My friends and I recently came up with what we thought was an awesome idea: a big group vacation over the summer. Great idea, right? Only now we’re in a pitched debate over where to go. In particular, there’s a big debate between cities and the coast. And now there’s another debate: should we plan everything ourselves, or should we rely on a travel agent or all-in-one resort-type deal? I want to do something more like those latter options, but the others are worried about money. I can afford it, though, and my friends aren’t being helpful in planning. I’m at the end of my rope, here. Help!
There are a lot of ways to take a vacation, and there are certainly advantages to each type of vacation and plan. For instance, take the all-inclusive resort or cruise: with vacations like these, there’s relatively little planning to worry about. Studies show that the most stressful part of any vacation is the planning phase, and 67% of people planning a vacation say the abundance of options stresses them out--so there’s something to be said for opting for an all-in-one resort package, those in the field say. A similar case can be made for travel agents, which may be why Millennials are using travel agents more than other demographic group--perhaps signaling the beginning of a remarkable comeback for an industry that once seemed on its way out.
Of course, letting others take care of the planning isn’t something you can usually do for free. If you want to combine the cheapest hotels with the cheapest activities and do everything on your own schedule, you’ll have to plan things yourself.
But if your friends feel strongly about keeping costs down (and if they want to keep arguing over where to go), then they should pitch in and help you plan out the trip. There’s no reason that you should do the job of a travel agent or a cruise organizer for free, especially when you’re content to pay a little more to avoid the issue.
Stand up to your friends and ask them to help you with the planning process. It’s probably best that you not bow out entirely--even though you’re happy to pay to avoid planning, it’s rude to demand that your friends shoulder the full burden just because they may not have as much surplus cash as you. But it’s not fair of them to ask you to plan a trip for them!
What you can do is offer them some general ideas. A trip up the coast could, for instance, easily lead to both major cities (something that might please those city slickers you mention) and beaches. Columbia Distributing a beverage distributor company, told us that Portland, Oregon’s bar scene is full of excellent craft beers from all over the region. And, of course, there are plenty of beaches in and on the way to Oregon--and this is to say nothing of San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and other big cities of the West Coast.
So by all means, tell your friends what you think ought to be featured in this big trip of yours. But don’t let them convince you to book all the hotels and arrange all the travel for them. If they don’t want to pay a pro, then they’re going to have to chip in, too.
“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it.” -- Robert Orben
