Traveling with your friends can offer the experience of a lifetime, or a never ending nightmare—depending on how you approach it. The truth is, even when you’re traveling with friends you’ve known your whole life and can trust, you never know what’s to come. In the world of travel, there tends to be an air of mystery regarding what’s around the corner. Take heed with this collection of travel horror stories. After reading about a few experiences that happened around the world, you’ll easily see how even the best-planned trips can go South. With that in mind, here are five crucial tips for traveling with your friends:
Choose the Right Friends
To avoid a potential disaster, think about the friends you’d like to travel with and keep in mind that friends at home isn’t the same thing as friends on the road. Travel can brings out a different side of people, so it’s imperative that you choose friends whose travel style aligns with yours, and/or whose values are the same. If you aren’t able to move at the same speed, things can quickly get out of hand.
One of the first things you’ll want to agree on is what everyone expects out of the trip. Come to an agreement on the type of accommodations you’ll have. Will you be staying in hostels and splurging on a hotel every few weeks? Or does the group agree consistent Airbnbs would be cost-effective? By coming to an understanding early on, you’ll help everyone stay on even ground as the trip progresses. Clearly defined expectations and similar travel styles are the best way to ensure a smooth ride.
Plan the Trip Together & Share Responsibilities
If you aren’t careful to plan your trip together, it’s possible that some travelers might end up doing much more than others. Sharing responsibilities and agreeing on a plan ensures that everyone is held accountable, and that everyone is on the same page. To start out, don’t forget about all the little things that make a big difference, and aren’t so much fun to plan. For example, if you were going on a road trip, you’d want to check out something like this Extended Service Plan – Good Sam. After you listed out all your shared costs, create a budget sheet and deadline for everyone to pay their portion of the money.
When it comes to planning, use a platform like Travefy to collaborate on an itinerary with the rest of your friends. This platform pulls flight, hotel, and details directly from your booking numbers. For example, simply pop in a flight confirmation code, and all the details of your flight—including gate number, airports, arrival times, and much more—auto populate into your itinerary.
Know When to Apologize
No one can be perfect 100% of the time. This is the reality of your traveling situation. Everyone has days where they’re not feeling quite themselves. Maybe a flight got cancelled, or someone’s hungry and cranky. Regardless of what the reason is, it’s important that you recognize when to apologize and when to accept an apology. Everyone handles things differently: some people are more prone to stress than others, for instance. Keep this in mind when things aren’t going perfectly fine.
Communicate on Your Adventure
Communication isn’t just important on your planning and pre-departure days. Even when you’ve already started your trip together, it’s crucial that you communicate with each other every day. The fact is, things change and people deviate from the plan. If you and your friends don’t communicate with one another, you’ll never be happy on your trip.
For instance, let’s say you’ve decided to island hop the Southern islands of Thailand. One friend might decide she wants to get her scuba certification, while another prefers to visit the monkeys on an island nearby. You don’t always have to agree to the point of compromising someone’s desires.
Make Time for Yourself
When you travel with your friends, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of group activities. This is why it’s so important to separate yourself from the group here and there. This is especially true if you want to embark on a spiritual journey, and have trouble disassociating with so many people around. Sometimes, you’ll just need a few hours, and other times—especially for long-term travel—you might want to separate for a few days. There’s nothing wrong with this, and in fact, it’s healthy to do so. Remember, you’re both mature enough to separate and make your own travel dreams come true, eventually when you can reunite at the end of the day to talk all about your respective experiences.
