Traveling as a group: here's what you need to know

The traveler

Traveling as a group: here’s what you need to know

2 February 2021

“Are we all here?”

Our guide shouts.

This trip in Malta was my first travel as a group with perfect strangers and just one known friend. I remember well the aperitifs on the boat at sunset; the mornings waking up in a rush to get in the bus; the race to the highest cliff from which to dive into the blue water of Gozo. Not me, I was there, just watching and scared.
In a natural way, I made new friends sharing shrill and genuine laughs that turned those views, walks and plunges into happy memories.

However, the group travel experience showed me it is not enough to be a good travel companion in order to experience unforgettable happy journeys.

In fact, to share a journey with other people means to take a risk. It means to get involved in new interactions and mutual influences with curiosity, respect, flexibility and an open mind.

Here, I will explain what you need to know to have a pleasant experience traveling as a group.

Group in Lisbon, Portugal

What does it mean to be in a group?

Our human nature is to be social.

We are used to stay in group, from family to friends, from classmates to colleagues. Throughout relationships we try to satisfy our affection, safety and acceptance needs.

And yet, “we feel to belong” to a group just if certain requirements are met.

The sense of belonging depends on the physical and geographical closeness, on the frequency of the interactions, on the similarity and the identification of a shared goal. In fact, a group is a set of individuals influencing each other and sharing, more or less consciously, interests, goals, values, characteristics and behavioural rules.

This means that, when alone, for instance on a journey, we will inevitably bump into group dynamics just interacting with others, getting closer and building small and temporary alliances along the way.

At the end, “unity is strength”

True. The glue of a group is cohesion, the dynamic power created sharing goals and characteristics that push every individual to stay together.

Unlike a crowd of people, in a group we creat a “us” thanks to a shared identity. Moreover, we are interconnected because we collaborate to reach a goal, and our structure allows us to act efficiently according to our individual roles.

We own a role when we adopt a specific behaviour others assigned us, a role we feel as our or influenced by the situation. In every group we identify a leader, the charismatic figure we refer to; a coordinator focused on the success of the tasks; a mediator interested in the cohesion of the group.

And, finally, a “black sheep” – yes, you got it right – questioning the ideas against the conformity, so to raise confrontations and allowing the group to evolve and change.

Within the group, each of us, with respect for oneself and the others, can compare individual diversity to small bricks, one on top of the others, contributing to the construction of a whole house where to cohabit together.

So, it will be like that on a team, on a community, worldwide, as well as on a journey.

Group in Capeverde

What does it mean to travel as a group?

To go to the discovery of the world in company can be a great sharing and growth experience. It may push every sceptic and introverted to change their mind.

Here’s some tips to create and have a nice experience with your group travel:

1. Common goal: your travel companions

Before leaving for a trip with somebody – even as a couple – communicate. Get rid of every desire, admit every doubts and ask questions in order to find your compatibility.

A gratifying journey is easily doable when you have good travel companions, sharing interests, goals and travel style.

If you choose to go with your friends, the best thing is to create a small peer group, so it will be easier to manage dynamics and to travel.

Otherwise, if you decide to join an organized group, the travel program will be predifined. Hence, your unknown travel companions and you, decided for “that” destination and “that” travel style. The practical sides of this kind of journey are prearrenged, you will not have to worry about the organization, and you will discover how strangers can turn to be very similar to you.

2. Creating the group: interdepence and roles

After choosing who to travel with, it is time to organize and realize your trip.

Think about the time available, the itinerary, the accomodation and your ideal journey.

Talk openly about the budget, create a common fund and a personal one aside. Be honest, crystal clear and open to discussion, respecting everyone’s needs, demands and desires to find a satysfactory compromise.

Cooperate sharing all the tasks between you all, during the preparation as well as during the trip.

Follow your interests and abilities making sure that everybody will feel to be an important part in the realization of your adventure. Decide together who will focus on the accommodation bookings, on the transportation, on the common cash fund, on the itinerary or on the activities once there. During a journey, it is important to participate in the daily tasks, especially when sharing an accomodation.

Naturally, a leader will emerge – democratically, obviously – able to coordinate the group and manage the individual resources even in some critical moments, such as tensions, transfers and unexpected events.

If you will travel with an organized group, mostly of the activities and roles will be already definied, but it does not mean that you will not have to collaborate to make the group more pleasant and functioning (see point 3).

everyone contributes (Helena Lopes’s pictures)

3. Traveling as a group: curiosity, adapting and respect

If on the one hand curiosity should be a natural characteristic of a person wanting to discover the world, on the other hand adaptability, respect and politeness are essential when traveling with someone.

Curiosity is a feeling that requires an open mind. It has to be nourished with new challenges and rocked by the enthusiasm of discovery, slowly getting rid of the fear for the unknown. For this reason, a traveller has an inquisitive mind towards unexplored lands.

Traveling as a group means to not impose your personality.

For instance, if you are a chronic laggard, try to be punctual. Share the resources, such as water or food. Accept your shifts when needed, like driving or sit in a bus. Try to appease tensions within the group: do not judge, mock or isolate a travel companion in trouble, but give him your hand.

It is normal for a group to influence and persuade, altering perceptions and behaviours of every individual. However, during a journey, the group has to be driven by enthusiasm, participation and sharing.

4. Individuality in a group

Being in a group does not mean to put others before yourself. It means to use your own abilities to promote confrontation and cooperation. However, on a journey it is important to leave space to your own desires and to chase them, because it is enriching.

The myth to dyspel is that “we must do everything together” as a couple or as a group.

Every good travel plan, whether with your friends or with an organized group, should contemplate some free time in order to take some rest or to focus on some interests not included in the group activities.

For instance, there always will be someone who wants to add a stepover or visit again a district he loved. Or someone interested in a cook lesson, yoga lesson, even in visiting a museum or in lazing under the sun. At the end of the day, you could talk together about your discoveries, sharing your experiences and stimulating everyone’s curiosity.

To focus on your own interests can enrich yourself and the others, widening the resources with new ideas and inspirations.