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How to have a holiday with your friends and come back friends!
So you are planning your summer holiday and your friend says they are thinking of going away the same time of the year and before you know it you’ve agreed to book somewhere together. All good so far, but to ensure that you all enjoy the holiday it will involve 3 key ingredients; tact, patience and compromise.
Things You Should Do. Planning - Plan the holiday equally don’t leave it to one person to do all the research when booking a hotel, camp site or holiday home. Resentment will soon rise if one person is left doing all the work. The same goes for the travel arrangements share out these jobs so that everyone has some part in planning and organising the holiday.
Share the chores- When you go away with a small group of friends it’s only fair that everyone takes a turn in cooking, shopping or cleaning if you are self-catering. Take it in turns so that everyone gets to enjoy the holiday and everyone feels they are doing their bit so that all have a good time.
Good Housekeeping - Make sure you have the same living standards as your friends. It’s going to cause an issue if your friends are quite happy the leave the dirty dishes stacked up on the side for days and are quite happy to leave the bathroom towels dropped on the floor! And you prefer to have a more organised and tidy environment. If you don’t have the same living standards then you aren’t going to be able to live happily together, so it may be best to find other friends to holiday with.
Small is better - It may seem like a great idea to get everyone on your contacts list together for a holiday – however in reality it will feel like you are organising an army manoeuvre rather than a holiday. A smaller group will work much better and will be easier to organise when you can all go and what you will do whilst on the holiday.
House Rules - It’s really important if going away with children that you set some ground rules before you go. We all bring our children up differently and this can cause issues if boundaries are not set before you go away. For example are you happy for your friends to tell your children off?! Are you happy for the children to stay up till they fall asleep where they drop or do you have a time you prefer the children to be in bed? All these types of issues need to be agreed before you go away. House rules are relevant for adult only holidays too, not everyone wants to party till 2am in the morning so make sure you are going away with likeminded people.
You Aren’t Joined At The Hip- Make sure you have some time just for yourself, you don’t have to do everything together. Having some time apart is a great way of keeping everyone happy and allowing little niggles that may have cropped up over the holiday calm down.
Relax. - Don’t stress, it’s a holiday don’t let the little niggles get you down and spoil your vacation. It’s not forever so don’t hold on to grudges, it will only spoil the holiday.
Things You Shouldn’t Do.
Over Compromise - Although it is important to compromise on certain things like the planning, housekeeping and house rules you shouldn’t forget it is your holiday as well and if there are things you really want to do then make sure you do! If your friends are happy to spend every day around the campsite or pool, but you really want to visit the local town or go to a place of interest then go!
Money Matters - Don’t assume anything when it comes down to money, this is one of the biggest reasons people fall out. We all have very different views when it comes down to finances, don’t assume everyone is going to be happy to spend £30.00 on a bottle of wine or eat out every night. Decide in advance the simple things like how the cost of a meal is going to be split, how the bills are going to be divided etc.