I love nothing more than spending a quality few days with my friends, and have a weekend away with a couple of friends coming up at the start of November. Planning a friends’ getaway can be complicated, with a wide range of factors involved from budget and location to travel and activities. If you’ve been dreaming of taking a weekend trip away with your gang but have too many heads to get together and try and organise, here’s a handy little list of activities to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.
Meet up and assign roles
The first step to take is to meet with your group and agree on the basics. Discuss what it is that you want to take away from your holiday and what kind of weekend break you’re looking for – will it be a cultural city break, a boozy celebratory getaway, a fitness and adventure holiday or a relaxing beachside retreat? What kind of weather are you looking for? Which location will you travel to? If you’re arranging a holiday with a large group and you can’t decide on a plan of action, take a vote. Once you’ve settled on the basics, try to assign each person a role in the planning process, whether that be helping to arrange travel or accommodation.
Set a budget and date
Once you’ve worked out the basics and assigned each person with a planning task, the next step is to set a sensible budget for your holiday – what will be the total budget and how much money will each person need to put aside for travel, accommodation and expenses? When calculating a budget, take into account that members of the group will likely have varying incomes and outgoings, so try to set a reasonable amount that should be manageable for everyone. While it’s tempting to get travelling as soon as you can, try to arrange a date that suits everyone and sort this out well in advance – most of my friends have young families and it can be complicated arranging time off with family responsibilities and busy work schedules, so keep this in mind and be diplomatic.
Book travel and accommodation
Whilst it can sometimes be possible to obtain great deals last minute, I think most people are happy knowing that travel and accommodation is all arranged well ahead of your planned trip. Booking travel well in advance (whether that be train, plane or boat tickets) can also offer good savings savings and flexibility – why not push the boat out and travel to the airport in style by first class train. When it comes to booking accommodation, think about whether location or quality is more important – you may need to compromise on hotels if you want to stay in the best tourist locations.
Arrange activities
The more people you have on a trip, the harder it can be to try and find activities to suit everyone. Try to book a couple of activities in advance and tailor these to suit the consensus of the group – there’s no point in arranging intensive hikes and rock climbing if the friends are looking for a relaxing beachside break. It’s not to say that other fun plans can’t be made ad hoc but especially if popular attractions sell out it can be easier to arrange these ahead of time. Try to throw in some memorable touches like matching outfits or souvenirs that you can al cherish long after your weekend break has come to an end – for one of my hen weekends, my male friends wore pink cowboy hats and we still talk about it 15 years later!
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