How to Getaway (the Right Way) with Friends

I have been on some incredible trips with friends. It’s something that I think everyone should do because friendships only grow deeper after a wonderful trip. The stakes are a little higher, but it’s fun to be outside of the usual environment and to spend all day every day together.

How to Getaway (the Right Way) with Friends

Guest post by Maxie McCoy

Vacations are one of the best things about summer. Between the long weekends, the slowed pace and for others, some seriously extended time off, I’m not sure there’s any better time to make a getaway happen with your besties.

But despite the #squadgoals that we see everywhere on Instagram, with the best of friends traveling (what looks like) flawlessly to the coolest of places. Anyone who has traveled with one friend or an entire group knows…it’s not as easy as it might look. Some people have very different expectations when they travel. Some people handle the unknown and the variables of travel completely differently. There’s a lot to think about before planning a friend getaway.

I just got back from a place I’ve been so many times, but this was the first time I had some of my dearest girlfriends on the island with me. It was easy as pie and one of the BEST experiences I’ve ever had. But it also got me thinking about why it worked so well, and what to think about to make sure any getaway with friends works for you, too. A few things to consider as you plan:

Know your vacay priorities: some people consider vacation a time to do absolutely nothing. Others consider it a time to see and do absolutely everything. Before you plan a trip with friends, get a sense of what vacation means to you and to them. Do they want to lounge on a beach chair for 4 straight days while you want to see everything the location has to offer? Or are you all on the same page? Or are you comfortable dividing and conquering? It’s important to know so you can plan accordingly.

Make sure you can communicate: so many unknowns can happen when you’re traveling. From flight delays to messed up reservations to trips simply not going as planned…there will be a lot you can’t plan for. So you want to make sure that the people you’re traveling with are comfortable talking about anything that comes up on the trip together (concerns, frustrations, excitement, etc).

Know who is taking the lead: From keeping all the reservations together, to having google maps all planned out and routed, typically one personality will be the ringleader of your getaway. Have a sense of who that is and make sure everyone else does too. Because if everyone is watching the kids in the pool, then no one is watching the kids in the pool and there’s nothing worse than a crowd full of indecisive people trying to make a decision.

Laugh, A LOT: whatever you do, plan a getaway with humans that make you belly laugh. Giggles are the best medicine, even better than the absolute best vacay. Laugh easy, laugh often, and be with people who do the same, and you’ll have the best possible trip together and a treasure chest of memories made.

Getaways are the best. Getaways with friends make everything even better. Consider some of these points before you go and you’ll have a trip worth remembering for quite some time.

For more inspiration from Maxie (and to pre-order her encouraging new book) check this out.