7 tips for a successful trip with friends: Travel like a pro

Going on a trip with your girlfriends is both exciting and scary. Many people around me have tried it and it turned out to be a disaster: repeated arguments, poor understanding, etc. Of course, this is not the case for everyone (fortunately). To make sure your holiday goes as smoothly as possible, I'm going to give you my 7 tips for a successful trip with friends. By following them, you'll have an awesome and unforgettable trip with your best friends. 

 

Tip #1 for a successful trip with friends: Find THE RIGHT people

Choosing the right people to go on a girlfriend trip with is essential. You need to make sure you're on the same page when it comes to your desires when you travel. If you're the type of person who gets up at the crack of dawn to make the most of your holiday, do lots of sightseeing and discover nice restaurants, but your best friend Juliette is the type of person who stays in bed until 12 noon, then she might not be the right person to go with. It's up to you! 

You really need to have a real connection with the people you want to go with. My advice is to organise a short weekend with your girlfriends near your home to get a feel for the situation. If this short stay goes well, then it's the right people, if not, you'll know where you stand. 

And if you can't find the right people, why not try a solo trip? After all, you'll be sure that everything will go well because you only have to worry about yourself. It's a good plan. To find out more, I've organised the good fight for you: go on a solo trip VS with travel buddies. The results are obvious. 

 

Organising the budget with apps

We're all familiar with this sensitive topic during travel: the budget. Some people are very close to their money, others a little less, but it is essential to be organized before the departure so as not to be lost in the figures after 24 hours. For this, thanks to the geniuses who have provided applications so you don’t have to deal with a crisis from Alexandra who paid 10 € more for the errands than Cécile. 

My favourite app is Tricount. On this app, you can create an event and invite all the participants. Then you can enter every expense and the name of the person who paid. This way you know exactly who is spending what and the app automatically calculates the money advanced and the money owed so that everyone knows where they stand with their spending. Pretty handy. Plus, it's very easy to use and you can even use it outside of your travels, in your daily life. 

In the same type of application, we have Splitwise, which works in the same way as Tricount: you create an event, invite the people who are participating and the application automatically calculates the advances made by each person. The added advantage is that Splitwise can be used without an Internet connection. 

To make transfers easier, Lydia will be your ally. Lydia allows you to receive and send money without having to enter your own or your friend's bank details. But how does it work? Simply by using your phone number, what could be easier? 

 

Choose a destination that suits everyone

It may seem obvious, yet it's crucial to agree on a destination that suits everyone. Don't hesitate to express yourself, whether it's positive or negative. If you are all equally motivated to go on a trip with your girlfriends, then it is certain that you will find THE destination that will make each of you dream. If Cynthia wants a sunny destination and Laure wants to discover a European capital, then why not turn to Lisbon, Madrid or Rome. 

 

Take each other's desires into account

Here's something obvious and seems simple, yet it's not necessarily followed by everyone. I would even say that it is the main cause of conflicts when you go on holiday with your girlfriends. In any case, for me, it's what turned what I thought would be the best holiday of my life into a nightmare, to the point where I ended up going on my solo trip and it was the best decision I've ever made. 

In order for everyone to have a good time, you have to be able to satisfy everyone and that's not so easy, because when Benedicte wants to spend the afternoon at the beach and Lola wants to go to the art museum and neither of them wants to give up their idea, it can end up in a bloodbath (I'm kidding, it won't go that far, I hope). In order to find a waiting area, my following advice might help you. 

 

Schedule separate times where each of you do what you want

So here's the solution, Benedicte will go to the beach and Lola will go and discover the museum she wanted to visit so much, and then in the evening everyone will meet at a meeting point for dinner together. As they say, leaving each other to find each other again, well that works with girlfriends too. 

These separate moments will allow you to do what you want to do without having to take into consideration the other people in the group. Between us, we can admit that during a girlfriend trip, it's always nice to be alone with yourself, far from the hubbub and Cindy who has a gift for speaking extremely loudly. Girlfriend travel is often a mixture of myth and reality. You'll find that you'll enjoy it so much that you might even consider travelling alone, who knows? Plus, here are 10 tips to organise your first solo trip just for you. 

 

Communication and tolerance will be your allies

This ties in a bit with the advice I gave earlier. To make the journey go as smoothly as possible, the two key words will be communication and tolerance. When you are not happy with something, you have to express it, even if you know that it may offend the people present with you. Otherwise, you will be tense, on edge and you will not be able to enjoy your stay to the full. This advice also applies in reverse. Sophie is desperate to try the specialty of the country you are in, but you have already eaten it and you are not really a fan. Take it upon yourself. You'll please her and, after all, you don't have to eat it too, you can try another dish that will be more to your taste. 

 

Make a list of sensitive topics not to be discussed

This could save several trips with your friends. Indeed, there are certain topics that should be avoided for a successful trip with friends. I'm sure there's one that comes to mind: boys, and more practically ex-boyfriends. Not talking about them will save you from having to comfort Magalie who cries all evening because she thinks about Alexandre. 

What I advise you to do is to get together a few days before departure and indicate, for each of you, the subjects you do not wish to discuss during the trip. Each subject should be written on a sheet of paper. This will be like a contract that you will have between you and that you will take with you on the trip. It may sound strange, but believe me, I have already tested this method and I highly recommend it. In fact, I'm sharing with you another discovery that has set my evenings with my girlfriends on fire: these are the 9 games to liven up an evening between travel enthusiasts. It's been tested and approved. 

Now that you know my 7 tips for a successful holiday with girlfriends, you are ready to take the plunge. If, despite all my recommendations, your trip isn't as great as you thought it would be, a solo trip might be the ideal solution for you. This is an idea worth pondering. In the meantime, I'll let you discover my 6 travel tips when you go solo.