Hope you enjoy another wonderful guest post on travelling by the lovely Jane of Deluminators!
xx Rae

Travelling alone is encouraged nowadays, and rightly so. It teaches you independence and self reliance. I’ve done it and enjoyed it. But you know what? I think I prefer travelling with friends. Not that I’m willing to wait around for people to become available if I do want to go somewhere, but I do like to try and round up a buddy or two for a trip. I know this is what most people do, and what I say in this post doesn’t make me special. Just consider it an ode to the friends I’ve travelled with over the years.

Travelling with Friends - Guest Poster Jane of Deluminators for lovefromberlin.net

My best travel memories are those that involve travelling with friends. Probably because I’m more likely to make stupid decisions when I’m with other people, and the funniest stories are born when things go wrong (as long as nothing catastrophic happens). When I’m alone, I’m extra sensible and play it pretty safe. With friends? We’ve made some pretty bad choices. Resulting in situations like when my friend had to literally pick us up off the streets of Amsterdam because we underestimated that space cake.

Travelling with Friends - Guest Poster Jane of Deluminators for lovefromberlin.net

Travelling with other people also keeps your mind pried wide open. One pro presented for travelling alone is that you get to make all the decisions as to where you want to go and what you want to do. But there have been so many things friends have had to persuade me into, which I ended up enjoying. Like visiting cities which are now on my favourites list (hello Prague and Ronda), or spending a week in a village in Tanzania with no electricity, hot water, or reception. Because of this, I’ve learned to compromise. I used to think that meant losing out on what I wanted, but most of the time I get something better than expected.

Travelling with Friends - Guest Poster Jane of Deluminators for lovefromberlin.net

Travelling with friends can be challenging in a different way to solo travel. I’ve seen fast friendships completely wrecked after a trip. I guess the high expectations and stressors in unfamiliar environments bring out personality clashes that would’ve stayed buried back home. Who knew trying to find a place to eat could result in so much passive aggression? I work with the concept of “what happens on a trip stays on the trip”, and seeing that I’ve been the asshole in many a travel situation, I assume my friends have similar systems for dealing with my bullshit (like my anxious over-planning and constant need to go to the toilet). It’s interesting that travelling with acquaintances I don’t know too well actually goes a lot smoother, because we were forced to be polite to each other.

Travelling with Friends - Guest Poster Jane of Deluminators for lovefromberlin.net

If your friendship survives a trip, you know you guys could probably survive anything. Plus, you’ll have enough inside jokes to last you the rest of your lives.

Photography: Jane

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Stay conscious, Rae

Jane

Jane is a junior doctor from Sydney who blogs at Deluminators. She loves travelling, food, clothes, and spending entire afternoons reading. Her favourite hobby is to photograph and blog about the above.

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  • Monique | WritingMonique

    Loved reading this! I’ve been on two trips with friends: with one of them I don’t have any contact anymore, and with the other one I still have a very tight connection! I definitely agree with you: If your friendship survives a trip: than you are strong!
    WritingMonique

  • these are really stunning photos

    Candice | Beauty Candy Loves

  • I have always preferred travelling alone, so this was quite insightful for me! I suppose there are advantages and drawbacks in all forms of travel. I agree with the compromise, as you mentioned, where you experience things you wouldn’t have thought of alone and that it takes a true friend to last the whole journey together. I long to find that friend. :)

    Louise
    http://linnealoui.se

  • What a well written post! I don’t yet have the money to be heading off to any place yet, thus I have not really gone on so many solo/duo trips to tell you the difference– But I have noticed that when I’m alone, I can better take in the atmosphere– which has its pros, but when i’m with someone, I soak up memories,and those are sometimes so much better than any atmosphere.

    https://cynicalduchess.blogspot.com

  • Omg love this post on traveling. I need to go on a friend trip too!
    PS Hi Jane!

    Enclothed Cognition

  • Mes Voyages à Paris

    Your photos are really nice!!

    xx

    Mónica Sors

    MES VOYAGES À PARIS

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  • Traveling with friends can be really fun! I like traveling with friends as well as traveling solo. I think you need a healthy balance of both. The one crappy thing about traveling solo is that you don’t have any friends to make those fun memories with! :)

    -Emily http://www.coatandcoffee.com

  • I’ve been traveling with friends, family, & significant others. They all have their ups & downs but at the end of the day, it’s the experience that counts whether it be alone or with a group of people. Great post! :]

    // ▲ itsCarmen.com ▲

  • I’ve done travelling alone as well for many times already. But I’m trying to do it with friends, and I already have a lineup of travel trips.

    Surely you enjoyed your trip with your friends. I bet you got tired from the laughing, giggling and making memories with ’em. :)

    BTW, I tagged you on my latest blog post.
    http://chasingecstasy.com/2016/10/liebster-award-2016-pb-bites/

  • this is really nice, jane. i like traveling with friends as much as i enjoy traveling alone. traveling with friends also strengthen your bond and make you open to different type of plan b. i always do things according to itinerary and my friends always the one to encourage me to venture out of it. sometimes it makes my trip bajillion times better! and yes if your friendship survived a trip, then your friendship can survive anything.

    xx http://tanaditya.co.vu

  • I definitely prefer traveling with a few friends because I get travel anxiety when traveling alone (mostly stems from fear of getting lost), but I can see the case for traveling alone as well as the case for traveling with friends! :) -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s

  • I completely agree! I’ve had to travel alone, not for fun, but for other reasons and noticed how reserved I was. Where as, when I’ve travelled with friends I truly do have fun. Also, I think it is interesting to see how people’s behaviour changes when travelling and when you have to spend long periods of time together. A true test on friendship! :D

    Lii
    https://byliil.wordpress.com

  • Nancy Wilde

    Interesting post. I love solo travelling and it can be sort of addictive in a way… The freedom, the independence, the individuality… But then again, if you have the right company at the right timing, it might be just the perfect trip! I remember going to Prague with my best friend a few years ago, wouldn’t do it by myself instead if I could go back in time. But it’s definitely a big test to a friendship… I don’t have patience for big groups though.

  • There are definitely pros and cons to travelling with friends vs alone. But you’re right about how it can test friendships because you all have to be on your best behaviour because you know you’re going to be with each other day in day out. Depending on your own personality and those of the people you’re with, you can either let things go or do the whole “what happens on holidays stays on holidays” but that’s not always the case! Lucky for me I’d say most of my friends are pretty chill and if I knew someone was really high maintenance I’d probably avoid going away with them for exactly that reason.

    littlehenrylee.net

  • Traveling alone and with friends definitely has it’s benefits. I loved having independence when traveling alone, you can go where ever when ever and not worry about planning with anyone else. But on the other hand when you are with friends you have someone to share the memories with =o)

    http://dreamofadventures.blogspot.com/

  • We definitely have a mix of traveling with and without friends as a family. I think its harder because we have kids, but our friends have clearly expressed how they enjoy spending so much time with them. Especially longer trips. Our last major trip, we rented a beach house and it was my family (5 of us), and two sets of aunts/uncles. We all got time to ourselves AND with each other. It was an amazing trip and each aunt/uncle pair got to do something with the kids too.

    As far as travelling solo, my husband does this all the time for work. I know after a while he gets pretty lonely, so we’ll end up talking on the phone for a long time. Me? Not so much. I’ve traveled with friends and solo and met up with friends. I have to say it really depends on who I’m with, but I’ve experienced the good and the bad.