Tips For Planning Your Next Trip With Your BFF

There isn’t anyone I know who wouldn’t love to just hop on a plane right now and jet set to a beautiful destination. The idea of travel is not only to experience new cultures and views, but it is really an opportunity to strengthen a relationship – whether it’s with yourself or your friends.

I have personally had my experience with friends and travel. One of my very first all-inclusive trips was with 2 close friends of mine, and recently, I headed to Miami for a quick getaway with my two best friends – my sisters. While going on a trip with friends can make you feel like you don’t want to plan a thing and just be adventurous, there are definitely some things that need to be planned in order to make things go smoothly.

After all, they are friends. We love them, we find comfort in them, but when it comes to travel, your ideas may differ on what you want to see and accomplish and that can be really tricky when you don’t see eye to eye. The truth is that getaways can make or break friendships regardless of how strong it is, and I’ve even seen it happen.

To make sure that your next off the beaten path travel experience with your bff is a good one, I’ve got a few tips that will make it go that much smoother!

Keep the Group Small and Good Vibes ONLY

Good vibes is without a doubt the most important. You don’t want negative energy on your vacation where you are supposed to experience all that you can. Leave your drama-filled friends at home and really make a conscious decision about whom you are travelling with. Does this person have the same interests? Are they as adventurous as you? Going with someone more like-minded as you can really make the planning come easy! Also, keeping your travel numbers small really makes things easier. Imagine making decisions between two people instead of five!

Pre-Book Hotels & Major Locations

Even if you are on an off-the-beaten-path vacation, you still want to at least have some kind of schedule or direction. Booking or scheduling the must-see places of your vacation can really cut time in half. When travelling with friends, it can be easy to get carried away having fun. But before you know it, you could miss out on an experience just because the time has escaped you! Also, looking to other friends for advice on what to see can really be helpful instead of researching online. It’s easier to trust you will like a destination or location when you know a close friend has experienced it and loved it.

Set Ground Rules

A trip is all about having fun, but to keep the moods up and to eliminate disagreeing, set some ground rules. Whether that be how you keep the state of your accommodations (I personally hate rooming with messy people) or maybe it’s about taking time to enjoy company instead of being glued to your phones, taking that time to talk things through will really make the trip go off without any silly issues.

Everyone Has a Say 

The reason why you want to travel with a friend is because you love them and their company. Don’t be that mean person that never wants to agree to someone else’s ideas. Even if a specific activity doesn’t thrill you as much as it does your friend, make an arrangement to do something fun that you all want to do. That way, all parties leave the trip feeling happy and having experienced all there was to do!

Finally, Capture it ALL

With all the advances in technology, there is no reason to skip out on capturing all the amazing moments of your trip with your friends. Even if you are “unplugging” from social media, I think taking videos and pictures with your friends during your adventure is the best way to remember the fun and relive it all over again. I personally love a good collage video, piecing all of the best moments together.

If you love turning moments into something great to watch, then you may have heard of me talking all about travelcuts Film Fest. Taking place on October 6 at 460 King St. W in Toronto, I’m excited to team up with travelcuts to witness what you travel junkies have up your sleeves. Between August 18th and September 15th, 2016 you have the chance to submit your very own travel video into the travelcuts Film Fest contest where you can win $5,000 in travel!

I can imagine how memorable and fascinating your trips can be so it’s time to pick up your camera, get shooting, and show travelcuts where you’ve been! Before you do though, here are a few more things to remember when putting together your film:

• Videos should be 2 mins. in length. Anything less than 1:30 will be disqualified and anything longer than 3:00 will be disqualified
• Ideally, videos will be 1080p and H.264 MP4 (best quality and most compatibility).
• Entrants will be required to upload their videos to YouTube
• Entrants must be Canadian (excluding QC) and must be 18+  **but in order to attend the event, you will need to be 19+ as of October 6, 2016
• All music used in videos MUST be appropriately licensed. More info on this can be found here: https://vimeo.com/help/faq/legal-stuff/fair-use & http://www.reelseo.com/copyrighted-music-in-video/
• Learn more details here.

Have you recently been on a trip with friends or plan to soon? Pick up that camera and get shooting. Not only is $5,000 in travel amazing, but to have your film seen by so many people is pretty rad too!

For more information on travelcuts and the Film Fest, visit here!

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