Wish I had found this site sooner, but thanks to a popular blogger, Grey, I now have an option for eating solo while traveling the world......
Invite for a Bite
When traveling on business or pleasure does the fear of eating alone in a restaurant keep you from traveling solo?
You can book travel, find hotels, navigate the train system if not the bus routes alone, but sitting
in a restaurant is the equivalent to a root canal!
Now a woman has found a solution to our problem! You can request a companion to meet you for a bite!
The full story below!
Don't eat alone: INVITE FOR A BITE
Invite For A Bite is a new online social network for women who don't want to eat alone. Wherever they are in the world - traveling solo for business or pleasure, or home alone on a Saturday night - Invite For A Bite helps women get together with other women for a meal and a great time.
The Inspiration
Invite For A Bite came about after founder Cressida Howard heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour. A group of women were talking about how they loved traveling alone. But they all agreed on one thing: they hated eating alone.
“It's a problem I've had myself in the past,” says Cressida, who has spent time traveling and teaching in Spain and Japan. “Most women aren't comfortable going into a bar or restaurant on their own, especially in the evenings when they're surrounded by romantic couples, or drunk men with not very romantic intentions! I thought, wouldn't it be great if there was a website where women who didn't want to eat alone could hook up with one another and have fun eating together. That's when I decided to create Invite For A Bite.”
Although the inspiration for Invite For A Bite came from solving a problem for female travelers, women can also use the site to meet people in their own town. “Maybe you're new to a town,” says Cressida, “or you've lived there all your life and want to meet new people. Invite For A Bite can help you do that. It could be over a meal in a restaurant, at your house, or a picnic in the park. Eating together is a really relaxed way to get to know people. When you think about it, it's the oldest social network there is. We're just giving it a 21st century twist!”
How It Works
Women go on the site and create an invite to meet and eat, or accept one that someone else has created. Then they meet up and eat together. They can use the site whether they're at home or traveling thousands of miles away. “It's as easy as falling off a log. . . after a glass of wine!” says Cressida. “We're also happy if women use the site to meet for activities that don't involve eating. It's as much about the fun as the food.'
Growing Trend
The number of ‘social discovery’ websites that encourage users to go online to meet offline is growing. Invite For A Bite is at the forefront of a growing trend in online social dining networks that enable users to meet new people over food. It's the first to cater specifically for women.
About Invite For A Bite's Founder
Cressida Howard is a jazz piano teacher from Cheltenham, England. She describes herself as a reformed ‘technomoron’. She created the site with the help of two friends, web developer George Farron and web designer Kayleigh Witts-Thomas. “When I told my family and friends I was starting an online social network they thought it was hilarious. But they really liked the idea of the site, and I believed in it so much that I wasn't going to be put off by my own lack of knowledge. I've certainly learnt a lot in the last year!”
Launched: March 8th 2012
see the web site: http://inviteforabite.com/about.
“
Invite For A Bite was inspired by a radio program I heard on BBC Woman's Hour. A group of female travelers were talking about how much they loved traveling alone. But they all agreed on one thing:
they hated eating alone. I thought, ‘Wow, wouldn't it be great if there was a website where women who didn't want to eat alone could hook up with one another and eat together?’
Invite For A Bite solves the problem of what to do when you don't want to eat alone. Wherever you are in the world.
You might be traveling for business or pleasure. Or you might not be traveling at all! On Invite For A Bite you can meet people who live in your own town, as well as those traveling through. It doesn't matter if the ‘bite’ is a three-course meal in Amsterdam or a packet of peanuts at your local cinema. In fact, we're perfectly happy if you use the site to meet and not eat. It's as much about the fun as the food! All you have to do is create an invite and see who's up for joining you.
So wherever you are or wherever you're going, Invite For A Bite is here to help you: to find people to eat with, to have a great time.
Good health and happiness to you!”
Cressida Howard
Founder of Invite For A Bite
I have been using a new mantra this year:
Learn something new, 
