Moving back to your hometown after being gone for many years is an exciting adventure. There will be people there that you will most certainly want to reconnect with. The ability to reconnect with people you have a past with can be a nostalgic, exciting and heartwarming experience. Finding your old friends and loved ones is not always the easiest thing to do, even in the age of social media. Thankfully, there are other ways to find them. Below are some tips for reconnecting with old friends from your hometown.

Ask Around

This may be the best and easiest option to try first. If you already have someone in town you have reconnected with or never lost touch with, they may be able to help you locate any old friends who may still live in the area. Be sure they ask that person if it is okay for you to have their contact information beforehand.

Social Media

Another great way to find old friends is through social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. This works best if you know the person’s full name. If you don’t know it, or they have gotten married, they might be harder to locate this way. If you have mutual friends, however, it could warrant a quick look through their friend list to see who you find.

Public Databases

Believe it or not, there are many free and paid online databases you can use to find people such as the NY white pages . Another great option, especially for those people who seem extra hard to find, is a database system such as Intelius found at Intelius.com. This is a great online tool to search for friends and the public records of people in New York.

Attend Reunions

Most high schools hold reunions every five or ten years. This could be a great way to find and reconnect with a lot of your old friends. Even if the person you are trying to locate doesn’t attend the reunion, chances are good that someone will attend who they still keep in contact with. If you are not able to find your old friend this way, try contacting your school or alumni. Many schools keep records of their alumni after they graduate including phone numbers and addresses.

Once you find the friend you were looking to reconnect with, it is time to contact them. This can be the most difficult part for some. It is hard to know what to say to someone after such a long time. Keep things simple at first to get an idea of whether or not they are interested in reconnecting with you as well.