I'm not fully sure what exactly you're stuck at, _eowyn_, but one workaround for some of the infinite load issues or problems getting onto a multiplayer lobby in the new area, is that you go past the troublesome loading in singleplayer, make a save in the new area, and then for you and your friend to just start a new campaign (just hit create on character creation and speed past it), then once you're in the starting area, open the main menu > load and load into your save in the new place.
That's what we had to do in regards of getting infinite loading screen from Merryweather to Fort Joy, as soon as she left, loading finished. I made a save, but she couldn't rejoin while there. But making a new campaign and then loading into the save together worked fine.
