So, you’ve managed to get a group of friends to commit to a few days away. You’re escaping work, real-life commitments, and you’re looking forward to having a blast with your mates. Now the only hurdle to overcome is creating a fantastic plan.
Everybody has their preferences for how they like to spend their precious time off; some of us like sun, sand, and sea, others like soaking in the culture of a city.
When it comes to keeping everybody happy, it can seem like a gargantuan task. But there are a few simple ways to ensure that your next “lads holiday” is one to remember.
Consider Everybody’s Budget
Money can be a sensitive subject and its very rare that everybody in a group of friends is taking home the same salary. Even if you are all on a similar wage, there are other factors to consider. Some people have a mortgage to pay, or payments on a car.
Therefore, it’s really important to take everyone’s personal budgets into account. Ask your friends roughly how much they’d like to spend on the trip overall. Then allocate around a half of that to travel and accommodation.
The rest can go on food, drink, entry to clubs, whatever you like. But you’ll know that your basics are covered. This bit isn’t the most exciting, but it’s crucial to make everyone feel able to participate, without worrying about spending too much.
Figure out What You Want from a Holiday
There are plenty of different holidaying styles, some like the beach, some like the city, some like the mountains. Perhaps you and your friends are poker aficionados. And this holiday is just an excuse to sneak in some game time?
If so, then taking a look at a list of poker tours and tournaments could be a good idea. That way you can guarantee yourself some time at the table. But you’ll also be more inclined to check out some destinations that you might not otherwise have considered.
It could be that sports are the main item on the ‘to-do’ list. Just think about jetting off on a European city break teamed with watching some great football in your destination’s stadium. If you’re looking to go a little up-market, then a day at the races is a great idea!
Often, racecourses have promotional offers for people travelling in groups, and even if they don’t, it’s a great day spent outside watching an exhilarating sport.
Choose a Central Event
Wherever you choose to go, there’s bound to be a few pints of beer to be enjoyed on your travels. it’s However, now that you’ve worked out the sort of holiday you might like, it could be a good idea to find an main event that you want to attend.
As mentioned above, football matches, games tournaments or horse racing are great options, that are all fairly budget friendly. If you have a little more in the bank though, then festivals can also be an excellent place to start. This is especially something to consider if you’re visiting sunnier countries and are travelling at the right time of year.
So work out a genre of music that you can all agree on, and let the search begin. Bear in mind that air travel companies are often wise to the dates of major festivals, so looking at smaller events could be a beneficial plan if you don’t want to get stung with high flight costs.
Finding A Great Place to Stay
Many hotels have pretty strong policies on groups of men staying together. Unfortunately, stag parties have given groups of lads a bad name, so it can be difficult finding somewhere that will allow all of you to stay in the same building.
There are two ways of navigating this problem. The first is to split into a couple of smaller groups and stay wherever you’d like. This can work particularly well if a few friends are snorers and the rest of you fancy getting some sleep, or if half of you are party animals and the others early risers.
Of course, in many groups of friends, this isn’t the case, so option two is to get yourself a hostel. There are so many hostels to choose from, and nowadays they’re a far cry from the dingy establishments they used to be.
An upmarket hostel is often just as comfortable as a hotel and is usually a fraction of the price. So not only can you sleep in style, you’ll be saving a helpful bit of pocket money for the rest of your trip.
The Long and Short of It
If there’s one thing to take away from all of this, it’s that with the right group of friends, you’re going to have a blast wherever you go.
It’s good to get your budget sorted, find a destination to suit everyone and snag yourself a swanky place to stay, but at the end of the day, the company is by far the most important thing.