Family vacations can be a lot of fun. I dream about romantic places just for me and my honey. But sometimes you need to get away with your girls. Travel with friends is crucial to keeping up those relationships as well as your sanity. Sometimes a girlfriends’ trip can be all you need to reset, relax, return to sanity. I love to travel with girlfriends, it’s a fun way to share travel experiences, costs, expenses, and time with girlfriends who share common interests.
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Travel with Friends
How to travel with friends (and Stay Friends Afterwards)
The idea of traveling with friends can sometimes be way more fun than reality. And on the best of days, the best of friends can disagree or even argue. Add the stress of travel, spending a lot of time together, money, etc… And you have a recipe for disaster. We were going on our first girls trip together. We hadn’t traveled overnight together, so this trip was sure to test our friendship, love, and patience.
Choose Your Travel Companions Wisely
Pick a group of friends you get along with individually and as a group. If you can’t get through a few hours at brunch without shade, don’t expect anything different over a long weekend. Turns out you’ll be more patient with people you have a long-standing friendship with. You’ll want to remain friends long after your travels.
Communication is Key to a Great Trip
Communicate what you all want to accomplish. If your ideas are radically different, you may want to reconsider your travel plans. You may even re-think whether you should travel with these particular friends at all. And this should be done way before you board you begin your travels.
Establish Your Budget Before You Go
When you travel with friends, you need to agree on a budget upfront. Decide how much you will spend on things like accommodation, food, and transport. Nothing will crash the party faster than a disagreement over money.
What’s on the Agenda?
It’s okay to go your separate ways during your trip. If you want to go shopping and she wants to stay poolside. Do both, and get together later for dinner to share your experiences.
Be Considerate
Don’t hog the bathroom, the conversation, or the wine. Make sure you share little tidbits like snoring or the fact you like to get an early start each morning.
Keep it to Yourself
What happens on vacation, stays on vacation. Don’t assume your girlfriends want to share the intimate details about your trip. And for heaven’s sake don’t share things told you in confidence.
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Comments
I tell people all the time you cant travel with everyone. With your friends yes definitely try to be on the same agenda but its ok to go seperately within reason too.
Yes to this, my first trip to Europe was with one of my friends, we had the time of our lives, an experience I will remember for years to come.
Thank you soo much for your valuable information. its really helpful for me. I love this! happy hug……
and I would love to go on a trip with my girlfriends,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have only once traveled with friends and its the last time. I did not enjoy it, because we just had different speed, if it makes any sense x
Traveling with friends is a blessing. It’s so much fun to just be there with your besties at your dream places and live it up together.
Understanding what’s on the agenda and adding things for everyone to enjoy is key. You always want to make trips fun for all travelers.
Those are great tips….I’ve heard some stories about girls trips gone bad…It’s all about communication.
Used to travel with friends. Then I got married and we went on our own lives. Now, it’s family travel for us already. Priorities have changed.
I love all travel– with my kids, with my hubby, my mom and my girlfriends. It really depends on why, when and where.
Great tips and compromise is also important when traveling with other people as we’ve found. Now, travelling with a family brings up another set of challenges!
This is such a list of wonderful tips. I have to agree on point #1 : choose your travel companions wisely. It is so true that it is not where you’re going, but whom you travel with. A great, considerate travel companion can make the trip really enjoyable; while the opposite can totally ruin the joy (been with the both types!). Thank you for sharing this!
Definitely some good tips. Its important to find the right travel partner to have a good time and maintain your friendship.
I’ve always enjoy traveling with friends. I haven’t gone away with just my girlfriends in forever though.
I remember being so nervous about my first girls trip, even though I was going with two of my very best friends! So glad I went though because every time we’re together, we bring up something from that trip.
Setting our budget before we even left was crucial!
Some great tips here – it is so important to choose wisely – you don’t want to pick someone that you know will frustrate you constantly. I love travelling with my friends.
I am headed on a girls Eurotrip next week and cannot wait! We always have the most memorable times together.
I have traveled with friends before and it did not always end well. Budgeting beforehand is so important. Also better have everybody on the same page before departure!
traveling with friends can be so much fun! some of my best memories are traveling with loved ones
Choosing the right friends to travel with as well as establishing the budget for the trip are in my opinion the main things to do before choosing the destination. It is an awful feeling traveling anywhere with someone who is moody, boring, and not enjoying themselves. And someone who doesn’t have disposable funds is just as bad bc either they cannot participate in certain activities or the group cannot. I love all the tips you gave us!
As a fellow military spouse, I have found that traveling with friends can be just as rewarding. My husband is currently deployed and so I take adventures with friends often.
Hey sis, we gotta stick together. That’s why I love traveling with my girls. It’s an honor to serve my husband, but its not all fun and games.
I love this because I feel very aware that although I love my friends, there are only certain people I would travel with. I have had some incredible travel experience with friends, and I am thankful for those memories!
I’ve traveled with family so much , done solo travel too so I’m now planning for an experience with my friends. I agree that with the right friends, it can be so easy and as always , budgeting is necessary.
This is so true! I only went on a trip with 1 gf, which worked really well because we wanted to see the same things and knew how much we could spend. I definitely suggest ssmaller groups are best!
Traveling with friends is an amazing way to connect with people and grow your current relationships even more. I agree you have to choose wisely just because someone is a good friend does not mean they will be a good travel companion.
Traveling with friends is one of the best experience of my life. If I would be given a chance I would love to travel again with them.
Some really good tips – I must admit I haven’t travelled with friends since I was a teen & even then we had fallouts! It is important to be able to do your own thing as well to avoid hostility!
Some great tips! I haven’t ever traveled with friends before, but I will certainly keep it in mind if I do. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Great tips. Though I travel alone but next time I shall try to take a friend.
I think I prefer travelling with my friends rather than with my family, but it’s true that sometimes common travels may cause some quarrels. Can’t wait to check out your tips during my next trip! 🙂
I have to admit I’ve travelled with friends and that’s been the end of the friendship eek! It is a hard thing to do and you all have to be ready to put in and look out for each other on the good and bad days.
I would love to go on a trip with my girlfriends. It would be such a blast to share a hotel room.
I can’t wait until our kids are older so my friends and I can travel together! It has always been a dream of mine
As much as I love traveling with my family, there is something so great about getting away with my girl friends! We are working on planning a girl’s trip now actually.
I’ve always enjoyed traveling with friends. I haven’t done this in a while though. I really should! The last time I did was years ago in NYC.
I have had friendships that ended because of traveling together. I think it’s very important to establish rules at the beginning of the trip and especially a budget, as not all members in the group might afford things like spa visits or expensive restaurants.
Great tips and lot are just common sense such as hog the bathroom. If everyone follows I guess it would be a very fun trip to travel together.