Best And Worst Travel Partners?

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amelia88

amelia88

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What do you look for in a travel partner?

I've only travelled with family or friends - and even then we have had personality clashes and arguments when we have been on trips together. I think sometimes travel causes some heightened stress and as a result it can be frustrating - or little things get on your nerves that wouldn't usually bother you.

Have you ever had any disaster stories about travel companions? Or any wonderful success stories you would like to share?
 
The best travel partner is the one who is sensitive to other peoples needs. Unless you are rich, traveling involves a lot of interactions with strangers in strange places and some times in close proximity (in a plane for instance). Thats why some one who is considerate of other peoples culture, traditions and space is an excellent travel partner.
 
I've only ever travelled with my family and partner aswell to be honest. A few of my friends have travelled away together but something always came up to stop me joining them, but thinking about it that might have been a good thing as I'm not sure how well we'd have got on being stuck with each other for that length of time!
 
pwarbi said:
I've only ever travelled with my family and partner aswell to be honest. A few of my friends have travelled away together but something always came up to stop me joining them, but thinking about it that might have been a good thing as I'm not sure how well we'd have got on being stuck with each other for that length of time!
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Haha! Believe me - I've had some friendships pushed to almost breaking point because of travel, and some that actually did break.

Often I think I would be terrible on a TV show like the Amazing Race, because sometimes I have a bit of a tendency to be a stress-head when I travel. It's why in some cases I just prefer to travel alone!
 
I can believe it! Sometimes my friends test my patience on a night out never mind travelling and spending any length of time together.

Seriously though when your travelling it is important to make sure you're with the right people, and like you say, sometimes it can be stressful and you'd want someone there to help with the plans and be able to deal with any situation you might find yourself in, and not somebody who just tags along.
 
pwarbi said:
I can believe it! Sometimes my friends test my patience on a night out never mind travelling and spending any length of time together.

Seriously though when your travelling it is important to make sure you're with the right people, and like you say, sometimes it can be stressful and you'd want someone there to help with the plans and be able to deal with any situation you might find yourself in, and not somebody who just tags along.
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Yeah, that's definitely been part of the struggle for me. I'm a pretty organized person (or try to be) and so I felt like I was always the one making bookings, doing research on things like accommodation, transport, things to do and all that sort of stuff...and yes I've had people just seem to tag along as if I was their own personal tour guide or something! Like you said it's about being with the right people, and if there's too much of a personality clash it can really become apparent very fast when you're on vacation and dealing with jetlag and language barriers and all that sort of stuff!
 
I've traveled with my parents and once with a friend of mine and I can say no matter how close travel partners are, there will be arguments and hard feelings, but there's no other way around it...traveling as mentioned above can be frustrating and when we're tired we could easily get into arguments.
 
I always look for someone I get along with. If your going to be spending a lot of time with a person, and the enjoyment you have a vacation depends on this, then you should be careful to choose someone who will maximize that enjoyment. I travel with people I know well. You can't really know anyone until you've spent significant amounts of time with them. It's also safer to travel with someone your familiar with.
 
I want to have a travel partner who's also of like-mind meaning I need them to be culturally sensitive, quick on their feet and adventurous as I am. Travelling with your family is quite hard I agree that's why it's important to have an itinerary and follow it because my family especially always have their own plans despite the schedule that was already set months in advance. When you're travelling with a friends make sure you know each other pretty well for obvious reasons, you don't want to travel with a stranger right?
 
Maybe its just me but I have always preferred travelling with friends more than family. And this was before getting married, and post marriage I dare not say such a thing in front of my wife. She is my default travel partner now, I research the places we both would like to visit, book the accommodation and transport, carry the luggage and last but not the least also get to enjoy the place (that is only if I have chosen the destination myself).
 
I think its super important to find someone who is a compliment to your personality.

I am not very good at forward planning and tend to just "wing it" and therefore a partner who is super good at forward planning would be a great partner for me. This would mean they could do all the stressful plane and hotel booking and getting timetables for tours and such where I am very useful at getting a resolution when things go wrong. An example of this was finding a replacement hotel when I was on holiday and found that the hotel I was booked into had already given my room away to someone else.

They profusely apologised and gave us all passes to use there facilities and a full refund after I explained that they had ruined our plans. The hotel we did stay in was about a 10 minute walk from the original one (meaning we could use the facilities) and was quite affordable considering we just walked up to the desk and asked for a room for the week.
 
amelia88 said:
What do you look for in a travel partner?

