How to Choose Wisely

While traveling alone can be liberating, as you can make your own plans, set your own pace and change your plans if something more interesting comes your way, there are some real benefits to traveling with a partner. For safety, economic reasons, companionship, and for the experience of sharing adventures with someone other than Siri, traveling with a partner makes sense. But choosing the perfect travel partner is a bit like choosing a roommate, involving a little personal chemistry and a lot of compatibility essentials like shared interests. As ESCOT Charter Buses escorts many groups to and from exciting destinations year round, we would like to share some tips about how to find the perfect travel partner.

Choosing a travel partner with common interests

Look around. You may be able to find people already in your life that would enjoy going on a trip with you. Likely partners might be colleagues, friends and family members, as well as folks you know from shared interest groups, like “meetup groups.” Reach out to people with mutual interests.

As always, be cautious when initiating travel partner searches online. Try searching on TravBuddy.com, Women-on-the-road.com or the discussion forums on travel websites.

Another word of caution: Be wary of traveling with friends. Not every buddy makes a good traveling companion. Unless you have traveled with a friend and know how they react in unexpected stressful situations, then you might do well to go on a short trip with them to find out if your friend could be your traveling companion.

Personalities, expectations and setting some rules

You can tell if you click with another person as a travel companion, by openly discussing your travel expectations. Being able to speak honestly and openly with your potential travel companion lets each party know what to expect. Setting some ground rules is also important.

Travel budgets

• Discuss travel budgets to find out more about a potential travel partner’s preferences for hotel accommodations, meal budgets and transportation.
• Getting on the same page with financial expectations can spare you awkward situations during a trip, like when your travel companion has their heart set on dining at a high end, expensive restaurant, and you would like to dine reasonably to save a little money on dinner in order to rent scooters and explore the countryside the next day.

Sightseeing compatibility

• Determine if your personalities synch with the type of travel you enjoy. If you are a by-the-books, guided tour type, a spontaneous explorer might cause you undue stress, when they suggest veering off your plan and venturing into unknown territory.
• Elaborate on your expectations for the pace of your trip and the amount of time you expect to spend at different points of interest along the way, so you won’t feel rushed or bored and out of synch on your trip.
• If planning an itinerary is important to you, you may not feel comfortable with someone who likes to go wherever an adventure takes them.

Free time expectations

• Spend some time sharing your thoughts about how you would like to spend time on your trip. You don’t have to do everything together. Your traveling companion may require some time each day to workout, practice yoga or go for a run. You may need a portion of every day to contact folks back home or communicate with your office. While you might be interested in visiting a certain sight or museum, your companion might want to hike a trail or sit and soak up the sun on a beach at some point in your trip. You can agree to do your own things and meet up later for dinner. Spending some of your trip apart can be very healthy in the long run.

Unexpected circumstances

• When you have spent some time getting to know your potential travel partner, try to address unexpected events that may come up on your trip. If you make other friends in your travels, will it be okay to invite someone else along on an excursion?

Okay, when you think you’ve chosen a travel companion, go for a test drive. Head out on a couple of short jaunts together, a weekend trip to a local attraction or a day trip that will let you know your relative compatibility levels before venturing out on an extended excursion to far-away places.

Choosing a travel companion can be a daunting task, particularly if you haven’t traveled with that person before. The key to finding the perfect travel partner lies in a combination of factors, including shared interests and personality compatibility. Creating honest, direct and open discussions centering on similar travel budgets, itinerary planning, travel pace and how to handle unexpected situations that may arise can go a long way in locating the perfect travel companion.

ESCOT hosts affordable and exciting charter tours year round, featuring upscale European style coaches. Plan a trip with your chosen travel companion and ride in the comfort and safety of ESCOT’s luxurious, climate-controlled charter buses.