I tried searching on here, but didn't find any questions on this. How does one meet people while traveling alone? I would understand meeting people in a hostel (assuming they spoke the same language) and grabbing food with them, but if I'm traveling in the off-season, this may not always be possible.
This is sort of silly, but to be honest, I find eating by oneself terribly awkward. Sure, in a nice quiet cafe, while I'm reading a book, it's fine. But if I'm getting food at a German beer garden, eating alone would be quite odd. Youtube videos and guidebooks seem to always advise to meet locals or other travelers, but even if I did speak the local language, isn't it strange to ask to just join a random group of friends? It's reminiscent those tv shows where the quiet kid asks around the cafeteria if he/she can sit with a group of friends.
This is just one particular example, but my intention is to have the question about more broad or general situations.
(Note that this question is about people visiting somewhere as a traveller, there's a related question on the Expatriates SE site about meeting people when you're a new expat/resident in a city)