People I Love to Travel With
- My sister and her entire family. Why? My sister is my best friend, but our travel routines are a bit different. She likes to plan everything (“Come on everyone. The Pirate Picnic Show starts at 5pm. Time to get dressed!”), whereas I like to play vacation days by ear (“Screw the Pirate Picnic Show. We want to stay home.”) It’s fun to see her get angry when we’re never ready on time for anything. Her hubby is the best, and so are my nieces and nephews. Almost every trip with them begins and ends with eight of us piled in the “rig,” a passenger van that serves 283 purposes from road trips to trailing homecoming floats. We play pranks on each other regularly and vacation is no exception. We smear Nutella all over toilets to make it look like someone “missed.” We hide my mom’s and uncle’s keys just so we can watch them lose their shit. We play one too many games of UNO. Inevitably, one of the kids has a melt down at a Draw Four.
- My best friends. Why? Who wouldn’t want to travel with their best friends? I’ve had a blast meeting three lovies in Maine for a three-day weekend. One of us sleeps in, one of us plans all our meals, one of us always looks like a beauty queen, and one of us is just there for the wine. I’ve traveled with friends who were born abroad, and that’s been so much fun. Among us, we can speak a few languages (I speak sarcasm), we have different ways of looking at the world, and we enjoy doing things together and apart. While two of my friends spent a day at the Guinness factory, I enjoyed a self-made French fry tour, but at the end of the day, we packed ourselves into little hostels and took turns sleeping with one eye open. It’s great to travel with those who are totally cool with compromise. Go out or eat in? Let’s do take out instead.
People I Prefer NOT to Travel With
- My mom. Why? Well, she falls into the “complain about everything” category. The food could be better, the people on the ship look like they all shop at Walmart, the drive is too long, the parking spot is too far away. We all have a right to complain now and then. It’s human nature. But some people overdo it, right? I don’t do well with high maintenance.
People Who Are Almost But Not Quite Great Travel Buddies
- My dear friend Greg. Why? He’s a blast and loves doing stuff which is awesome. The only problem is that one of things he loves to do is talk, talk, talk. Like nonstop talking. “Did I tell you about…,” “You need to hear this story,” and “I probably already said this but….” Those non-stop openers tell me one thing: It’s time to make myself comfortable.
- Anyone who needs me to start my day earlier than 11am. Why? I’m a night owl, and I have so much trouble sleeping. When I finally fall asleep, the last thing I want to do is have someone knocking on my door as soon as the sun rises telling me to “rise and shine.” I can assure you that if I rise, there will be no shining. “But you’re going to waste the day.” Nope. It’s my day, and if I want to start it later, so be it. I don’t make you stay up until 4am, do I? So I enjoy traveling with people who like to get moving, but I can’t handle moving too early.
