Back in the glory days you’d book a week in Maga for £200 each and spend all day eating chips and floating on lilos and all night drinking Sex On The Beach and showing off your really cute printed shorts collection. But these days holidays are – ahem – slightly different.
The issue with holidaying with your besties as you get older is that you get more used to doing things in your own set way, and that comes down to everything from the butter brand you choose on your weekly shop (Lurpak is the only choice IMO), to how much you think is reasonable to spend per night on a hotel room. Some people loved chilled out by-the-pool-all-day holidays and others want back-to-back excursions. Some want to be at the breakfast buffet at 8am and others want to be out all night. It can be a fiddly business, but I recently came back from a couples’ trip to Rome and I *think* we’re all still talking, so here’s what I learned…
Discuss budget beforehand.
If you can, get together in the flesh before any booking of flights or accommodation takes place, and have a chat about how much you realistically want to spend on the whole trip/per night at the accommodation. Use the time to also plan which dates you can/can’t do, which airports or mode of transport options there are, and if there’s any set things you might definitely want to do together, such as visit a landmark or tourist attraction.
Allow each other some flexibility.
Assume that everyone you’re holidaying with will likely want to do their own thing, rather than assuming it the other way round – that you’ll all be doing everything together. One of my favourite ever group trips was my best friend’s hen do to Ibiza pre-lockdown. She said to me before we booked the holiday that she knew clubbing in Ibiza would be my idea of hell and she didn’t expect me to do anything that I wouldn’t enjoy, she’d just be happy for me to be there. So every night I bid goodbye to the 10 other girls at midnight as they hit the clubs, and I climbed into bed with a bottle of water and my book (I did all the beach clubs, boat parties and bars during the day and evening!). Knowing I didn’t have to step outside my comfort zone or sacrifice my holiday to people please made the trip so much more relaxing, and I’m forever thankful to my bestie for allowing me that flexibility.
Download a money app.
We used Splitwise for our trip to help work out who owed each other what. It meant one of us could buy a round of drinks, another could book attraction tickets, and another pay for dinner and we’d input all the costs into the app and it would break it down so that everything was shared out equally. It was helpful in making sure no-one unnecessarily paid more than their share!
Communicate.
Bottom line for all relationships, whether it’s with your husband or your two-year-old is to communicate as much as possible. Same goes for your mates. Talk about what you do want to do, what you don’t want to do. Chat things through before they become problems.
Make a loose plan.
Personally, I’m not one for a super-tight holiday itinerary. I like to go with the flow, relax, and see where the day takes me, but I know that doesn’t suit everyone. I think it works well to make a loose plan of what the day will entail, even if it’s a simple as dinner at 8pm, mini golf for whoever fancies it at 4pm, and a drink and game of cards at 7pm for anyone who’s ready early. If you’ve got a mega rough timetable for each day (which takes into consideration everyone in the party and their needs) it makes it easier for people to dip in and out of plans and keeps everyone in the loop.
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