The best vacation length is eight days exactly, at least according to science. If you go away for seven days or less, then you don’t achieve peak vacation happiness, but if you go away for nine days or more, then you risk staying too long.
The study didn’t look at the ideal number of people to take with you on vacation, but in many cases, it makes sense to bring a few friends along with you. The best vacations for a group of friends are ones that manage to split the travel costs while bringing everyone closer together.
Keep reading for tips on how to plan a trip for you and eight or 10 of your closest friends.
Get Started Early
Last-minute getaways are relatively easy when you’re traveling solo. After all, it doesn’t take very long to consult with yourself and figure out if you can swing a trip on your own. But adding people to the trip significantly increases the level of difficulty.
Because of that, you need to start planning at least six months in advance, if not longer.
As an adult, it’s hard to juggle a half-dozen or more different schedules to find a week or two that will work for everyone. If possible, there should be at least one group trip planner who can poll everyone and asks what days will work best.
If a group vacation is going to fall apart, it’s best for it to happen in the early stages rather than the late ones. It’s still disappointing to have to cancel things, but it’s much better to do that when you’re still within the window to obtain at least a partial refund on travel expenses.
Avoid Inviting Trouble
If you want to bring someone with you on a group trip, you need to make sure you can stand being around each other for long periods of time.
In the practical sense, that means you should not invite the friend who will spend the whole vacation trying to hook up with people from other countries. Something like that is going to get old fast.
It only takes troublemaker to completely throw off a group’s dynamic. Avoid the temptation to “be nice” and invite a friend who will spend the entire trip making themselves and everybody else miserable.
Ask About Group Rates
Most businesses don’t care about giving discounts to groups of two, three, or four people. But as your group gets bigger, so do your chances of snagging a stellar group discount.
Let’s say your group of 20 people is making a trip to Australia. When a party gets that big, you may find that a coach hire in Sydney makes life much less complicated.
It’s also likely to be cheaper on a per-person basis than trying to hail five or six taxis every single time the group needs to leave the hotel.
Group rates are also applicable if you’re doing things like visiting a museum or going to see a live show. If you aren’t sure if the destination offers a group rate, just ask.
How to Plan a Trip with Friends
Getting your group travel planners to agree on dates is tough, but getting them to agree on a destination might be even tougher.
Luckily, figuring out how to plan a trip gets easier when you look at our blog. We’ve even got a category devoted exclusively to the top vacation destinations, so check it out today!
