Monday, October 15, 2012

Traveling with Friends

Last night, I was reading The Epoch Times (first time I have ever read it) and an article by Michele Goncalves, The Consummate Traveler, caught my attention. The article titled, "Tips for Weekends Away with Friends," offered two tips for travel with friends:

A few days ago, I met up with two of my friends for a “girls only” weekend in New York City. We get together every year and usually stay at the same hotel. I used my American Express (AMEX) points to pay for the room we would share and even upgraded us to an executive level floor. On this trip, however, we encountered a snag or two. I thought I’d pass along my experiences, since they are useful to anyone planning future trips.
The first hitch was with the hotel reservation. One of my friends, flying in from across the country, was arriving early in the morning at the hotel before the rest of us. We agreed she would wait for us in the executive lounge. 
However, when I made the hotel reservation using my credit card points, I neglected to note the names of my guests. I called the hotel to inform them of our plan, but they indicated they could not modify the reservation in any way because it was done via a travel website, and not directly with them. While my lovely AMEX platinum card travel agent was eventually able to call back the hotel and leave the note I wanted, it is a good idea to disclose the names of all guests at the point of making the initial reservation to spare you aggravation later. 
Another hurdle involved a new hotel policy we didn’t know about. In years past, I was able to secure a rollaway bed with no issue. This allowed all three of us to feel comfortable without the expense of getting a second room. 
I was really surprised to find out upon my arrival that the hotel’s rules had changed and they were not going to allow a rollaway bed in a room with two double beds. Their claim was that this was due to a new fire hazard policy. 
While my friends graciously went along with this new arrangement, it is important to reconfirm any specific needs you may have with your hotel before your arrival. This is true even if you are familiar with that establishment and never encountered issues before with any of your requests.
Spending time with friends away from home is a chance to enjoy each other and have fun, and with the proper planning, you can minimize travel surprises.
As always, I wish you and your friends happy travels!


After reading the article, my first thought was that you book a hotel room with AMEX points. Wow, that was a waste of points. AMEX points are some of the most valuable points out there and they are best used with transfer bonuses to airlines. After reading the article again, I started to think about other tips when traveling with groups.

Most of the time Chris and I travel with a core group of friends. Be it trips to college football games or weekends away, we tend to travel in groups of four. Each trip has taught us something new about traveling with each other. Here are some of those lessons that we learned:

1) Discuss everyone's expectations before the trip. What does everyone want out of the trip? Rest, see a
    certain attraction, hang out with friends, etc.

2) Have everyone do some research about your destination. If everyone is familiar with the destination, no
    one will be a burden on others.

3) Have a plan. When traveling in a group, a plan of action can reduce the number of problems. What will
    you do at your destination? Is there one big activity you coming to do? Not every minute of the trip needs
    to be planned, but you should not wing it as well.

4) Determine sleeping arrangements before the trip. Who is sleeping in the same bed? Will you need a roll
     away bed?

5) Always book the hotel rooms for the accurate number of people. Do not book a hotel room for 2 people
    because it is cheaper and expect to bring 4 people. The hotel may assign you a room with only a king bed.
    Worse the hotel could kick you out and that could totally ruin your trip

6) Get enough keys for the hotel rooms for everyone. Some hotels will not give you four keys, but the worst
     thing the hotel can do is say no.

7) Determine what type of food people want before searching for a hotel. There have been trips that we
    have searched for an hour for food. Similarly, determine what everyone is comfortable spending on that
    particular meal to spend on the meal. Nothing is more awkward than going to a restaurant and finding out
    that one in your party can not afford it, they will order a salad and tell everyone they aren't hungry.

8)  Understand that people are different on vacation, accept it and know that it will end once you leave.

9)  Most importantly, go with the flow.

Trips with friends can be a blast or they can be a nightmare. By having conversations before the trip, one can reduce the number of bumps on your group trip.

Happy Group Travels!!!




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