8 Keys to Traveling With a Group

 

 Family vacations can be dreams come true – but sometimes those dreams are nightmares! Here’s the good news, there are steps you can take to set your group up for a good time together and avoid ending up on the nightly news.

  

Set Reasonable Expectations

 Recognize that everyone going on the trip is coming to it from a different place in life. Not everyone has been in your mind, seeing your thoughts and plans, feeling your excitement. It will be helpful to everyone if you communicate in advance what you expect of them. Perhaps this will have to do with finances. Is everyone paying their own way? Part of it? What is each person going to be responsible for? Maybe it has to do with the schedule. What events on the trip are really important for everyone to be at, what are optional, and what really doesn’t matter at all? How are you all going to communicate? A group text? Phone calls? Sticky notes on the door? Communicating these things in advance allows everyone to start off on the same page and avoids unnecessary frustration and drama on your trip.

Know Your Audience

 If you’re going on a trip with a bunch of night people, don’t plan to start off every day before the crack of dawn. If you’re going with people who like to wander and browse, leave room for that and don’t tie them down to a strict schedule. If you know that two of the people on the trip really struggle to get along, don’t intentionally put the together for long stretches of time hoping they’ll figure it out. Hopefully, you know the people you’re planning to bring on the trip with you, but if you’re still in the getting-to-know-you phase, it might be worth putting together a little questionnaire so that you can plan appropriately.

Recognize that Everyone has Limits

 If you push and push and push, odds are someone, or everyone, will break. Build in margin to your trip, allowing for things to take longer or go sideways sometimes. Plan for breaks, whether these are an afternoon off, and hour in between events, or even full days. On our recent Disney trip, we planned a break day in between each park day. This allowed the people that needed it to get a little alone time, a little extra rest, or go off and do the crazy things that are harder to do as a large group. Don’t plan early mornings after late evenings (I did do this once on our trip by accident and it worked out ok, but I wouldn’t do it again).  

Avoid Group Consensus

One of the least productive or beneficial things to do to a group is to try to get them to make an in-the-moment decision. Looking at ten people and saying would you rather go here or there will just get you blank stares and more questions. People want to know what you want to do. What the pros and cons are. What the majority likes. It gets messy! You’re better off electing a leader who knows the group and can make calls along the way. Not to say they should be a dictator, but someone who can take into account the needs and desires of the group and make an educated decision. There should always be room for the individual to opt out of certain things as needed, but you have to avoid this swaying the group as that can sidetrack things in an unpleasant way and put a lot of pressure on people. It’s better to say, “No problem! You can meet up with us here after.”

Plan for Times Apart as Well as Together

 Being in a group all day, every day, is exhausting – even for an extrovert. Your times together will be sweeter if they are balanced by time apart. Figure out what things on your trip should really be done by everyone together and then leave room for other things to be done in smaller groups, or even alone. On the break days I mentioned above, one or two people decided to read or rest completely by themselves for most of the day, a couple of people played games together for part of the day and rested alone later, and several people decided to adventure together. All this gave people the space they needed to be able to truly enjoy coming together the next day and traveling as a group.

Plan as Far in Advance as Possible

 Things like dining reservations and transportation are much harder to secure for a large group. While one or two people might be able to squeeze into a restaurant at the last minute, 6 or 8 will probably be turned away. If you are wanting to dine or travel together with more than 4 people, I highly recommend putting in your reservations as soon as possible. I try to arrange dining at the earliest possible date. For Norwegian cruises this is 120 days in advance for standard reservations and 125 for those Platinum level and above in the Latitude Rewards. For Disney Dining, you can reserve for your whole trip 60 days before it begins. At 7am. Eastern. Yep, that meant I stayed up until 4am 60 days before our trip so I could get us in where I wanted to, but we got to have some INCREDIBLE dinners! I also booked our lightning lanes and transfers to and from the airport as far in advance as possible.

Don’t be Too Picky

 One of the keys to successful group travel is being flexible! The ride you were planning to go on is down, no problem! Just move on to the next option. Posing everyone for a picture? Don’t try to put people in an exact order or placement or pose. Let it be what it is and have fun with it! Speaking of picky, if you have some picky eaters with you, or people with food allergies, be sure to plan places to eat that have a lot of variety. If you have two people that hate seafood, don’t go to a sushi only restaurant! Give people as much personal freedom as possible in what they do whether it’s what they eat or wear or whatever it might be. Offer options, but don’t dictate.

Have Fun!

 Above all, remember that a vacation is supposed to be fun! Don’t get so caught up in the details that you miss out on the memories. The key is to be present. Take in what is happening. Enjoy the interactions. Planning is important in that it allows you to let go once you’re there and not have to make decisions or figure things out. You can just be with your group and experience the moment. Hold the plan loosely and let it be a guide rather than a rigid expectation. Keep in mind that the reason you’re there is not to check things off on a list, but to create family history.

Here's the Thing: When you travel, things will go wrong. When you travel in a group, your opportunities for this are multiplied. Your best approach is to leave it all in God’s hands and trust Him to fill in the gaps and smooth the rough patches. Don’t be tied to a specific image of what the trip should be, let it come together according to what’s best for your group!