With whom will you travel?

Many people might debate me, but I believe deciding with whom you will travel with is far more important than where you will travel. Every new place I go is always an adventure, and it has been enhanced or destroyed because of the people with whom I have traveled. Not once have I ever thought that a trip was ruined because of the place I went. Even if I’m in a bad hotel or if I have problems with my flights, those situations create an incredible story if I’m with someone who is enlightening, fun, and just looking for adventure.

One year Jenny and I traveled to France with someone who didn’t quite have the same ideas about travel as we did. We got to the Eiffel Tower, and he wondered why we wanted to go to the top. We went to eat, and he loved the inexpensive nature of going to McDonald’s. We were in France for goodness sake. We wanted to experience French cuisine and the French dining experience. Having someone with us who didn’t value what we did was very hard.

At one point in this particular journey, all of the luggage except for Jenny’s was stolen. The thieves had broken the window to our vehicle, and pulled out all of the soft sided backpacks while we were stopped at a tourist information center. Thankfully, I had on a money belt, so all my documents and money were safe. However, our traveling companion, who often chose to not “wear his documents”, lost his passport and a few of his credit cards.

The next day Jenny and I went to Monaco. I purchased one outfit, and spent the rest of the trip alternating between the two outfits I now had— the outfit I was wearing when things were stolen, and the new outfit that I purchased.

Did it change our trip? Absolutely. We were not able to go to Chamonix, France as all of my warm clothing was taken. Instead, we headed back to Paris, so our friend could get an emergency passport. Along the way, we stayed at this amazing bed-and-breakfast and met fabulous people. We did tours we didn’t plan and loved every minute of it. Yes, our trip could’ve been ruined because our luggage was gone. However, every day I would go into the bathroom and call out, “So what do you think I’m wearing today?” Jenny always played along, and had the best guesses. All in all, we turned lemons into lemonade and finished our trip with joy in our hearts.

And so I return to the burning question…with whom will you travel? Do your travel companions have similar ideas about dining, shopping, paying entrance fees to tourist attractions? Have you talked about the budget you want to keep while traveling? Will you stay up all night partying or head to bed early to prepare for the next day’s escapades? Do you want to book a tour company or do you prefer to pave your own path? Do you want to find amazing souvenirs or rely on mostly photos to remember your vacation?

If you haven’t had these talks with your potential travel companions, I highly recommend you do. You don’t have to be completely in sync, but you will have to compromise and see how willing your co-traveler is with compromising. Not being on the same page can definitely make or break your vacation.