Traveling with a group of friends and family members can be a wonderful, memorably experience. It can also produce a lot of headaches and tension is you don't plan it properly. After all, the more people you have involved in a trip the more opinions you have and the more room there is for conflict. The following ten tips can help you to reduce the conflict and increase the fun. Use them to simplify group travel planning.
1. Choose a group organizer. Although everyone may have a say in the details of the trip, there should be a group leader that gets the final say. This person can be chosen in any manner that suits your group. Examples include selecting the eldest member of the group or choosing the leader randomly out of a hat. This person takes responsibility for mediating arguments, making decisions when the group is at a standoff and disseminating information to the group.
2. Designate roles and tasks. The group leader should make a list of the things that must be done in order to get the trip planned. The leader can then ask for volunteers or designate those tasks to other group members to break up the work. There should be a deadline for each of the tasks. If the task isn't done by that time then the group leader can take over the task's completion.
3. Ask everyone to make a list of concerns and needs before the trip is planned. Each traveler will have needs that the others may not think about. One may require vegetarian-friendly restaurants, another may be concerned about the safety of a hotel and yet another may absolutely hate taking early red eye flights. Of course, there may have to be some compromise but it's a lot easier to accommodate everyone's little peccadilloes if you get a big list of them before planning the vacation.
4. Use a planning guide to organize your trip. You don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Other groups have planned the same types of trips that you're planning and have worked out the kinks. Use other people's trip guides to get you started on your group travel plans. See trip planning guide examples here.
5. Pick a short time frame for the trip. Groups tend to get restless after more than a few days together. Stick with a short time frame for the trip. Members of the group who want to stay longer can always extend their own part of the vacation if they so choose.
6. Schedule times for the group to break apart during the trip. When putting together your group itinerary, make sure that you leave chunks of time for the group to easily break apart. This allows everyone in the group to do some of the things that they want to do but the rest of the group doesn't. It also breaks up any in-group tension by giving everyone a break from one another if they want it.
7. Plan your restaurant meals in advance. Large groups may have trouble finding restaurants that can accommodate them without warning. If your group will be eating together at restaurants then you should plan in advance and research online to find out which restaurants can meet your needs. Make reservations as needed. If you need to get an unplanned restaurant meal either break into smaller groups or look for pizza joints, buffets and other spots that are group-friendly.
8. Avoid splitting into same-age groups. Don't assume that the kids will have the most fun if they spend time with their cousins. They may actually enjoy hanging out with their grandparents. Of course, there are exceptions to this. For example, the kids might like to run off together to the hotel's game room and the young adults may head to the hotel bar together. Nevertheless, don't assume that same-age activities make for the most fun during group travel.
9. Use a group travel planning site to stay organized. The easiest way to make sure that everyone has access to the trip's information is to put it in one place online. There are travel planning websites specifically designed to facilitate both the planning and sharing of information. TripIt is a good example to start with.
10. Be flexible. It should go without saying but it is worth mentioning because it's so important. The more flexible that you can be during the trip, the more you'll have fun regardless of what's going on with the rest of the group.
14 comments:
That was a great post. I enjoyed reading it and I enjoyed how ever tips where well defined. I am hoping that it could all be used when we go camping. One thing more, designating tasks are great things. :)
There are so many great pieces of advice. Even things I didn't think about when doing group travel. Allotting time for breaks from the group, I think this is huge. People can only stand being around a group for so long. To get a break is a welcome. Also, I love how you break everything down, it would make me comfortable enough to arrange a group trip.
I would also add that if you are traveling abroad to make sure your health insurance is accepted where you are going or getting travel insurance. It will definitely lead to peace of mind knowing you are covered either way.
Excellent tips. Traveling with groups is always been fun and what I love the most is it is cheaper compared to traveling solo. You are right, the worst part of traveling solo is conflict in interest so as much as possible everything should be approved by all before trip.
For road trips:
Multi vehicle convoys can be coordinated much more safely with simple FRS style +2 mile range radios.
Very useful when the lead vehicle knows where it is going but everyone else can't keep up due to traffic or can't maintain a visible lock on the lead.
From back in those pre-GPS nav-unit days I'd say the most important thing is to have a navigator that can read maps properly.
Now days I'd say that a good 3G or 4G equipped browsing device allows for real time verification of services off of remote interstate; there's nothing like the GPS nav-unit steering you to the last gas station only to find that it closed a year ago.
Here's an idea: kill every other member of the group and travel by yourself. Guaranteed bliss.
Travel with group is something I am always looking forward. Exploring the world is at it ultimatum if it is shared with friends and much better if family. It is such a great opportunity that you should be grateful of as a traveler.
Travel in a group is always enjoyable and also helpful ...
If you need something then other person will help you.. this is an advantage of travel in a group...
Thanks for such a nice post...
Traveling in groups can be stressful, especially when it comes to splitting costs with friends. That's why I use www.paydivvy.com to manage all my personal and shared expenses in one place. PayDivvy eliminates the hassle and awkwardness that comes with splitting finances.
hehehe I agree Meghan but still it's really a fun. Money does matter a lot coz we are going to make expenses which is a human nature but the fun you will have with your friends is priceless what say...???
Thanks for the great tips, I have one more to add from my last experience. A friend told me about antilosta.com before leaving on my trip to the Middle East, I took his advice and tagged my valuables before leaving, it was one of the smartest things I did when preparing for my trip because in Israel I lost my wallet with all my credit cards and was amazed to have it back one day after it was lost thanks to that little antilosta tag that I put on my wallet. The tagging service is available free from antilosta.com and it works very well. I now have all my valuables tagged, camera, mobile phone, laptop, you name it.
Stay safe and travel smart
The larger the group, the harder for the travel plan to be arranged. But traveling in a large group also gives you discounts to accommodations.
Group travel can certainly be a challenge. I like the idea of the group travel planning site, but I'm just not sure I've found the right one yet. It has to be something to integrate into Facebook groups, etc. I would say.
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