Rules For Travel Buddies

(a.k.a. "How To Keep From Strangling Your Friends")

(This document assumes that you have made a firm decision to travel with at least one other person. If you're not sure, and think you might want to travel solo, please read my diatribe on traveling in a group vs. traveling alone.)

Without agreeing on a few things before you leave, traveling with another person or people can be a disaster. It can make your trip positively miserable, and make you wish you could either go home yourself or put your travel buddy on the next plane home. Here are a few suggestions for things to talk with your travel buddy about, BEFORE you leave:

• Make your itinerary in advance. If you both want to stay someplace longer than planned, or if you both want to leave early, then fine, but if you've agreed on an itinerary in advance, then you're both less likely to be upset at sticking with your original plan.
• Discuss your expenses. Decide how much you want to spend per day on food, accommodation, etc. It may be important for one of you to eat in "authentic" restaurants, whereas for the others it may be more important to save that money and go to museums. A corollary of this is to MAKE SURE that both you and your partner have enough money for the trip. Particularly if you don't know your partner well, you do NOT want to be put in the position of either having to borrow or lend money on the road.
• Discuss your picture-taking habits. This may sound bizarre, but I can't tell you how many travelers I have heard complain about their travel partners who take too many pictures. It takes time to stop and take a picture, and if you stop every five feet to take a picture (like I do), your partner may be ready to push you off the next ferry boat by the end of your first day. Conversely, of course, it can be a real drag for those of us who are photo nuts to constantly be rushed through places that we really want pics of.
• If you are on a short trip (a month or less), you're probably okay agreeing to travel together the entire time. If you're on a longer trip, or if you don't know how long it's going to be ("until the money runs out"), then you may want to agree on a period of time to travel together, or you may even want to agree that, if you want to go in one direction and your travel partner another, you split up and meet in some other place at a specified time. (My personal preference is to travel with people who are comfortable splitting up and getting back together in a couple weeks.)