Traveling with friends is one of the best travel experiences that you can have! You can have new experiences, try new foods and create new memories with a group of people you already love to hang out with. It can be a great chance to strengthen your friendships with new adventures, it can also be the end of a friendship and the start of a lot of drama, which truly just ruins a good trip. The past years I did trips to Belize, Jamaica, Mexico, Deep Creek, and even, the friendship killer itself, Miami, with different friend groups of various sizes with friendships intact and great new experiences. As a survivor of friend trips and planner of the trips here are some of the ways to make it work.
1. Probably most important if you want to get anywhere besides an empty group chat is to discuss prices and budget. Some people like to ball out is some people prefer bougie on a budget (some prefer not boujee at all) misunderstandings about that can have a vacation end quickly and it can lead to a nasty end. I always start out the flight price, is then move to hotel, food, excursions and ask people run at the top amount they'd pay would be. Write it down, if you're very type A you could even send out a form and get some averages. That can also make it easier if people feel uncomfortable actually talking about it. But if you are going on a trip together you should get comfortable enough to talk about it, otherwise it can lead to some even more uncomfortable situations. Also talk about how things will be split. Will you pay for what you get? Is everything getting split evenly? Who's card will it go on, will you use a Cashapp card, Zelle each other? Figure it out!
2. Plan your activities, transportation, even your food. This has a lot to do with the first part the money, but also different traveling styles. Doing things spur of the moment is when arguments start because people aren't getting their way. By planning ahead and discussing where you want to go it'll save you from petty arguments and people being upset that they aren't getting their way. It also helps because people are going to have different things to do, if you discuss it before you can hash things out and make sure that there is a mix of what everyone wants to do. Being spontaneous is fun, don't doubt it, you don't have to plan out every second of your day but having a general plan and list of things that you want to do helps create a smoother trip.
3. Don't be afraid to split up. I would definitely recommend we staying together at the hotel, or other accommodations for ease and safety. When it comes to activities everyone has a different idea of what is fun but when you take time to plan beforehand theres space to say "I don't want to do that" everything is not for everyone. Instead people can have alternative options that works for them, another perk of planning out your days. Everyone has different ideas of what a good vacation entails, some people like spa's is sitting on the beach others like to go, go, go, is there can be a balance by splitting up and allowing people to have the experience they are looking for.
4. This isn't always necessary, but sometimes it can be good to discuss behavioral expectations when it comes to certain things that can make things more
unpredictable, what happens when someone gets a little too lit
or when someone meets a cute guy is they want some alone time. It seems silly but it can help when you get into those awkward situations where people start to get annoyed and fissions can start to form.
5. Know how your friends act! To me, the main reason people's friendships
start to fall apart on trips is because they don't know their friends and how they act in certain situations. Know your friends, know how they are when they're tired and annoyed and have been traveling all day. Embrace that and decide if you can really go somewhere with this person. Some of your friends are going to be weekend trip friends, some can be international trip friends. Some friends are not travel friends at all. And that's okay.
Oh and last tip. Don't travel with people that you don't actually like. If there's some reason why you have to for a group trip or something... just try not to share a room.
Seriously though, traveling with your friends is fun and by doing the prep work and having those conversations can make sure that your trip is memorable for all the right reasons. And don't do this all over text, planning can be fun, get on a lil zoom or meet up in person to hash things out.
On that note,
Hope you make it out the group chat! (and come back friends)
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