Choosing Your Travel Partner

Traveling can often take a toll on your mind, body and soul, especially if traveling internationally. Changes in your schedule, adjusting to the jet lag, altering your diet due to the local food, getting use to living out of your suitcase and learning to fit in with the local customs and culture, can all take a toll on our system.

For these reasons, and more, it is necessary to choose your travel partner wisely. You want to make sure that if you are traveling with someone, that this person will be a person with whom you get along extremely well with in the worst of situations. Your best friend may be great to chat to on the phone for hours, or go to parties with, or scam for guys, but traveling with them could bring the friendship into a totally different light. You may think you know somebody, but believe me, traveling with them may show you a side you never knew existed.

Before you plan your vacation with a travel partner, keep the following in mind.

1. If you are a night person, do not travel with a morning person.
2. If you don't like to talk or be sociable before noon, don't travel with someone who won't shut up as soon as your eyes open and you haven't even lifted your head from the pillow.
3. If you have a low patience level, don't travel with not so bright people; eg. I was traveling with an old friend and according to the clock, it was 2300, when we went to sleep. As soon as the alarm went off at 6am, she said the following, "When we went to sleep we had a 24 hour clock on the TV, how come it isn't anymore?" On a 24 hour clock, 6 am is written as a 0600 and this is not a good discussion to have at 6am upon waking. All I could respond with was, "How do you think 6am is written in a 24 hour clock?" My eyes weren't even open yet.
4. Make sure that the costs are agreed to before going anywhere. Know who is paying for what and if your budgets match. You don't want to be away somewhere and find that you can afford to do more than your travel partner can. You also don't want to find that you end up paying for more than you thought the deal was for. Money issues can break a friendship if rules aren't drawn up to begin with.
5. If you are sharing a room, know if either one of you snore or talk in your sleep.
6. Sharing a room can also mean sharing a bathroom. You may need to set a
   time limit on how long each of you has to get ready and how long you can have the bathroom for in the mornings. When traveling, there are things to see and do, so you don't want to be stuck waiting forever for each other to get ready when you could be out sightseeing.
7. Do you both walk at the same pace? Some people walk like snails, others like hares. You want to make sure that whomever you are traveling with, walks at a similar pace to yourself so that you are not waiting for each other.
8. Are you independent people? If you don't want to see the same sights, are you both okay with going it alone for a day? Some people seem to think that just because they are traveling together, that they should be joined at the hip. This isn't the case. You are usually on time limits if you are on vacation, so make sure you each see what you want to see, rather than being pressured to see what the other person wants to see because they don't know how to, or want to be alone.

Traveling is a great way to experience what the world has to offer. It can enhance your life experience, show you how other people live, it can give you a better appreciation of your own life. Traveling is one of the best things a person can do with their life. The down side is if you travel with somebody who can ruin your vacation.

I traveled with a friend whose behavior turned me into a monster. I didn't like being with myself during the time traveling with her. She was a morning person, I'm a night owl. She wanted to see sights that I had no interest in and whined when I suggested she see them alone. She walked like a snail in areas where for my safety and comfort, we needed to walk, not drag along. I ended up paying for more of the trip than I had bargained for due to a misunderstanding of the arrangements before we flew out. There was so much not right with our traveling together, that we may never talk again.

Know your travel partner. Be wise, be safe, be happy on your travels.

~Ms Manic, December 2000
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