Travel With Someone You Know and Trust

Traveling Alone or With Others

Traveling Solo

Traveling alone, with family or friends is such a personal decision.

I took many international trips by myself prior to meeting Melissa.  I spent a month in Australia and two weeks on a surf trip in Fiji by myself, however, I was never lonely.  In both places, I met people at my first stop and since they were solo travelers too, we immediately hit it off.

When I was in Fiji, the first day, I met a group of three Australians who were surfing all around the islands.  They asked if I wanted to travel with them and that we would the split costs on hotels, travel and food.  It was incredible.  I got to surf with great guys and stay at places that I wouldn’t be able to pay for by myself and it was a blast.  I also ended up hanging with some guys from Israel and another group of guys from New Zealand.  I had so much of my budgeted money left over, that by the end of the trip I splurged and got myself a room at an amazing private island surf resort.  There I also met another group of surfers and we all became good buddies.  We even surfed with the lifeguard that worked at the resort.

If you like traveling with new friends,  you can opt for a scheduled trip with others like Contiki which does group travel for 18-35 year olds or G Adventures, which offer some amazing trips.

Traveling With Friends or Family

Even if you know your friend or family member well, we suggest testing the waters with any new travel partner by going on a mini-trip or weekend getaway.  Begin with the packing process and see how well prepared your travel partner will be on the road.  If they haven’t packed well, you may have to pick up the slack since they will not be prepared for all the surprises that come with travel.  This could include purchasing things at full price on the road, which takes away from your travel budget and wastes valuable adventure time.  It is better to find out on a short trip that your partner blows budget money, rather than on an extended excursion.

Assuming the packing went well, the next challenge will be compatibility.  There is nothing worse than having a constant complainer or someone who has difficulty with the little travel hiccups that are bound to happen.

Friends don’t necessarily make the best travel partners.  I traveled to Europe with one of my good friends and thought the trip would go smoothly.  We landed in Germany and planned a trip to England, only to have the airport fogged in for days.  My friend complained constantly, so we ended up taking a flight to Ireland instead.

The last thing you want to do is waste all the money you saved for your dream trip and have it turn into a nightmare due to a miserable travel partner.

Testing the Waters With a Mini Trip

Before I met Melissa, she was already an adventure traveler.  Melissa loved to plan stay-cations and weekend getaways with her friends.  After planning a trip to Santa Barbara, Melissa wanted to invite a friend of hers from work. They were great work colleagues, but Melissa wasn’t sure they would be compatible during travel.  She invited her work partner along so she could test the waters before entering into a committed trip to San Francisco!

Although her colleague was a bit messy, they ended up having a great time and her work partner was very easy going and didn’t freak out at last minute changes or challenges. They ended up planning numerous trips and each adventure was more fun than the last.

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