Expectations Vs. Reality: Travelling With Friends

Expectations Vs. Reality: Travelling With Friends
Verena
Verena 
Updated
| 8 min read

Nothing quite beats the experience of going on an adventure with your best friends. It allows you to bond in ways you cannot even imagine. From planning the trip to actually embarking on the journey, you will no doubt, however, face obstacles along the way. More often than not, your plan does not work out as expected. Sometimes these challenges can truly be a blessing in disguise, and you will get to experience the perks of traveling with friends!

1. Expectation: Your dream vacation destination is theirs too

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You’ve always known where your dream vacation destination is. And since you are all friends, surely it shouldn’t be difficult to agree on a place? Some people may have to make a small compromise but no one’s complaining.

Reality: No one can agree on where to go

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This could go one of two ways:

  1. No one has any idea where to go.
  2. Everyone has a different destination in mind.

Either way, you’ll find yourself stuck in limbo when it comes to making the final decision.

2. Expectation: Everyone contributes to planning the trip

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You find the flights, one friend finds accommodation, the other figures out what to do etc. Splitting the tasks doesn’t sound like much for each person to handle. With each person contributing a small part, the trip will go smoothly with minimal stress.

Reality: You find yourself doing absolutely everything

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Your friends keep putting off their tasks and before you know it, you have less than a month to figure everything out. You start stressing out but no one else seems to even care. So, what else can you do apart from taking charge of the whole thing?

3. Expectation: Your friends thank you profusely for arranging the trip

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You’ve booked the flights, the hotel, the tours, and anything else necessary. As expected, your friends are extremely grateful you were able to make the trip happen by yourself. And it makes you feel as though all the stress was worth it.

Reality: Everyone suddenly seems to have an opinion about everything

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If no one cared about anything before, now it seems like everyone does. The flight departs too early, the hotel is too far from the city … the complaints are endless. Just ignore them; it is probably too late to change anything by now anyway.

4. Expectation: All of you show up at the same time, looking like a true #squad

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We all know what #squadgoals is. There is no shame in admitting that you wish your group of friends would look cool enough to be a squad. As you strut through the airport in a group, you can replay the scene in slow motion in your mind, almost like you’re in a movie.

Reality: At least one person will be late at all times

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The whole idea of #squadgoals doesn’t quite work if one person is missing from the group. And trust me, there will always be that one person who is late and failing to complete the ‘squad’. You will probably all be groaning from the wait by the end of the trip.

5. Expectation: Everyone is pumped and excited while waiting to board the plane

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The day is finally here!! You can’t wait to start this adventure with your friends. You can already imagine all the fun you are going to have during your trip. Quite frankly, you’re just relieved that everything worked out in the end.

Reality: You’re tired and all you want to do is get on the plane to sleep

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You’ve probably all woken up too early to catch the flight. Between getting to the airport and waiting at the security checkpoint, everyone is probably too exhausted to be energetic. You may even start to contemplate why you thought taking a morning flight was a good idea, but it’s too late to change that now.

6. Expectation: The accommodation you chose is as impressive as it looked online

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The photos of the hotel or Airbnb property you chose looked amazing. Modern, centrally located, and, most importantly, affordable. There’s nothing more you could have asked for! And the best part? It looks exactly the same in real life, and you almost can’t believe you found this gem of a place.

Reality: You arrive at a dingy room that looks nothing like the photos you saw

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Every traveler’s worst nightmare is to show up at a hotel or Airbnb accommodation that could not be more different from the photos featured online. Nothing sucks more than having to decide between two bad options: putting up with the room, or finding a nicer place but risking wasting money.

7. Expectation: You easily find your way around the city

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It can’t be that hard to read a map, right? Between physical maps and Google Maps, you are able to figure out your way around the city. With all your heads put together, it shouldn’t be too difficult. Worst case scenario, you ask someone to confirm the way before continuing forward.

Reality: You get lost and start to worry that you’ll never make it back alive

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You think you’ve got the city all figured out … until you realize that you don’t. Next thing you know, you’re strolling through a narrow alleyway in a part of the city you never intended to go to. And, if none of you have great map-reading skills, you may find yourself stuck here for a while. Bonus panic for it starting to go dark!

8. Expectation: You go out every night and have fun

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It’s not every day you get to explore a foreign city with your best friends. Of course, one thing you have to do together is party all night. Spend the night dancing and jamming out to some of your favorite tunes.

Reality: Everyone crashes in bed the moment you get home

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You’ve already spend the whole day sightseeing and exploring the city. Your legs are aching, your eyes can’t stay open, and your back is sore. Instead of going out to a bar or club, everyone prefers to stay in and have a chilled night. No one said this isn’t fun too, but it just wasn’t quite the idea you had in mind.

9. Expectation: You've saved up and can afford to splurge on everything

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You’ve anticipated this trip for so long that you got really good at saving your monthly paychecks. Now that it is finally here, you feel like you can splurge on everything. There is no better time to ‘treat yo self’ than right now!

Reality: You only remembered to save up the last 2 months and have to consider your budget very carefully

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When your plans to save money fail, you realize that you have a lot less money to spend. Between paying for flights, accommodation, and more, you are probably very low on funds. This means saving in any aspect you can. Cheap meals, minimal transportation costs, and no shopping is the only way to go.

Friends who travel together, stay together

Friends
Source: Pxhere

Despite all the ups and downs you may face, traveling with your best friends could be one of the best experiences of your life. It is nothing like traveling with your family or the love of your life, and every second will be an adventure. No matter how much stress the trip puts you through, it will all be worth it at the end when you feel closer to your friends than you did before, something you never thought was even possible. Ultimately, if your friendship manages to survive the test of traveling, you will probably be able to get through anything together.

Any must-sees we missed? Tell us about them in the comments section or write a post here to help out fellow travelers!
Disclosure: Trip101 selects the listings in our articles independently. Some of the listings in this article contain affiliate links.

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Verena is currently a journalism student in New York City. Having to move around a lot throughout her childhood triggered her passion for traveling at a young age. She believes that exploring new...Read more

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