Here's the thing about traveling. Yes, it's super fun but it can also be very stressful (speaking from experience). The more people you add to a trip the more stressful it can be because you have many different personalities conflicting with each other. Of course if you're okay with the occasional attitudes flaring up then who cares how many people are on the trip. I find the perfect amount of friends is 4, including yourself. My pros and cons will help explain why 4 is the magic number.
Pros
Sharing Memories with Your Friends
Nothing is better than having stories you and your friends can share. You probably have many already from grade school to high school to maybe even some college days. Wouldn't it be cool to have some fun travel stories with your friends? It could be about how y'all got lost in Japan and discovered something amazing on accident. So many exciting things could happen and you can share that experience with your friends.
Splitting Up the Planning
It's horrible to plan a trip by yourself. It's a lot of work that takes several days to accomplish. It's even harder if more people have requests you need to consider. If you travel with friends you all could share the planning responsibilities. One friend could be in charge of the flights while another friend books a hotel in one of the places you're planning to visit. Give each friend a city. Giving everybody a responsibility gets the pressure of planning off of just one person. The less stress means a better trip.
Splitting Up the Planning
It's horrible to plan a trip by yourself. It's a lot of work that takes several days to accomplish. It's even harder if more people have requests you need to consider. If you travel with friends you all could share the planning responsibilities. One friend could be in charge of the flights while another friend books a hotel in one of the places you're planning to visit. Give each friend a city. Giving everybody a responsibility gets the pressure of planning off of just one person. The less stress means a better trip.
Cons
Conflicting Personalities
With the more friends you bring along for the trip means more personalities to conflict with. If you have a group of friends that has survived a trip together without fighting, congratulations. You are one of the few. It's not easy traveling with a bunch of people. Not everyone gets along, and sometimes there comes a breaking point for some people. Here's what I was talking about the magic number 4. If you have four people no one will feel left out. You could all do stuff together, but then pair off when you sense attitudes rising within the group. Some friends may just have higher strung personalities than other friends. You have to try to work around it or just not go on group trips.
Different Agendas
Say you and your friends want to all go to Japan. Just because you all want to go to Japan together doesn't mean everyone is going to want to do the same things when you get there. Yep, that's right, the group might end up being divided if they're okay with splitting up. This might be the better option because if you don't split up you'll have to deal with disgusting attitudes for the rest of the day. So, really know who you're bringing on a trip and if they'd all get along with one another and have the same interests.
I hope this helped some people who are planning trip with their friends. In the end, I hope everyone has a great time. Nothing is more sad than having your group have a miserable trip because they all conflicted with one another.
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