You thought I was going to go all Shakespeare on you didn’t you? No, that is not what this is about today.
To be or not to be, traveling with friends? That is the question.
We all know that this can be a land mine in waiting. Traveling with family is something we have all done, and many times you don’t have a choice. But you always have a choice when you travel with friends. I have to admit that I travel quite often with friends now that my daughter has grown and is on her own. When she was younger we took trips together when she was home for the summers, in fact one of my fondest is a trip to Europe for her graduation from High School. The one I will never forget is the one in which we lost her at the zoo (she was very young). Don’t worry we found her. And let me tell you this, the San Diego Zoo can go into lockdown mode in about 60 seconds, it’s very good to know if your a parent.
When traveling with family it is inevitable that you and your spouse will have an argument of some sort, where to eat, what to wear, where to go, what will the kids do, how much money are we spending, you know typical vacation disagreements we will call them. In the end, they are your spouse, children, parents or grandparents the odds of having a long lasting, relationship breaking battle are somewhat slim. That is unless you strap grandma to a rocking chair on top of the car, that might do it.
But what about traveling with your neighbors, co-workers or the dreaded girlfriend/boyfriend when you still don’t even brush your teeth in from of each other yet? With family your greatly invested in each other, with friends, your investment is less risky. And how do you choose which friends to go with, should they be just like you in personality, or the complete opposite? Does the way they live their lives everyday give you any indication if your compatible travel partners? How well do you actually know them? How to deal with the restaurant bill? What type of trip, open and free wheeling or closed and controlled? How long should the trip be? With family you sort of just know how it works, but with friends, its like trying to find your way through a maze.
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