I have segments of people in my life. I have friends. I have travel buddies. I have friends who I cannot travel with. I have people who are both friends and travel buddies.
Here’s how I define them:
- Friends: The people I talk to, email, or text about the little or big things in my life. They’re the ones who will prop me up when I’m down or tell it like it is when I’m full of it.
- Travel buddies: These people are the ones I often end up on the same trips with because we have similar interests. We don’t communicate much when we’re not planning a trip.
- Friends I cannot travel with: We are super close and share all our deepest secrets, but we would possibly kill each other when forced into sharing a small space like a hotel room or cruise cabin and making many decisions together each day. I value our friendship, and therefore will not travel with them because I know it will probably end badly.
It’s important to understand these different sets of people and how you travel with each type in different situations. They are not interchangeable. There are the people you can travel with one-on-one and there are the ones you join a group with. Some people are good in all kinds of situations.
Here’s some advice:
- Set some parameters early on. Talk about what you want to do and how you want to do it.
- Decide if and how you are going to divide and concur the planning.
- Agree to not blame one another if something goes wrong. If something one of you really wanted to do turns out to be a dud, accept it and move on. Same goes for restaurants. Don’t blame the person who picked it.
- Talk about if you’re OK splitting up if you want to do different things and then set a meeting time.
- Know whether you’re a morning or night person. I often do not share a room on group trips with one of my closest friends and travel buddies because we have different sleep schedules.
- Be able to make decisions and give your opinion. If your travel buddies ask you what you want for dinner, tell them. Don’t say you don’t care and then complain about it later.
What advice do you have for finding your travel companions?