The Ugly Truths About Travelling with Your Barkada

Travelling with friends is an adventure we all dream of having at least once in our lives. Who could blame us? Even a trip to a fast food chain becomes tons of fun when we’re with our barkada. Having our closest friends with us when we travel will make taking each other’s pictures easier, and we’ll have a group to laugh and talk with until we fall asleep. But for those of us who have already experienced travelling with a barkada, the reality is that it’s not always laughter and cute “groufies.” Sometimes, travelling with our barkada can also get pretty annoying.

Also read: 7 Reasons Why Friendships Fail When Friends Travel Together

Travelling tests true friendship

Many people believe that travelling together will help you know a person better. This is because going on an outing with your barkada is a lot more complex than going out for dinner. Long-term trips push you outside your comfort zones as it takes away your routines. While travelling together presents several opportunities to discover one another, it also brings a lot of stressful situations.

Road trips or challenging treks can feel excruciatingly longer when you have an impatient friend around who complains endlessly. Or, maybe you have a friend who you’d otherwise love to be around with because he or she enlivens the group, but when it comes to your bedtime, that friend won’t let anyone of you sleep. Oh, and when you need to use the bathroom but one friend takes hours to take a so-called quick shower? No thanks.

You’ll constantly need to adjust your itinerary

Always dreamt of eating in that exotic seafood restaurant? Well, your friend is allergic to seafood, so that will stay as but a dream. Another one doesn’t eat meat, so you can’t eat at that famous steakhouse either. When travelling with your barkada, you’ll have to make all the necessary adjustments in the world. If you’re the only one who wants to go see that monument, chances are you won’t be able to visit it as your group will have other priorities. And when someone always runs late or has a small bladder, you’ll have to wait for that person constantly too.

Or, you’ll end up with no itinerary at all

“O, saan na tayo?” “Kahit saan.” “Ikaw bahala.” When you’re on your own, you can be surprisingly self-sufficient. But when you’re with other people, you love depending on them for decisions — especially for the simplest ones like where to eat or whether you should walk or take the bus. While solo travel forces you to decide on your own, group travels are a lot harder to plan as you have so many people to consider. Sometimes, you end up with no itinerary at all and spend hours thinking of and trying to agree with an activity you all would enjoy.

You’ll supply everyone with toiletries

Since when did you become a convenient store? While some of your friends are just really forgetful, others deliberately leave their toiletries at home because they know that someone else will bring theirs. There’s nothing wrong with sharing, but it can get really inconvenient when you end a trip realising that you’ve suddenly run out of newly purchased toothpaste.

You’ll spend hours on photo ops

When travelling alone, one common worry is that no one will be taking your pictures. On the other hand, when you’re travelling with your barkada, you’ll have to spend a lot more time at each tourist spot so that you can take a decent group picture. Imagine how long it would take getting a group photo where everyone is content with how they look.

After you spend a lot of time taking group pictures, you’ll then have to take solo photos for each of your friends. Sure, photos are a great way to reminisce your trips, but when you use up all your time taking pictures, you won’t have anything else to look back on.

Also read: No Travel Photos: Did You Even Travel At All?

And then everyone becomes busy with their phones

Ah, the annoying age of the Internet. Just when you thought travelling would bring you closer together, you end up taking your time together for granted and waste it by uploading your freshly taken photos on Facebook and Instagram. Forget having good conversations over dinner, you can chat about it anyway. (Not!)

Also read: Barkada Travel Goals: 8 Must-Visit Asian Destinations This 2018

Wait, don’t cancel your most-awaited trip just yet! Let these truths simply be a reminder that you should maximize your time as you travel with your barkada. Trust us, it can truly strengthen your friendship. You can avoid all of these problems when you share the same goal of having fun exploring the world. Remember, travelling is just one (college level) test that can make or break your friendship. Instead of ending up annoyed with every little thing, choose to cherish the company of one another, and stick together through thick and thin.