How to Plan a Group Trip Like a Champ

Be it a lads holiday, girls trip or just an abroad occasion with your friends, a group trip can turn into a core memory that will stay with you and your pals for a very long time.

However, organising such an event is not something to be taken lightly. Thorough preparation is key to ensuring the trip runs smoothly from the moment you head to the airport.

I’m here to walk you through the many do’s and some of the don’ts so that you have a successful group trip.

1. Find Friends and Pitch the Idea

Get your phone out and start messaging people to see who would be interested in getting on a plane and letting loose for a week or weekend.

I recommend having a destination or two in mind before reaching out to people, as it makes your proposal more concrete. I like to use websites like Skyscanner and Trip.com to get an idea of budget-friendly options for you and your group.

The initial excitement of a trip like this will probably generate a lot of interest from your friends and spark many new ideas about what the group should do. I like to keep a level head during these initial conversations to manage expectations and ensure the plans make it out of the group chat.

Speaking of group chats, it’s sensible to create one specifically for the trip. This helps keep the trip details and planning separate from the usual daily chatter.

2. Settle on a Budget

The cost of the trip often plays a significant role in people’s decisions to join or opt-out. It’s essential to accept that not everyone who initially expresses interest will commit, and that’s okay.

Don’t expect everyone who said they were interested to see it through!

Start by considering the costs of flights, accommodation, food, drinks, and activities. Package deals that bundle flights, hotels, and amenities can simplify budget planning, but if booking separately, ensure you have a clear idea of group funds beforehand to avoid financial strain upon arrival.

There are some good websites to help you get an idea of how expensive a trip might be. Budget Your Trip is great for getting down to specific budgeting, whilst Tripadvisor always has useful forums on every destination.

3. Clear the Calendar!

Once a destination is chosen and money is in hand, it’s time for everyone to clear their schedules.

This step can be time-consuming, especially if individuals need to wait for annual leave approval or coordinate with family commitments. However, it’s a crucial step in turning your group trip plans into reality.

While the group is in limbo and you’re waiting for the final holiday confirmation, start finalising the details of your trip. Consider what flights you’ll be booking, the place you’ll be staying, how many bags of hold luggage you’ll need, and any airport parking that may be required for the group trip.

4. Book Flights and then Accommodation

Time to get the wallets and purses out, at long last, you now need to book everything.

By this point, I’d expect someone in the group to take on the role of the group leader. This person will collect money from everyone and handle all the booking details. This person is also likely to have pictures of passports, email addresses and any other important information about everyone going on the group trip.

Avoid getting caught up in the unnecessary extras that airlines often try to sell you during the booking process. By now, you’ll likely know how many hold bags (checked-in bags) you’ll need. Once you’ve added those, feel free to skip all the unnecessary add-ons airlines may offer.

– Unnecessary Extras

Extra legroom? Unless you’re as tall as Peter Crouch (I’m 6’3″, so I can speak from experience), you’ll likely be fine without it.

Seat selection? SKIP. You’re about to spend loads of time together as a group, you’ll survive the flight next to strangers.

Car hire? BOOOOOO. You’ll likely find a better deal by typing “[destination] car hire” in Google than what your flight provider offers.

Booking accommodation (hotel, hostel, Airbnb, etc.) should be relatively straightforward compared to booking flights. Sites like Booking.com, Hostelworld and Airbnb allow you to fill in a lot of your information into your account which then automatically transfers to bookings when you book through their site (for the most part).

My biggest advice here is to make sure you or whoever is booking has a keen eye and doesn’t make little mistakes! Turning up to check in to find your passport number was typed wrong is an avoidable issue.

5. Take a Deep Breath

Well done! Your group trip has the wheels on and the engine purring. You and your people have now committed to the holiday and (eluding any disasters) have one foot on the plane.

This is, however, no time to get complacent. Take the time now to arrange transport to and from the airport in both countries. If you drive you’ll need airport parking, if you hitch a ride with someone it’s always good to have a plan B should they pull out at the last minute.

This is also ample time to sort visas for the trip if you need them.

Government websites from your own country and the country you’re visiting will have plenty of information regarding the ins and outs of the visa process (if any at all) and it would be wise not to skip this subject as it can quite easily influence whether you get in the country or not.

In my experience, it can be as easy as turning up to the country and buying one when you’re there (Egypt for example) but other countries like the U.S. have notoriously strict ESTA applications. Wherever you go, do your homework.