I've only travelled with family or friends - and even then we have had personality clashes and arguments when we have been on trips together. I think sometimes travel causes some heightened stress and as a result it can be frustrating - or little things get on your nerves that wouldn't usually bother you.

Have you ever had any disaster stories about travel companions? Or any wonderful success stories you would like to share?
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You are completely correct about travelling being stressful sometimes. The jet-lag, fatigue and unexpected problems that occur often combine together to make us snappy and bad-tempered. An inconsiderate travel-partner suffering from the same problems can quickly become someone who annoys us and arguments can break out. Its best to travel with someone you either know fairly well, so you will be used to each other being a bit stressed out, or at least someone you have met a few times before. When travelling in India before, I have met people a travelled some of the way with them, and I have met many wonderful people this way, but I've also met people who are not quite what they seem and their intentions are less than honourable.
 
I prefer to travel alone. I will take a good book or music to keep me company. I I tend to notice more things along the way and at my destination when I'm on my own, thereby making the trip more memorable. However, if I had to pick someone to travel with, it would be a sibling. We are completely comfortable with each other and have long since learned to adjust to the others moods and tastes. And since we know each other so well, not too much energy is lost in trying adjust to each others needs.
 
kokosflocken said:
I prefer to travel alone. I will take a good book or music to keep me company. I I tend to notice more things along the way and at my destination when I'm on my own, thereby making the trip more memorable. However, if I had to pick someone to travel with, it would be a sibling. We are completely comfortable with each other and have long since learned to adjust to the others moods and tastes. And since we know each other so well, not too much energy is lost in trying adjust to each others needs.
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My sister is much like you and prefers to travel alone or with family. She recently did 3 months backpacking solo through South America and said it was one of the best experiences she'd had. If she found like minded friends at her hostels she would do small day trips with them, but she had the freedom and flexibility of dictating her own schedule and not having to worry constantly about appeasing someone else's needs!
 
Finding the right person (or people) to travel with is probably as important as finding the right holiday and destination you want to go to. Some would say it's even more important as good friends can make a bad holiday good, but bad friends can destroy a good one.
 
pwarbi said:
Finding the right person (or people) to travel with is probably as important as finding the right holiday and destination you want to go to. Some would say it's even more important as good friends can make a bad holiday good, but bad friends can destroy a good one.
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So true @pwarbi! I've had bad holidays turn themselves around as a result of the company I've had, but I've also had amazing destinations somewhat tarnished because of arguments or drama associated with the travel partners I've had! It can go both ways!
 
I often find that sometimes the worst holidays can turn out to be some of the best and funniest times, depending on who your with.

I think when travelling it's best not to take anything to seriously and just accept the fact that things can and will go wrong.
 
Well, it can depend who you travel with, but as for me, my best travel partners would be my family, we are usually quite casual about things and try not to stress when things don't go our way. I remember travelling around Europe when one of the airlines made us stop in some other country for the night, they offered us a night in a 4 star Hotel, plus vouchers for food(a lot of vouchers), we went crazy and got way more than we needed, the point it that we had fun even though our plans had been changed, it's about finding a plus side of things that seem negative.
 
I think your right and a lot of people stress about things when they don't go exactly to plan.

Even if they don't then just ride with it sand make the most of the situation. At the end of the day if something doesn't go right, then panicking and stressing over it won't make a difference.
 
Not exactly a 'travel partner', but I did travel with them so.. probably my family. I have a pretty big family, you see - five adults (mother, father, brother, his wife and me) and two children. The problem? My parents refuse to pay for two rooms and force us all to stay in one room. That's basically a recipe for disaster.. and it worked. I could barely rest in my own hotel room because the kids were always so noisy, I had to sleep on the sofa (the beds were reserved for my parents and the two children's parents) and wake up with back pain, and the morning rush for the bathroom is practically The Hunger Games. And unfortunately, I'm not Katniss, so I never get the bathroom first - I'm more of one of those filler actor guys whose character dies at the very beginning.

My family are also extremely controlling on where we would go next, so I'm rarely able to visit places I actually want to visit. And for this reason, I now rarely go on vacations with them anymore (I was younger back then, so they refused to leave me at home for obvious reasons) and when I do go on vacation, I'd always either go alone, or have my close friend (or sometimes a close group of friends - this is mostly for when the cost is much higher than expected though, that way they'll help us pay a portion of it) go with me.
 
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