UGATiger26

I haven't been to it yet, but the Prado Museum is one of the more famous sites in Madrid. I fully intend to check it out the next time I happen to be in Madrid.

El Retiro Park is nice.

Mercado de San Miguel is pretty cool for food/drinks.

Take a day trip to Toledo. Really cool fortress town.

Take another one to Alcala de Henares. That's one that won't hit most peoples radars, but it's a cool small town outside Madrid. Birthplace of Cervantes.

This idea popped into my head as I was reading about a fellow poster’s upcoming trip. And while he seems to have things under control, I realized that other folks might have less experience with group vacations. As someone who has endured (and learned from) a lot of vacation-related grief, I figured it would be fun to jot down some notes. And who knows…maybe I can spare someone else some heartache down the road.

When I say “group,” I’m not referring to a husband, wife and their kids. I’m referring to families with adult children, in-laws, and the like. Or it could be a group of adult friends. I’m sure most of the below advice would still apply if kids are involved. But advice about how to best travel with kids probably warrants its own thread.

TL;DR version: While vacations are meant to be fun, they are also high-stakes endeavors because large amounts of time and money in play. The keys to an enjoyable group vacation are robust pre-communication, planning, and grace. Here are some specific tips I thought of. I’m sure other posters will chime in with other thoughts.

1. Don’t force a budget or timeline on anyone: This stuff stresses people out, and for good reason. How people spend their time and money can be a very personal and touchy matter. One member of the group might be making $350k/year. Another might be a public school teacher. So it’s not a great idea to tell the teacher that they need to get on board with a two-week trip to France and Italy in October staying in five-star hotels. The bottom line is that you want everyone to be agreed upon the general budget and timeframe. This is probably the most difficult part, as it requires good communication and even some diplomacy.

2. Acknowledge sacrifices: when a group vacation is planned, it is almost inevitable that at least one person is making a significant sacrifice to make it work for the greater good of the group. Maybe the chosen timeframe is a busy season for them at work. Maybe it’s a husband and wife who haven’t had the chance to take a nice vacation on their own in a while. Maybe someone is dipping into their savings to afford it. Regardless of what it is, be sure to acknowledge those sacrifices. Treat them to a nice meal. Don’t be a jerk if they need to log-into their work email for a few hours one day. Buy them a bottle of wine.

3. Respect differences: People are…well, different. And the word “vacation” may mean something very different for different people. One person may want to spend all day exploring the sights and history of a city. The other might want to chill by the pool and relax. And there’s nothing wrong with either! Maybe the person who wants to chill just had an insane month at the office. So don’t try and force a singular itinerary on the group or lecture everyone on the “proper” way to spend a vacation in a given locale. Instead, plot out the major items (flights, cities, hotels, etc.) and then have some discussions about what people would like to do each day. When common themes surface, great. Turn those into group days. Otherwise, let people naturally flow with want they want to do. A good tip is to always have a plan to meet up for drinks and dinner each evening. That ensures the group spends at least some time together each day, and it’s a great way to swap stories about what everyone did that day.

4. Be flexible and gracious: Big group trips inevitably throw curveballs at you. A flight gets cancelled. Someone gets sick. Someone is too worn out to make it to the fancy restaurant that was planned for that night. Be ready to roll with the punches. Nothing will sour a trip faster than getting into a petty argument over something that is inconsequential in the big scheme of things.

5. Pack light: This one is more applicable for multi-destination trips, like Europe. People always underestimate how burdensome and stressful it is to lug around tons of heavy luggage. Even simply getting it from the curb up to the hotel room can be a hassle. And sometimes, it’s the little things that can ruin the vibe. Try to keep your packing to a rolling, carry-on and backpack. And gently encourage everyone in the group to do so. Yes, it’s tougher to plan out, but it will pay dividends in the long run. When everyone can saunter along quickly – whether it’s at the airport, boarding a train, or navigating an unfamiliar city – it makes everything go that much smoother.

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Pizza will never work at anything more than slow speeds. Learned that the hard way. Hockey stop and weighting/unweighting of edges is the key.

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Learned that the hard way.

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:lol: Same.

First real green slope after learning on the bunny hills all morning. Barreled straight down it like a runaway rocket and nearly bulldozed a mom and her 5-year-old.

Tried the wedge thing and it did nothing.

Panicked and did sort of an NFL QB slide before I hit someone. Because of that, I accidentally learned how to shift my weight and turn for real.

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Is there any reason you can't take the train between the two, and then rent a car for a day or two in either city as needed? It eliminates the luggage issue, since your bags will be in the hotel as you venture out

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+1

I'd sincerely suggest looking into taking the train. The Italian train companies are excellent. Other than getting your luggage between the train station/hotel, it will be a breeze. You can always grab a cab once you reach your destination.

Where else are you going? Chances are, you can just train it the whole way. If you're staying in old town Venice, you can't drive anyways. Milan has a good metro system, and its compact enough to get around on foot.

If your trip is two weeks long, I'm guessing the plan is to gradually make your way west across northern Italy?

ETA: I should add that, given your group is comprised entirely of adults, I would recommended the train even moreso. If you had kids in the group, renting a car would probably be advisable. But 5 adults should be absolutely fine using the train system, even if ya'll are traveling to multiple cities.

Chances are she's at a conference in France right now on the public dime presenting about effective, mission-driven public leadership.

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Every word I learn makes me laugh.

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Read Mark Twain's essay on learning the German language. Even 150+ years later, it's still hilarious.

The Awful German Language

If you haven't seen the Pitch Meeting for it, it's pretty good.

"Why can't he hear the bell?"
"Because he doesn't believe in Santa yet."
"But he's literally standing in the North Pole surrounded by elves."
"Yeah, but he's still like ehhhhhhhh, maybe not."

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You sound like a little bitch that lets everyone walk all over you.

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Says the guy whose wife "forced" him to do something he didn't want to do.

Good play there, tiger. :thup:

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Recently, my wife let me know that she wanted to go see Khruangbin in New Orleans and asked if I wanted to go. I responded that being I didn’t listen to them, I would be perfectly happy if she went with a friend who would be more into it, but if she wanted me there, I was there. She ultimately decided she wanted me there. We got dinner before, went to the show, and while it didn’t change my life, there were parts I genuinely enjoyed. And afterwards, when she asked me whether I enjoyed the show, you know what we talked about? Those parts I enjoyed. Know what I didn’t bring up? Parts I didn’t enjoy.


Best response in this thread.

OP, idk your wife but if my wife asks me to go to something it’s because she wants to share it with me. Anything she wants to share with me, it would probably make her pretty happy if I went in with an open mind. If I go in with an open mind and I’m really uncomfortable somewhere, I’ll tell my wife I’m ready to go and, knowing I’m not an a-hole, she will figure that it must be pretty serious because I’m also asking her to leave something she wants to leave. I wouldn’t do that unless I was seriously uncomfortable.

How hard is it to enjoy the fact that you get to do something with your spouse?

You know one day one of you is going to be dead and the other will be wishing you had a bit more time?

Or maybe not. Maybe a lot of folks on this board shouldn’t be married in the first place.

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I'll give this another +1

OP, quite frankly, you sound like a petulant 6-year-old whose mother asked him to clean his room, so he does it with a pouty face the whole time, does a half-assed job, and then says "SEE? I DID IT. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

The problem isn't your SO. Sounds like she's wired like pretty much any female is. The bigger problem seems to be your ego and fragile sense of pride.

I'd advise you to grow up and put your big boy pants on. Sometimes we do things in life that aren't our particular cup of tea, but because it means something special to the person we (supposedly) love and treasure.

This cartoon seems appropriate here...