Going on group holidays in Spain? Here are some necessary tips to keep in mind
Embarking on a group holiday anywhere is as fun as it can be demanding. Demanding in terms of organisation, timing and budget along numerous other unforeseen factors. Since we ourselves have faced certain of those issues while travelling with our buddies abroad, initially as students and then as grownups, we have considered to share the knowledge. In order to do so, we have written up this very guide in order to help you navigate through the most common nuisances of organising group holidays in Spain. Why Spain you may ask. The answer is simple. We love and know Spain and we are sure that after you visit you will too. Spain is a country full of natural wonders, rich history and culture, vibrant spirit, amazing food and drink and loads of other things we can’t even touch upon without writing a textbook. In short though, Spain is wonderful! Here are our hard earned tips
All inclusive is usually the easy way to go
All inclusive group holidays to Spain are a great idea to help you on your trip, as the massive deals aimed at groups are amongst the things that you should definitely keep an eye out for. The main advantage of booking all inclusive for a group is that you immediately sort out accommodation, food and maybe drinks if you add that option to your deal. Moreover, such deals offer a great budget advantage over booking for everything separately. If staying safe is your concern, rest assured that an all inclusive group holiday is one of the safest ways to go about holidays in Spain or any other place in that regard. In case however that you decide to go for self catered, it would be helpful to assign one task at each person in order to make sure that they’ll do it correctly. A single person in charge of organising everything is way more likely to forget about or do something wrong. If we talk about booking a restaurant and forgetting about it fair enough, but in case that someone forgets to book a hotel, things might get really complicated really fast.
A group holiday is a holiday for individuals. In a group that is.
Travelling around in a group allows you the freedom to explore places that not everyone might be that fond of. That secluded village with magnificent wine or the fancy artsy museum you’re dying to visit might not be to everyone’s taste, but travelling in a group often gives you the opportunity to find someone who’s into it. Don’t try to visit everything with everyone in an army fashion. People who want to laze by the beach shall laze on, people who want to go diving shall do so and anyone in between shall do what they rather do. A holiday is meant to be fun and forcing everyone to stay on a soldier-like schedule is not everyone’s definition of having fun. As long as you don’t leave someone alone or forget about them and leave them stranded in a secluded mountain peak, everything should work out fine. Nonetheless, in order to keep everyone safe, set a meeting point and a certain time, in order to make sure that everyone makes it safe. It is essential for everyone that your group stays together after say a wild night of partying while on a group holiday to Ibiza.
Budgeting is essential.
In order to keep everyone happy without spending more than they initially intended to, try to keep track of debts to each other. More often than not people tend to overdo it because they feel confident that someone will take care of them and their expenses in cases something goes wrong. However, this is not always the case as accidents may always happen and this definitely is a thing that you have to keep in mind when budgeting. Whatever happens keep some money on the side because going for that last round of shots might mean that you’ll have to walk back home from the club if not worse. Another piece of useful advice is to try and keep a money pot for all the common expenses such as taxis, supermarket shopping, or even rent if you stay in a villa or house. This helps in keeping expenses in check without owing money for this and that. Falling into an unpleasant situation where someone owes way more than what they could cover might ruin moods and sometimes friendships.
Keep Some time for Yourself
In case that you want to be left alone for a bit do so. You shouldn’t feel bad if you want to take some time off for yourself on the beach when all the others are heading to the waterpark as being sociable 24/7 is something that rarely happens. Take your time and think about yourself sometimes as doing whatever the group asks you to is not always the best option. Nonetheless, if everyone else wants to go to said attraction and you don’t but can’t do otherwise, try going with the flow and giving in. Getting your way might be ok for the moment but won’t do you any favours with the group in the long run.
Alcohol. Don’t overdo it.
Its goes without saying that we don’t advocate you getting drunk or even consume alcohol at all. However, a group holiday in Spain is a perfect occasion to party up a bit and this is certainly one of the things you’ll come across. Try to stay conscious and not overdo it as despite feeling safe with your friends looking after you, you wouldn’t want to be ‘that guy/gal’ ruining a night out or even the whole vacation for everyone. Moreover, another thing that you have to keep in mind is that Spain is still a foreign country despite being safer than other destinations but that doesn’t mean that drinking excessively will be good for your health both in the short or in the long term. Embarking on a solo adventure with everyone looking for you after an epic night out is most probably one of the worst things to do to yourself and your travel buddies as well. Ruining it for everyone is something that should best be avoided if you want to keep your group and yourself happy.
