"" Writer's Wanderings: Staying Friends When You Travel Together

Monday, June 05, 2017

Staying Friends When You Travel Together

Over the almost fifty years that we have been married we have taken quite a few trips with my husband's twin brother and his wife. There were several trips before children, a couple with children and now, as empty-nesters, several more. Over the years we have learned how to travel together and still remain friends. I would not recommend this to you unless you learn to respect each other's interests and budgets and are able to compromise.

I found an article that talks about ten mistakes not to make when traveling with friends. It offers some good advice. Here's some of the things we do.

First it has to be a place we all want to go and explore. Both couples do their research to see what type of accommodation we would choose. We set up a list of priorities of things to do or see. They don/t always match exactly but either we compromise on some or we agree to go our separate ways on some days.

Once we have our agenda outlined we begin to map out our trip and where we will stay and how long. It's a whole lot easier when it's a cruise because then the itinerary is pretty much set by the cruise line although we usually plan a few days before setting sail to explore the port of embarkation.

Thankfully our interests are very similar so it makes our days together much nicer but no matter how similar there are still times when it is a good idea to split for a while. Sometimes that split means the girls go one way and the guys another. There was one trip through Europe where one evening my sister-in-law and I wanted to just spend an evening relaxing and reading. The boys went off on their own to a fair in the town in Germany where we were staying. There were lots of good stories told afterward--fully embellished, I'm sure.

Number 10 on the article's list can add a lot of frustration to your travel though. Electronics can get in the way of enjoying a nice dinner out or cause distraction when you really want to enjoy an experience together. Electronics can be helpful for travel but can also tend to separate you. Use them wisely.

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