Other things worth thinking about:

• Currency: Even in our increasingly digital world, having some cash in the local currency can be discerning, especially for small purchases or emergencies.
• Travel insurance: *Eye-roll*. It can cover medical emergencies, trip cancellations, lost luggage, and gives you better peace of mind.
• Vaccinations: *Second eye-roll*. Research any required or recommended vaccinations for your destination well in advance of your trip. Better to be safe than sorry!
• Local customs: Having a basic understanding of local customs can make for a better trip and prevent unintentional cultural misunderstandings. Knowing a few words and phrases will also get you brownie points from locals!
• Emergency contacts: Know your local emergency numbers and important contacts back home. I also have Life360 on when abroad so my family can see I’m okay.

Not everything in your trip needs a meticulous plan but I’d highly recommend having a basic idea of the customs in the place you are visiting.

6. Useful Websites/Apps I recommend.

– Splitwise

Splitwise is BY FAR my favourite app for managing expenses among friends. It is super convenient and perfect for tracking who owes who what. It’s brilliant at helping the group avoid conflict by showing a clear list of who is responsible for what debt and it even allows you to divide a total debt into any split you would like.

It means that you don’t have to spend the trip paying your friends back all the time as you can add as many expenses as you would like before you have the totals at the end of the holiday. I only use the free version of this app and I couldn’t imagine going on a group trip without it.

– Tripadvisor

Want to know where to eat tonight? Tripadvisor. Looking to book an organised pub crawl in the main town? Tripadvisor. Curious about the actual reviews of historical sites? Tripadvisor. Similar to Splitwise, I couldn’t imagine going back to finding things to do in a booklet when Tripadvisor is available.

This website/app has come on leaps and bounds since its early days. Nowadays it offers you the ability to set up groups where you and your friends can pitch in with the local places you find and bookmark them in one big group, many companies allow you to book events, tours and reservations straight from Tripadvisor for ease and local forums with many genuine questions from real people who help each other travelling to a particular destination.

Google reviews have an honourable mention here but I wouldn’t go without Tripadvisor installed on your device.

– Uber/Bolt/Careem

The choice between these three apps relies on your destination.

Apps like Uber, Bolt and Careem are modern ways of booking transportation from one place to another. Great customer service and massive user bases mean that these apps ar typically very reliable and usually more cost-effective than trying to grab a taxi.

You also skip the energy-sapping task of haggling with a taxi driver when booking through these apps. They offer you a price, you book it, you get taken to your destination and you are offered the opportunity to tip your driver should you wish to.

– Currency Converter

I find after a certain amount of time in a foreign country you find yourself attuned to local currencies. This doesn’t mean to say that everyone is the same and I know I appreciate having a currency converter on my phone so that I know when I’m paying a reasonable price for something.

The particular app I use is Currency on the App Store and Google Play. It’s easy to use and allows you to put an amount in any number of currencies and it’ll show you the exact conversion of that amount. It’s easy to use for anyone and the free version is all you need.

– Google Maps

This for me personally is non-negotiable whether you like to travel or not.

Google Maps is by far my favourite navigation app and is brilliant at what it does best. It uses real-time traffic data to give you accurate travel times and links to Google reviews so that you can have a quick glance at what people have to say about the chosen establishment you find.

The Google Maps, Uber and Tripadvisor combo will provide you with plenty of ease that wasn’t otherwise available even 10 years ago.

7. Conflict Resolution on a Group Trip

It may come as a shock to you that you may not have complete harmony the entire time you are away. Disputes on a group trip can range from arguing over where to eat food to an explosive disagreement over splitting expenses (which likely wouldn’t happen with Splitwise ;).

Regardless of whether you are involved in the squabble or not, maintain a cool head and try to encourage a compromise. Feeding the flames of a fiery conflict will only make things worse and will tighten any pre-existing personality clashes within the group.

I can’t say I’ve ever experienced a really bad argument within a group whilst abroad but I know how much of a ball ache it can be when people can’t decide where to eat and it becomes a battle of stubbornness.

Conclusion

Planning a group trip, especially for your first time, can be a little bit tricky. Getting everyone to commit to an idea is a significant barrier but relieving once you get over it. Some of my favourite memories come from being abroad with my friends and it’s something I’d recommend everyone try and do at least once.

Try to utilise and take on board the tips I have provided you here today, as you’ll benefit from having more ease in your planning and group trip. I further encourage you to do your homework on the place you are visiting! A broad guide like this can only take you so far before you need to know the specifics of the place you’re travelling to.

Safe travels!