Traveling with others is a tricky thing. Luckily, I have found a couple of high school friends who have turned out to be most excellent traveling partners. We just completed our third annual trip and we've got the beginnings of our next trip developing now. What makes a good travel partner?
For starters, having similar interests is important. For me, I need to travel with people who are easy-going and flexible. I like people who are okay with a change in plans. Some of the things my travel buddies like to do is stroll through gardens, eat at local restaurants, perhaps take a nap if needed. A little shopping, a little chatting, a little pool time. I'm not one who wants to spend a whole day lying around on the beach or spend more than an hour or two shopping. A little bit of everything goes a long ways with me.
Advantages One of the great benefits of travel partners is dividing the costs of gas and lodging. On the last two girlfriend trips, we've been able to find great hotel accommodations that when split 3-ways affords us a nice, clean place to sleep. My husband and I are seasoned road travelers and the places we land can be a little rough for the average person who perhaps spends more of their budget on hotels than we do at motels. Truth be known, I can sleep anywhere. However, when it is us girls we go beyond the road motels for something a bit nicer. Read: hotel. Motel = motor inn. Hotel = more like home. I don't need everything to be gold-plated but if you are the kind who does, this is information that needs to be communicated. Budget is a consideration when booking lodging. I love it that my travel buddies are conscious of this. One of them was the owner of a travel agency for years and she knows the art of a deal. I personally don't have the patience for it so I'm happy she takes the lead in this. However, our next trip in April will be without our resident travel agent so we're on our own for finding housing. We've got months to look so I (we) should start now. We always confer with each other to make sure we're okay with the reservations. This is key is having and keeping a good travel partner. Scheduling events for each day is important when you are traveling with others. What I've found the best about my two travel buddies is that we take a look at what there is to do in an area and take a poll to see what each person wants to do. We all try to be accommodating and with three people it's easy to let the majority rule. Each of us are flexible so this has worked very well. Communication is truly key to a good travel buddy system. Planning ahead six months to a year is also a good rule of thumb. Our next trip to Nashville in April 2017 was placed on the calendar last year. With busy lives, it's good to get such things penciled so a person can do it all.
Do you have a travel partner or two? What have I missed here? Where are you going and do you have a travel partner, or two? Where have you been? Tell me!
love, susan
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