of times I really hit it off with people and we ended up travelling together where our itinerary permitted...

In Sevilla I met a couple of Australian girls at the hostal and we went out together there and ended up meeting a bunch of new people that later came and stayed with me in Salamanca... It is part of the adventure, but then there were times when I didn't really meet anyone.. so you never know.

I think often Americans hesitate to "commit" themselves like that to someone they haven't met...