Once upon a time, I decided that I was going to go to WorldCon in Toronto, because it was not too far from my home town. ‘Not too far’ meaning about four hours of driving.
I can’t remember exactly how this worked out, but I had a very good friend from high school who wanted to go to Toronto, but could only stay for the weekend. We made plans to drive up to Canada and spend time together for as long as she could stay.
I’m still a bit surprised that I did this, given my history as a very shy person: when my friend had to go, I sent her off and said I would find my way home. From another country. I knew nobody there except some authors and artists I ‘knew of’.
Luckily the name badges had our origin cities on them, so I merely had to find someone from near my home town and convince them to give me a ride. If they had room. If they were willing. To cross the border with a stranger.
As unlikely as it seems, this is exactly what I did. I found someone from my home town and started talking to him. Turned out he was with a couple of friends and they had space in their car. Also it turned out he lived about a block and a half from my mother, who had absolutely all the information I could give her about him before we left Toronto.
I could literally walk to his house from my mother’s house, and I did, several times when I was visiting after that.
So all you have to do to make a friend is go to another country without a ride back. It’s as simple as that.