If you’re anything like me, changes are you want to, or have wanted to, travel, at some point in your life. Whether that’s the kind of travel where you pack a huge backpack and disappear for two years, or the milder kind where you book a couple of minibreaks to European cities, usually you want to take someone with you. But it can be difficult making sure the person you’re going with is the right one for you. This post talks about how to choose your travelling companion.
Make a list of places you want to go. Ask the other person to do this too. Do any of your destinations match? Are they at least similar? Chances are if one of you has listed capital cities of the world and the other beach resorts only in Spain, you’re probably looking at totally different types of holiday.
Discuss what you want to do at your destination. I want to wander around with my camera, take lots of photos and pop into that cute little cafe for a drink. I want to be able to say ‘I’m going to head this way, I’ll see you in a couple of hours’ and head off on my own. I don’t want to go jumping out of planes, to every single museum in the country, or to sit in a pub all day. None of these things are wrong-definitely not, you see the world how YOU want to-but I’m not going to get on well with someone who’s planning totally different things to me.
Check your budgets match. I’m working overtime, saving, and putting my blog income towards travel this year. I’m doing this so that I can go on that day trip if I fancy it, I can treat myself to some unusual makeup from the shops, and I can definitely have that second expensive cocktail. I’m not bothered about a 5* hotel, but I don’t want to be in a shared dorm in a hostel miles away from the place I’m visiting. It’s very important to make sure you’re both on a similar page, budget wise, otherwise one person ends up missing out, paying for the other person or getting into debt. Not a good place to be for either of you.
Find someone who understands your love of photography. If you have one, that is. You don’t want to be annoyed that your travel companion keeps walking away without you whilst you’re getting that shot, and likewise you don’t want them to get cross because you’re trying to get that shot. Make sure they know you’ll want to take lots of photos and are okay with that (or are okay to split up for a few hours whilst you go get your photographer on)
Perhaps most importantly, remember it shouldn’t ruin your friendship if you aren’t a great travelling match. Some of my most favourite people, my closest friends, are people I would NEVER travel with. Not because there’s anything I dislike about them-on the contrary, it’s that I know we’d want to do totally different things and so would argue terribly. So I go with someone else and enjoy showing the friend the photos when I’m back.
Have I missed anything in this post? Have you ever had a trip with someone you just shouldn’t have travelled with because you’re not a good match? Do you have any tips on how to choose your travelling companion?
Spending time with people on the road isn t the same as at home, especially if you plan to travel internationally. But when you get stuck on a train with someone for 15 hours, or handling an emergency situation in an alley, or walking into a hostel to find your room s been given away, people s true colors bleed through very quickly.