How to travel with your friends without breaking a friendship

Traveling with friends can be an exhilarating experience, offering the opportunity to create lasting memories and deepen your bonds. However, not all friends are suited to be travel buddies - and it is said that one of the quickest ways to breaking a friendship is to travel together. If you are planning a trip with friends, here are some things to help you make the best out of your experience.

Choose your travel companions carefully

While the idea of traveling with your best friend might be enticing, it is important to be aware that not all good friends are good travel companions. When choosing your travel companions, it is important to find someone whose travel style matches yours.

1. Budgets and expenses

Find someone who has similar budgets and expenses. This is very important in helping you decide on things like accommodation options and activities. Conflict and unhappiness can quickly arise due to differences in budgets, and the planning could be way more complex. If one of you is traveling on a budget but the other doesn’t mind spending more on comfort or food, it might be hard to decide on the details of the trip.

2. Travel style, expectations, and pace

It is also important to find someone who matches you in your travel style, expectations, and pace. Are you someone who is looking for a relaxing trip where you decide what to do based on your mood? Or are you someone who likes to have a very packed itinerary that you must stick to? If you are someone who prefers a leisurely travel pace but end up having to follow a packed itinerary, you are not going to enjoy it; and conversely, if you are someone who has a checklist of things that you want to do but you don’t get to stick to it, it is likely not going to stick well with you.

You would also want to travel with someone who has similar expectations of the trip. If you are someone who needs personal time and time away from your travel companions, but your travel companions are the type that need to be together all the time, the trip might not be the most enjoyable for either of you.

3. Interests

Try to also find travel companions who have similar interests as you. If you enjoy the nature for example, you probably wouldn’t want to travel with someone who cannot stand being out in the sun. Or, if you value shopping during your trip, traveling with someone who gets bored easily while shopping might not be the best choice.

Planning your trip together

After you have decided on your travel companion, it is important that you plan the trip together so that you can align on expectations. And if you are not part of the planning process, then you should definitely not complain or whine about the activities and itinerary during the trip. That said, even if you were part of the planning process, try to keep your whining or complaining to the minimum — too much of that could easily spoil the entire mood of the trip.

Deciding on accommodation options

One of the most important things to decide on is your accommodation. Aside from budgets location, and type of accommodation, a question that people often overlook is whether or not you necessarily want to share a room.

While it is definitely more economical if you shared a room, there might be times when you might want to spend a bit more for separate rooms. Some things to consider is how sensitive you are to light and noise - and if you might be okay if your travel companions snore, or if they stay up late and wake up early.

Traveling can be tiring, and it is important to get a good night’s rest. Without a good rest, you might wake up feeling very irritable, which might not be the best for the trip.

Deciding on activities

It is also important to plan your activities together - and it is understandable if each of you have different things that you want to do.

Put together everything that each of you want to do, and decide which ones you want to go for. Consider if you need to always stick together and do everything together, or if it is fine for you to split into groups to do what each of you might want to do.

How to make the best of your trip

Now, when you are on your trip, communication is very important. Things can be great when everything goes according to plan - but it is how you handle unexpected events that can make or break a trip.

When traveling in groups, flexibility is important. But, it is also important to be a bit more accommodating and tolerant of any differences. And most importantly, respect each other’s time and need for personal space.

And, remember - when things go wrong or not in a way that you want, communicate with each other. Don’t just complain or throw a tantrum - that is one of the worst ways to handle any conflict when traveling.

Get a Nomad eSIM to help you and your friends stay connected when traveling

Get a Nomad eSIM to help you and your friends stay connected when traveling. It is crucial for you to get a good internet connection so you can contact each other - especially if there might be times when your group is splitting up to do different things!

Nomad offers data plans in over 170 countries, and you can be sure to find one that is suitable for your travel needs. And if you will be traveling across multiple countries, there are also regional plans available so you can stay seamlessly connected as you hop between countries. Data plans are available from as low as $1.10/GB.

The networks that Nomad's eSIMs use for each plan are stated on the plan details on the web store and apps, so you can check which networks are supported before buying your plan. Data sharing and tethering is also supported on Nomad's eSIM plans.

If you share your Nomad referral code with your friends, your friend will be able to enjoy $7 off their first purchase (only applicable for plans $10 and more). You will also be able to enjoy $7 off your next purchase (only applicable for plans $10 and more).