For me, planning a trip is one of the hardest parts of travelling. Maybe because my friends are as indecisive as I am. I’m also a control freak, so I force myself to stand back and hope that everything just works out ok. Combine that with the fast-paced racecourse that is a group message app and it’s like trying to milk a jellyfish – likely impossible, foolish for trying. Let me hit you with a few truth bombs about what happens when you try to plan a trip on WhatsApp.
1. It’ll be one person’s first time travelling and they’ll be way, way too keen.
2. In the end, you’ll need a holiday from planning the holiday – before you even go on holiday.
3. People get so excited that they just send selfies, gifs, links and a host of other useless, irrelevant mind clutter. It fills your phone so quickly that in the end you just want to leave. So badly. But you can’t. Because let’s be honest, holiday excitement takes over.
4. You’re desperate to pull the trigger on booking the hotel. All you need is them to say yes. And you know they’ve seen the messages because the little ticks are blue!! THEY’RE BLUE!! ANSWER THE MESSAGE!!
5. It will quickly become apparent that the name of the group chat is more important than trivial things, like, you know… accommodation, flights, who’s going, etc.
6. At some point – usually towards the end – one person who has contributed precisely nothing up until this point pipes in and wants to change everything.
7. You’re just about to book the entire trip and one friend asks if we can change the dates.
8. Trying to get five people to agree on one place to stay is like juggling whiny, annoying, spoilt cats. But in the end you’ll compromise because you are going on holiday and you’ll have the best time of your life.
9. There are leaders and there are followers. And then there are people that just say “lol” when somebody makes an innuendo. Say something constructive, people!! Do we want hold luggage!?
10. You miss a single hour of the conversation and you may as well forget about ever catching up.
11. And once you’ve finally booked it…oh the relief. EEEEK holiday!!!
12. And so commences the photo-dumping of your holiday destination.
Whichever way you decide to start your holiday, your journey begins with booking your flight tickets and hotel. Find the cheapest hotel deals anywhere in the world with Cheapflights.
- Planning to spend the night at an airport? Take a look at the “Thoughts anyone who’s spent the night at an airport has had“
- Constantly daydreaming about travelling? Then take a look at the “How to tell if you’ve got a nomad’s DNA“
