Group holidays can be the best or the worst type of holidays to go on. A great test of your friendship is to go on holidays with said friends and if you come back, even stronger friends, then it’s safe to say that it was meant to be! Well, you don’t need to leave everything to chance on your group holidays though – here are 7 surefire way to ensure you not only come back from your holiday with your friendships strengthened but that you also have a fantastic time on your holidays!
1.) Spread the duties but have just one person in charge of one thing. For instance, while you’re taking care of flight bookings, ensure someone else is taking care of hotels/apartment bookings, someone else is in charge of putting together an itinerary…etc. Don’t leave each person to deal with their plans on their own – that’ll only end up confusing things and making it harder to make plans than it really should be.
2.) Some people will be ready to party all night, others will want to be by the pool all day. Asides from mandatory activities (e.g. a birthday dinner swiftly followed by drinks – if your plan was to get away for your friend’s birthday), let everyone else do what they would rather do on holiday. As long as one person doesn’t end up being left behind on their own, let’s the partier go partying, the sightseer go sightseeing, the beach-obsessed go to the beach… you get my drift. This ensures that you not only get the group holiday you want but everyone else gets the individual holiday they want too.
3.) Try to stay in apartments/houses instead of booking hotel rooms (unless of course if the hotel rooms cater to having multiple guests staying in one place). It’s fairly easy to find places that can cater for up to 20 people so you have no excuses for not booking one. And, it’s much cheaper to make bookings this way too! It’s so much more fun when everyone’s all together – that’s the point of a group holiday after all!
4.) Speaking of staying in the same place – if you have an apartment or house you’re all staying in, you also have the flexibility of being able to get drinks and food into your own place and do stuff at your own convenience! Make use of that! Bars or restaurants shut early? There’s a party to be had back at home then!
5.) Even if you’re the one making the bookings, try to remember to let your hair down (figuratively speaking of course). It’s so easy to get caught up in the hassle of planning that you end up getting stressed instead of having a good time. Remember – it’s a holiday and it is supposed to be fun so let all the baggage go and have fun!
6.) Split the bills but ensure you have a shared money pot (a “kitty” – which is something I heard an aunt call it once and that word has stayed with me since). People owing each other money can get messy at the best of times so try not to complicate things by owing or being owed more money than you need to. Yes, it will be necessary in some circumstances but where possible, split the bills so you don’t all end up getting confused as to who owed who what and from when and all that nonsense. It’s not worth it. Stuff like petrol, taxis and other even shared costs can easily be taken out of the shared pot and remember, the shared pot can be topped up at any time too!
7.) A final note to those doing the planning – share all the information as much as possible. The last thing you need on your group holiday is for people to be surprised by some plans you’ve made – unless of course if the plan all along was to surprise them! 🙂
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