9 tips to keep friendships intact while vacationing with pals
- Travel with friends can be inspiring, restorative and life-affirming; just be sure to make sure your goals, budget and interests align
In theory, a vacation with close friends – known as a friendcation – sounds like a great idea. But while you might enjoy someone’s company over dinner, on the tennis court or on a bar crawl, a getaway with the same person or people could be a recipe for disaster. Interests, the goal of the trip, budgets and tolerance for togetherness all factor into the outcome.
Friendcations are on the rise in the experience of Krishnan Menon, founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based marketing company Phenomenon, and several other travel specialists contacted for this story. Menon believes the trips’ popularity is driven, in part, by social media. Groups post images and stories of trips with friends, and others “then want to recreate those moments with their own friend groups or use them as a mechanism for reconnection with distant friends,” he says.
But while there’s a lot of potential for things to go awry on friendcations, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be done. Here are nine tips on how to have a friendcation that’s memorable for all the right reasons.
1. Talk honestly before even agreeing to travel together
Do you all want a holiday where you visit historical sites, for example, or are you more interested in shopping and dining? Are you seeking an adventure with non-stop activities or a do-nothing-all-day beach getaway?
Also, while discussing money can be awkward, you need to have an honest talk about budget. How much are you hoping to spend on the trip, and does it align with what your friend has in mind? Do you have any flexibility with that number?
“It sounds basic, but many people don’t have this crucial discussion and may not be on the same page going into the trip,” Long-Kelleher says.