If you visit a new city or country, how do you manage to get familiar about that new city or country. List the ways you prefer to get familiar with that place prior to leave, including google ;)
When I went to canada for 6 months, I started lurking on couchsurfing.com even if I didn't need. Just to meet people. I met one good friend here, and I met her many times over here, and once in my country !<p>edit:
for Canada I also lurked a LOT on a special french website that is , in fact, like a giant forum with all related stuff to get there and live here. It helped me a lot (sorry I don't remember the website).<p>For India where I spent a year, I went with guys from my school so, I was not alone but we met people there that we contacted from the net. France (and maybe other people) have 'Alliance Française' in many country. It's a small organization run by France Gov which is here to help french guys abroad and give french lessons for foreigners. Many 'expatriate' blogs and website refer to this alliance française. So mainly I would say, there are like 2/3 major websites for foreigners (in specific countries) and most people meet from these blogs.
Are you talking travel or moving?<p>Moving: I find I do a lot of research online first. I look at the areas of the city that tend to be younger and vegan friendly. I try to find tech meetups/groups as a way to meet new people, get friends, and make business contacts. I explore a lot. Try new restaurants and businesses regularly, go out of my way to meet new people.