by Michael Kimball

Created on: January 13, 2010   Last Updated: January 14, 2010

Traveling with friends can be a good experience under the right conditions. First you need to chose friends that you know all aspects of their personalities. You will be in close proximity of each other for hours at a time while driving and possibly even sharing a hotel room when you are not on the road. It is surprising how many idiosyncrasies that can crop up and become annoying if you are unaware of them.

It is very important to have an agreed up set of plans before starting the trip. With a plan in place you can ensure that everyone gets to see and do the things that they would like to do. It is equally important to have some flexibility in the plans. There are a variety of things along the way that can occur that your group was not aware of. You might stumble into a shop, restaurant, a scenic spot to stop and enjoy, and so on. The important thing is to enjoy the trip. As long as these extra situations don't interfere with the overall plans already made you can allow for this type of flexibility.

You should agree upon the financial aspects of the trip before hand. The gas should be split equally. The lodging should be split between those sharing rooms. Food should be an individual expense do to various preferences people have for food. Everyone should have extra funds for various emergencies that can occur. This is just a general guideline to start with. Whatever you and your group can agree upon is up to you.

Entertainment is a very important way to pass the time away while on the road. When it comes to music the driver should decide on what is playing on the car stereo as he is going to be driving for awhile. If the preference in music is different then others should have something like an iPod with headsets to listen to their own music. Some people like to play games that are compatible with traveling in a car. There are actually gaming systems that can fit in you hand now that would be perfect for this.

There are a few other considerations to making this a safe and enjoyable trip. You should have a basic first aid kit to deal with any minor accident that might happen. You should plan the distance that you will be traveling during the day to be within the limits of all the drivers to avoid getting too fatigued while driving. There are probably other considerations to consider but this is just a start. Each group or trip will probably have different needs than what is covered here. It is important to have an agreed upon and flexible game plan prior to taking the trip to make it more enjoyable.

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