It’s no secret that planning a big trip with a large group of people can be messy, especially when everyone has different ideas of their dream group trip. But don’t let that scare you away from trying to enjoy a fun trip with your friends!
Here are 4 tips to make planning a vacation with a large group easier and stress-free.
1. Communication is Key
The number one priority while planning a trip is making sure that everyone is on the same page. When there’s multiple people, it can become difficult to keep up with what every single person wants, but it’s the most important part of making sure that the trip is fun for each and every one of you. Communication is particularly crucial in foundational travel aspects such as budget and timing. If a trip goes over someone’s budget or interferes with other aspects of their life, it can ruin a trip for them or prevent them from being able to go at all.
That being said, communicating with a large group of people can be a bit complicated when there’s so many people to keep track of. The best way to minimize this problem is to find a time for everyone to sit down together in real life and plan the trip while everyone is in one place. However, this is often not possible, especially with larger groups, and the next option is usually to resort to a big group chat and using various platforms to keep track of different things.
This can easily become disorganized and important details will often be left out, which is why the key to maintaining good communication while planning is to stick to one platform that everyone can use easily and that can be used for every aspect of the planning. There are various trip planning tools (such as the MiTravel Planning Board) that make it easy to keep up with every person’s side of the planning, allowing for smoother communication via utilities like shared boards and polls.
2. Balance a Variety of Activities
With a large group of people come a large group of interests, which means it’s important to find activities that everyone will enjoy. Although maybe not everyone will agree on the same activities, so planning several different ones will ensure that every part of the group enjoys the trip equally.
Even if some activities suggested aren’t ones you would normally partake in, it’s the perfect opportunity to try something new! Vacations are all about stepping outside of your comfort zone, and there’s no better opportunity to do so than to try out new activities with a group of good friends. In addition to Google, travel apps will provide you with a variety of options in any location you’re thinking of.
Coming up with activity ideas ahead of time is ideal, as it allows you the chance to make the most of your trip. More importantly, however, planning activities ensures that everyone is on the same page of what you’re all hoping to achieve from this trip. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to leave some free space in the plan for more impulsive activities…
3. Divide and Conquer
Travel planning can be complicated when trying to balance every aspect of it, especially with other people constantly inputting new suggestions and opinions. When everyone is trying to do everything, planning becomes messy and ultimately annoying. To avoid this, split up tasks between different friends. Although the basics of the trip, like timing and budget, have to be planned together to ensure everyone can participate in the trip, smaller aspects of planning are much easier to handle when split among the group. One friend can plan everything food related, while another is in charge of booking tickets, and so on.
One very important thing to keep in mind while planning each part of a trip is to keep in mind the preferences of everyone involved. A person put in charge of dining should be on the lookout for places that cater to everyone’s tastes and dietary restrictions, to ensure that everyone is able to enjoy the same. Activities should be engaging for everyone, or balanced so that everyone gets to do something they enjoy. Therefore, the most important thing to keep up when tasks are split between people is communication, to ensure that everyone agrees with everything on the itinerary.
Platforms like MiTravel are ideal for dividing up planning work while still having everything in the same place, as they allow for several people to achieve multiple tasks on one board that everyone can access.
4. Don’t be Afraid of Spontaneity
When planning for a big trip, it can be tempting to prepare something for every day to make sure you’re getting the most of your vacation. Although it is best to ensure you have at least some activities lined up for that exact reason, sometimes it also pays to stand back and just let things happen. Leaving some days, or even just hours, free gives you the opportunity to try impulsive things that come up in the middle of the trip that you wouldn’t have thought of before.
In addition, leaving some free time means that everyone has a chance to do their own thing, so you can do planned activities together while also giving everyone a chance to do something on their own that the rest of the group might not have agreed on beforehand. Leaving some free time also means some time to relax. Sometimes, even in the midst of vacation excitement, people just need time to sit back and do nothing.
At the end of the day, it’s important to allow time for impulse decisions, because you never know when those might turn out to be some of your best memories from the trip.
Conclusion
Planning trips with other people doesn’t need to be as complicated as it seems. Implementing various ideas, splitting up the work, and using a single organized platform all make travel planning significantly less stressful for large groups, which can ultimately decide how enjoyable the trip itself is going to be. As long as everyone’s suggestions and ideas are considered, and communication within the group is good, planning can be made much simpler, and everyone in the friend group can have a vacation worth remembering.
Check out our MiTravel Planning Board to begin your stress-free group vacation planning. Happy planning!
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