Going on vacation with friends: we will have time to be together, to enjoy our group longer, and we will share the costs, for a more economical trip. But life in a group is not always easy, even between friends, think about organizing yourself to forge nice memories, and avoid the hassles!
How to go about it so that everything goes for the best? I offer you advice for going on a group trip, and coming back with a smile.
1. Preparations for going on vacation with friends
Planning your holidays
It can be interesting not to spend all your holidays with friends, but to keep one or two days for yourself, without friends, for a better rest and a stress-free recovery.
The choice of friends
It is essential, for everything to go well, that the whole team has common desires for the holidays . If some favor partying in the evening and sleeping in the next day, others sporting activities, and still others prefer visiting museums, you risk tensions and misunderstandings.
Rather party or rather heritage?
Be sure to discuss your holiday plans well before departure. Decide together if the members of your group can invite their friends (that other people don’t know) to join you.
It is also preferable that your characters are compatible . As far as I am concerned, positivity and joie de vivre are essential!
This will allow you to put yourself in the mood, to iron out the difficulties, to settle the last questions before departure, rather than leaving before having found certain solutions.
If you rent accommodation , plan a house or apartment large enough that everyone has at least a small area of privacy.
Think of a location of the accommodation that allows you to make sub-groups without transport problems. If the car is needed to leave home in an isolated countryside hamlet, what will those who have not asked for the rental car do first? Being independent in terms of transport is important for everyone to enjoy their holidays as much as possible.
Going on vacation with friends: accommodation
If you are on a circuit, prepare your itinerary before departure, book your accommodation, because it is not easy to find 8 beds in a youth hostel dormitory in the middle of the high season, or 6 places in a very popular train ( my article on train tickets in Europe ).
The purchase of plane tickets
If you are more than 8 or 10, it may be difficult to buy your plane tickets together. Consider buying them individually (with the risk that Sophie or Romain will no longer have a seat on the same flight, because they bought their tickets too late), or else use the services of a travel agency , which will handle all of this for you.
Buying your tickets individually will save you the worry if Damien cancels his trip at the last minute, the money has been advanced for him, and his ticket does not qualify for a refund.
On short flights, checked baggage is often chargeable. Watch out for friends who don’t pay for luggage, go shopping, and ask you to bring things for them, which may require you to do painful contortions in your suitcase, to wear 3 jackets on the plane, to to fit their bottle of whiskey in your suitcase. It may be interesting to agree on this point before the holidays, or to plan to pay for checked baggage together, to bring back your memories.
Planning well and communicating well before going on vacation with friends will allow you to better enjoy it on the spot, rather than being stressed by organizational worries during the trip.
2. Holidays with friends: once there
Holidays on a circuit from an airport can cause hazards, if you do not all have the same airport of origin. If Mike missed his flight or his flight was cancelled, do you have time to wait 2 days for him in your departure city? Should you all go together to the region you have chosen? Try to arrange so that one person’s flight delay or cancellation has minimal impact on the group.
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