How Long is Too Long When Traveling With a Friend

r/

Looking to spend 6 days with a friend in Italy, but I know how insufferable a vacation can get after a while. I know some people spend 2-3 weeks with friends and love it, but being next to someone for 6 days without a break.. I’m worried.

To give more context my friend and I have similar values and get along well, but sometimes it does seem annoying when there’s miscommunication which I feel could reflect on the trip.

Comments

  1. Narrow-Palpitation22 Avatar

    It really depends on the friend.

    You could always just do a “hey let’s do our own thing today and meet up for dinner” also

  2. Affricia Avatar

    Honestly, if you’re still talking after a week together, you’ve either got an epic friendship or a serious case of Stockholm syndrome!

  3. PilotoPlayero Avatar

    Totally depends on the friend. I have a best bud from college who I’ve traveled with several times, and we’ve never felt like it was too long. We have a system figured out when we travel together and it works well, even when we’re sharing the same hotel room for days.

    It’s important to talk openly about what the expectations are for the entire trip. From what the budget and the planned activities are, to what sleep, bathroom, and private time routines will be like (specially if you’re sharing one room). The more you discuss before you go on the trip, the less likely that the trip will turn into a nightmare.

  4. turbomommo Avatar

    I’d say 6days would be max and that’s with my best friend.

  5. SeveralConcert Avatar

    Depends on the friend but 6 days should be ok.
    Maybe schedule one activity apart from him just to decompress

  6. Nuclear_Geek Avatar

    Just because you’re travelling together, it doesn’t mean you have to constantly be together 24/7. You can have days where you go off and do your own thing separately.

  7. thereau_awai Avatar

    I had a colleague that I’d worked with for a couple of years, and we went for a hike and got coffee together a couple of times after…and then we went on a five week international holiday, shocking everyone. We talked a lot about our anxieties and expectations in the lead up to it…aaaaaand, I think we only had one fight and I only ran away one time (when I was sick and his existence was shitting me off, I got my own room somewhere else for two nights). We were pretty much aligned on budget and things we generally wanted to do…but we are both painfully considerate people. Our miscommunications were largely based around us not wanting to make the other person feel pressured about something, to the point I’d get shitty that my companion was clearly not expressing his needs/wants. I was unused to taking the lead in holiday things too, so was feeling a mental burden about that.

    But, overall, we absolutely smashed it.

  8. dieVitaCola Avatar

    > be me
    > military duty in xxx
    > work, freetime, sleep with 1 or 2 other dudes in a 2x5m container
    > 24/7 duty for 4 months
    > we are not friend or have common values, we just behave

    there are worse things then 6 day of vacation. I also was in Italy with a friend for a couple of days, good times. haven’t seen him for years.

  9. moverene1914 Avatar

    3 days if you’re together all the time, if it must be a longer time, make sure you make plans to do things separately so you each get a break from each other

  10. HooksNHaunts Avatar

    It depends on the friend like many are saying, but for me after the 5th day of vacation I’m just ready to be home and not living out of a bag anymore. I feel like a week is always too long.

  11. cucufag Avatar

    Depends on how close right? For more distant friends I’m capped out after a day. For casual friends I think I could handle a weekend trip together. I’m likely not spending more than a week with someone unless they were really close to me.

    I went to Korea with a couple of my closest friends for 2 weeks, and we shared a single room in a tiny airbnb together. I think it was the right amount of time before we start getting on each other’s nerves. That said, we were also former roommates so there was a much higher level of comfort. I think without that history, I would’ve had to get us separate rooms.

  12. Legitimate-Log-6542 Avatar

    Not a Weird Question at all but obviously highly depends on your relationship with your friend. I have friends that I can spend every minute with for several weeks as you’ve said, and some that are impossible to do that with. I have friends that are great at going out to eat and then there are others that are quiet and barely want to say a word.

    I feel for vacations it’s always good to have only a couple things planned per day and that way there’s plenty of downtime to do things yourself if you want. Definitely have a conversation about things you both want to do and then figure out what things only one of you want to do and then that way you know how to fit it in.

    If you haven’t lived with this friend before then should probably be ready for some roommate issues to come up too. 6 days probably isnt long enough to have to hash it out but just be ready for it.