Traveling with a large group of people can be incredible fun, but also incredibly challenging. I have been planning group trips for my friends and family for years and have collected 8 tips that will help you plan your next group trip so that you don’t kill each other.

1. Choose your travel companion(s) wisely

Traveling has a tendency to put relationships into overdrive and its not a good time to test drive new relationships or friendships. Travel is stressful at times and stressed people are more likely to clash. Travel with people you know well and who get alone as a group, any existing group tensions will almost certainly escalate on a group trip. Also consider how each member of the group will fare on the particular trip you are going on. For example if you are going camping don’t invite friends who hate the outdoors. Make sure that the group trip you go on matched the group that you go with.

2. Set a clear budget

Money issues are one of the most common and most avoidable issues on any group trip. Your group’s budget determines what type of trip you should go on and should be agreed upon before hand. In my opinion you should generally plan the trip according to the lowest budget in the group. This means that whoever has the lowest budget won’t be stressed out by spending too much, but whoever has the highest budget won’t be resentful of having to cover expenses for the rest of the group. If everyone on your group has vastly different ideas of what they would like to spend on the trip there will likely be money tensions and it may not be a good idea to travel with that group.

3. Keep track of your money, don’t sweat the pennies

Have a clear idea of how you are going to keep track of money while on the trip. You could do this by creating a group kiddie for shared expenses, splitting everything, taking turns or recording all expenses. Which ever method you choose make sure you are consistent so that there is no confusion. That being said there should be an understanding that it’s never going to be entirely even and a few dollars here or there should not affect the overall trip.

4. Identify your ‘must-sees’

When I organize group trips I like to get everyone to tell me there number 1 must see or do in the location. This way it can be worked into the itinerary and no one has to leave without seeing their must sees. If someone has a bucket list item that they don’t get to do they will likely end up resenting the group. 

5. Be flexible

Shit happens. You have to adjust. I think it is important to set a mindset that spending time together is the primary purpose of the group trip. If everyone keeps that in mind as the primary goal it is easier for everyone to relax a little and be more flexible.

6. Set areas of responsibility

There are ‘pre-trip’ responsibilities like planning and booking and there are ‘on trip’ responsibilities. In general I’d say ‘pre-trip’ responsibilities should be split pretty evenly, but I’m a big fan of dividing up ‘on trip’ responsibilities so everyone has one thing to keep on their mind. By this I mean things like holding the room key, getting directions or tracking expenses. This eliminates the possibility of confusion over simple stuff like who has the key, but also means that there is less stress on the trip ‘mom’ or ‘dad’.

7. Spend time apart

How much time you spend apart really depends on how long the group trip is, but in general it is a good idea to get some distance every once and a while. Even if everyone gets along well spending some time apart or meeting other people while traveling diffuses tensions and is fun!

8. Keep it simple stupid

I think that this is the most important tip on this list. Travel can be hard, it can be stressful and it can be tiring. That is multiplied by every person you add to the group trip. Trying to organize 8 people to get on a bus or train to move cities every few days quickly gets old. I think the more people you add to the trip the simpler you want to keep the trip. Rent a cool villa, get a private transfer, stay in a place for longer. As I mentioned above the primary goal of a group trip should be to spend time together, the simpler a trip is the easier that is to do.

I absolutely love organizing and going on groups trips with my friends and family, but I fully admit at times traveling with a group can be more stressful then traveling solo or with one other person. Hopefully these tips can help you keep your next group trip to a minimum stress level!