Why We Travel Better Together

Some of my favourite travel memories aren’t really about the places at all. They’re about the people who were there with me.

Of course, I remember the beautiful beaches, incredible meals, historic streets and places I’d dreamed about seeing. But the stories I tell when I get home are usually about something else entirely. They’re about the moment somebody said exactly the wrong thing at exactly the right time. The dinner that went on much longer than planned. The excursion that didn’t quite unfold the way we expected. The person I barely knew at the beginning of the trip who, a few days later, felt like an old friend.

That’s the thing I’ve come to love most about travelling with other people.

Someone Else Remembers It Too

There’s something wonderful about having people in your life who can say, “Remember when…?”

Remember when we got completely turned around? Remember that tiny restaurant? Remember the look on your face? Remember when we laughed so hard we couldn’t explain to anyone else what was funny?

Those shared memories become part of the friendship.

Years later, a photograph or a message can bring the whole thing back. And often the moments we remember most aren’t the ones that appeared on the itinerary.

You Say Yes to More

I’ve also discovered that I tend to be a little more adventurous when I’m travelling with other people.

Someone wants to try the strange-looking thing on the menu, so we all try it. Someone suggests going down that street to see what’s there. Someone signs up for an activity you might never have chosen yourself — and suddenly you’re doing it too.

Sometimes you need another person standing beside you saying, “Come on. We’re here. Let’s do it.”

And very often, those are the experiences that become the best stories.

You Don’t Have to Arrive With a Group of Friends

This may be the part of group travel I appreciate most.

You don’t necessarily have to have someone to travel with.

One of the reasons we created Playful Coconuts was because we kept meeting people who wanted to see the world but didn’t always have someone in their lives who wanted to go to the same places, at the same time, in the same way.

Waiting for the perfect travel companion can mean waiting a very long time.

Group travel changes that. You can arrive knowing one person, a few people, or sometimes nobody at all.

The trip gives you something in common from the very beginning.

The People Change the Place

I’ve learned that you can visit the same destination twice and have two completely different experiences depending on who you’re with.

The people around you affect what you notice, what you try, what makes you laugh and even how you remember a place afterward.

That’s why, when we plan a Playful Coconuts trip, we’re certainly thinking about hotels, activities, food and all the practical pieces that make a trip work. But we’re also thinking about something that’s much harder to put on an itinerary:

Will this give people a chance to connect?

Sometimes that happens over dinner. Sometimes it’s on a bus ride. Sometimes it’s during an extraordinary experience. And sometimes it’s sitting around at the end of the day talking about absolutely nothing important.

Those moments matter too.

Bring Home More Than Photographs

I love seeing somewhere new. I love discovering great food, learning a little history, wandering somewhere I’ve never been and having experiences I couldn’t have had at home.

But increasingly, I’ve realized that the destination is only part of why I travel.

The rest is the people.

Because a beautiful place gives you a memory.

Sharing it with someone gives you a story.