Planning a holiday with friends? You’ll want these tips

Going on holiday with your mates can be the most fun you’ll have all year. Sadly, it can also be a recipe for friendship disaster! So, how can you make sure that when you go away the best of friends, you come back that way, too? Here’s our guide to travelling with pals:

Choose your companions wisely

It might sound harsh but picking the right crew to go on holiday with is really important – and, in the long run, it’s in everyone’s best interests! Choose to go away with pals that you have been away with before, or know really well – friends that you know have similar ideas of what makes a great holiday.

For example, if you want a relaxing break, don’t go on holiday with your buddy who’s up at 6am every morning, planning activities for each minute of the day! And when it comes to travelling with a group of couples – it’s not so fun if you’re single, or if one of them is on the verge of breaking up. Proceed with caution!

Share the planning

Not everyone is a natural organiser – but to help make your holiday go as smoothly as possible, try to plan everything as jointly as you can. The risks if you don’t are that the one main planner might end up feeling overly relied upon and responsible for everyone else’s holiday. Or worse, everyone else could end up feeling resentful and coerced if the place and budget isn’t what they wanted.

So, to make sure everyone’s expectations are met, talk openly about what you’re each looking to get out of the holiday and work out parts that you can each plan and be responsible for. And if planning isn’t something that comes naturally, you can always get a bit of extra help from a holiday planning app like Kayak.

Let’s talk about money

Ok, so it’s not everyone’s favourite topic, and there’s always the worry that you’ll feel like a killjoy by bringing up budgets. To keep things fair and simple, make sure you have clear discussions about how much everyone’s paid and what kind of budget you’ve each got. Also, don’t be afraid to spell it out if you’re on more of a tight budget – there’ll always be ways to work these things out, but only if you make it clear!

Working out who owes what for accommodation, meals and petrol can be a nightmare. But one good way of helping you split money and sort the budget is to get a bit of help from one of the apps that are designed for this very purpose. Splittr is one of the best out there, helping users to split costs between a group.

Spend some time alone

Don’t feel that you have to spend every minute of the day with your group. Just because you’ve gone on holiday with friends, doesn’t mean you have to do everything together! Having some breathing space is healthy, especially as being part of a group can get tiring after a few days.

Keep to your own routine if you have a slightly different pattern to your companions. Don’t feel you have to join everyone for breakfast if you’d rather sleep in – or maybe you could do your own thing in the day and come together for lunch or the evening meal.

If you opt for a place to stay that’s not too far from local sights and towns, you can easily go off and see things alone, without relying on anyone else for transport. It’s your holiday too, so if there’s a day trip or a place to eat you’re dying to try, make sure you do it – even if that means doing it alone. If you don’t, you’ll only end up resenting your buddies afterwards.

Consider going all inclusive

And finally, a way to avoid many of the headaches that can come with travelling with friends is to opt for all-inclusive hotels.

Going all-in eliminates the need for complicated budgets and spreadsheets, as there’s usually just one price to pay for the flights, transfer, hotel, food and drinks. This also means you can each realistically plan your budget, without worrying about hundreds of pounds in extras you’d forgotten about.

They can also be great places to meet new people if you need a change of company and if you opt for somewhere of a reasonable size, they can also be the perfect place to spend some time alone.

The editorial unit