This post from another IMHO thread caused the question.
I went one holiday weekend with dorm mates and on one vacation trip with friends/coworkers when I was in college a long time ago. I was single and both trips were fun. I was one of a crowd and not a decision maker so mostly just going along with the others.
Since then however, I have been married nearly 20 years and in all that time only once have we been accompanied on vacation by friends. It was actually friends of my husband, but I digress. It was to a favorite “camping” (in an RV) location of my husbands and they joined us for the second week of a two week stay. It wasn’t awful, but it didn’t feel like a “vacation” to me as I felt I had to be a good hostess and see to everyone’s comfort. I wasn’t miserable, but I wasn’t rested and refreshed either. Having company on the trip seemed like work to me.
All other trips or vacations have been just our immediate family. As we live about 4 hours from our extended family most of our holiday trips are to stay with family. To be fair, I don’t always feel very rested after a vacation to see extended family either.
Are you single. attached, attached with kids?
How do you prefer to vacation, with friends or family?
How do you feel after vacationing with friends or family?
When I got married, we went to the same resort in Hawai’i that my best man and his wife went to. We didn’t go “together,” however, and I don’t really care for that sort of close company on vacation.
I go on 2 trips a year with friends. My brother, my buddy from highschool, and 2 older friends 12 years our seniors. First one is vegas in the early spring. And the second is to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in late August. With the Vegas trip, we allow girlfriends/wives to come with us. But for the BW, its just the boys for that trip. Then we can act like idiots all we want and not have to worry.
My spouse & I occasionally go on short vacations (both in time and in distance travelled) with other couples. We are planning a weekend at the coast in August with about 4 other couples, and a week in Mesquite/St. George in Sept. with 1 other couple to visit with a couple who live in St. George.
It can be fun sometimes, but we also like to travel with just the 2 of us, especially since it’s nice to not have to make compromises with people with different tastes.
Perhaps it’s because I do not (nor have I) had a “best friend” for a very long while - but until now, no.
It seems like it would be incredibly difficult to arrange (starting with just getting your schedules and vacation time to mesh), plus the cost - I don’t feel comfortable asking friends “hey, got an extra thousand or so lying around? let’s go on vacation!” So, I’ve never really done it. And I love vacationing alone (there are times where I think “I wish I could talk to someone about _____ without seeming like a crazy person” but there are more times when I’m glad I that I don’t have to spend a bunch of time looking at something I have no interest in whatsoever, and instead, I can go do something else.)
But then, there’s this year. Later in August, I’m kind of going on vacation with one friend (we both want to be in a certain place for a certain event one weekend. She and her family are spending a week long vacation. I’m driving up for the weekend.) And one of my friends actually did throw around the “let’s go on vacation next spring” line for next spring. I might actually try it.
I’ve been going camping at Thanksgiving with the same high-school friends for the last 20+ years. Wives are invited, but they usually opt to stay home where there are showers and no bugs. Other than that, the wife and I usually travel and vacation by ourselves.