Go on vacation with friends
Holidays with friends: instructions for use.
1) Long live democracy!
Let's start from the principle that everyone has a say. This way you will avoid ending up with a tyrannical leader or a scapegoat. All decisions, therefore, must be made democratically.
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Vote to choose your destination: a holiday abroad, a holiday village, a farmhouse, a rental house or someone's family home.
Consider the pros and cons (ease of access, economic advantages, space for each person…). All decisions must be voted unanimously: seafood or barbecue, cinema or museum on rainy days, tarot or poker … Obviously, it is the majority that decides.
Attention! If you do not agree with the choices that have been voted, do not object: rather, give up the vacation. This way you will avoid being a spoilsport throughout your stay.
2) Money is not a taboo
Economic issues can often escalate. It is therefore necessary to approach them in the most delicate way possible. Don't forget: clear agreements, long friendship!
- If one of you has advanced a large sum to book a plane, hotel or house for rent, immediately repay him the amount you owe him. If you are the one who anticipated the expenses, ask the others to reimburse you as soon as possible.
- Living expenses. Decide, right from the start, a type of organization that works for everyone. You can create a common fund, in which everyone pays a fixed sum and from which they can draw on to shop, or you can make a summary table, with the names and expenses of each. You will balance the situation regularly.
- To avoid unavoidable reproaches such as: "but if I never eat Nutella for breakfast, why should I pay to buy it?", Also agree on purchases that are not needed by everyone: beauty products, feminine hygiene, alcohol ...
- Never let money problems creep between you: speak freely and do the math regularly.
Attention! If you are alone, you do not have to pay the same amount as your couple of friends with three children. Everything must be decided in a balanced way. Assert your rights!
3) Task planning
"Vacation" does not always mean "dolce far niene" 24 hours a day. There will be a need to clean your superb villa, to shop, to wash the washing machines, to hang out the laundry ... In short, to do what you already do at home, but in the sun! Clearly divide the tasks: decide who does what and when. Then post a large table with all the shifts, so that no one can "forget" their own. Men and women take care of all the tasks, in rotation, so that they are not always the same ones to take care of the most ungrateful tasks, such as cleaning the bathroom ...
Cunning! Why not hire a cleaning lady and / or cook? You will take a collection to pay for it, so it won't be particularly expensive to make it work for you. Can't you afford it +? Call it at least the last day, the one in which the house must be completely cleaned before recovering the deposit.
4) The right people
If you are willing and particularly tolerant, skip this part! You adore everyone and you don't play hard when choosing your holiday companions. But if you belong to 99% of the population, and you have a hard time putting up with promiscuity for too long, make the right choice! "God makes them and then mates them", says the proverb ...
- If you are a single girl ready to flirt all summer, avoid going out with couples with children. You risk having sleepless nights, yes, but because of the screams and crying of their newborn!
- Forget even the holidays in the presence of your ex, with whom you are still in love. Especially if he has the bad taste not to come alone ...
- Is your account almost in the red? Turn down the invitation of your billionaire friends who love to fill their pool with champagne bubbles. You will have a hard time keeping up with their rhythms.
Attention! Holidays are meant to relax and leave your worries at home. Therefore, avoid inviting your depressed colleague. Not only do you risk ruining the atmosphere but, moreover, do you really want him to be able to circulate in the office that photo in which you are super drunk, or the one in which you are in a bathing suit and do not keep your stomach in?
5) SOS children
You have brought your children with you. How cute they are ... But their screams and arguments for who has to play ball can quickly get on your nerves. Because ok, children are adorable, but not those of others, who often turn into little pests. After all, you haven't signed up to animate a colony of little pests! And above all, never make judgments about your friend's educational methods, which lets them spend whole days in front of the television, and don't get involved in small discussions between them. Never take sides in favor of someone and don't increase discussions. Except if one of your kids gets locked up in a closet… In this case, be ready to bite!
Cunning! The best advice we can give you is to hire a babysitter or au pair to take care of all the children at the beach, during meals and games. In this way you can enjoy your holidays peacefully. Of course, you won't forget to spend time with them!
6) RESPECT!
In a group, there are always those who get up early, those who get up late, those who magic a lot and who a little, sportsmen, intellectuals, those who love being on the beach and those who don't ... You love each other precisely because you are different, but you have to respect the differences. If you wake up at dawn, do not make noise and let others sleep late, do not expect to have lunch all together at fixed times ... In short, set some rules of common life. Everyone does what he wants for breakfast and lunch, and we all meet for dinner, for example.
Cunning! In order not to lose your temper because you are always in a group, allow yourself small moments of solitude, to spend alone or with your partner. An aperitif for two, a nap when everyone else has gone to the beach ... a little break to appreciate their company more afterwards.
