How to still be friends after holiday?

[Porgie]

A friend I have known for over 15 years heard we were planning a trip to Florida and asked if they could join us. I agreed but now the more I am thinking about the more worried I am becoming. We have never been on holiday together and although we get on really well living together in close proximity can strain things. It is done I cannot back out now so am looking for strategies to use that will ensure we are still friends at the end of the holiday. We will share a villa but have separate cars.

[Disney Planning]

I think you need a plan in place before you go. For example are you planning on going your separate ways each day and perhaps just meeting up for a few meals together on the evening.
Can you say this is what you have planned (if you are a planner) and ask them to join you on some days.Perhaps agree to go shopping together for food and things for the villa and then you can have breakfast together.

[fiffio]

We were out with friends before we had kids and it was hard at points. We ended up just saying to them after a couple of hours in the parks that we would meet them in a couple of hours time etc to get a break. When we went shopping we just met them at a set time to head home.

Make sure you give each other time alone in the Villa by staggering park/shopping type days.

[Pumpkin Pie]

I strongly advise separate car hire (if you are hiring cars).

[Leggibone]

Set the expectations before you go - if one family eats/drinks more then the other let them know yourll be doing separate bills (so no hard feelings either way)
If you have a day plan/schedule, let them know what you intend to do & if they want to they can join, if they want to do their own thing don’t let it bother you (I know some families are full on parks, some are half way ect). Make sure you do have some of your own family time, so maybe it’s a meal, maybe it’s an experience, maybe it’s a few whole days.
And remember with things like villa mess with ect. It’s only a holiday, you can go back to your way stuff once holiday is over, but there’s no point letting dishes or toilet seats ruin a holiday or friendship

[Wishtogoback]

The best thing to do is have upfront conversations about what each of you want from the holiday… decide then which bits overlap and which bits to do individually. Presuming as you are friends you already know how each other behaves when you are out for dinner re splitting bills etc … again decide how you want to do this and just be very matter of fact about it. We’ve been on holidays with friends before and understanding there is together time and alone time and how to communicate your needs in that regard saves all sorts of hassle in the long run.

[sixpence18]

We went on holiday to Orlando as a big group a few years ago.

If we had a plan for a particular day we told people about it the night before and said they were welcome to come too if they wanted.

Some days we all wanted to do the same things.

Some days we did things separately but came back to the villa at the end of the day.

It worked really well - everyone had a good time and did the things they wanted.

We also created a loose plan before we went and shared this with the group to Give people ideas!

It’s always good to arrange dinner plans - are you all eating together (if you are who is cooking?) if you’re going out to eat what time and who is coming.

Doing these things was great and kept everyone happy!

EDIT to add : sharing plans before holiday was key to ensure people bought the tickets they needed / wanted. For example everyone had Disney tickets but we were the only couple that had universal tickets

[Wishtogoback]

I’d also echo the advice above re the villa … those things are not worth getting upset over. We went one time with my parents and I had a huge row over sweeping the floor one day … it wasn’t worth it in the long run!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Have a read of this first! Brangelina!

Never holiday with friends and think twice about Family

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=706222

[loola30]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Have a read of this first! Brangelina!

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=706222

See more...

Was also looking for the link to give the worst case (albeit absolutely hilarious) scenario