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We’re writing the definitive how-to guide to group travel. Whether
you’re going away for a short break or an extended vacation,
Tribe Travel tells you the tricks of the trade in addition to providing
you with a selection of fab trip ideas—from party weekends to cultural
excursions to spectator sports and adventure vacations. Here’s a sneak peek: Tribe Travel: An Indispensable Guide to Jet-Setting
With Friends Tribe Rules Tribe travel is somewhere between the traditional
family vacation, spring break with college
roomies, and an exotic “If It’s Tuesday,
This Must be Belgium” package tour. However,
it’s not enough to simply assemble a group
of willing participants with the funds, vacation
time and wanderlust to make it work. We call
it ‘tribe travel’; because the process
is almost ritualistic, and depends upon the
existence of an actual tribe—a social
group with bonds, common interests and defined
roles—to be successful. When it’s bad,
the experience is exhausting, infuriating and
downright exasperating. It can sever or seriously
damage relationships, and negate any positive
aspects of your precious, fleeting holiday. But, when it’s good, tribe travel is smooth,
comfortable and relatively painless. It’ll
strengthen bonds, create amazing memories,
inspire, attract envy, induce bliss, develop
new relationships—maybe even fan the
flames of romance. And that’s why we do it. Our advice: consider some basic ground rules
before your group’s first jet-setting adventure.
As long as the tribe communicates well, follows
the golden rule and avoids falling into the ‘ugly
tourist’ trap, your vacation will be worthy
of many a superlative-filled anecdote. Know your tribe. Our vast circle of friends
crisscrosses continents, ages, races, tastes
and stripes, but that said we’re basically
an extended network of like-minded people.
Get to know your tribe before you travel; communicate
often, have as many pre-trip get-togethers
as you can, and make sure you're all comfortable
and compatible as a group—the road is
not a great place to discover you’re not. Be democratic. Our democracy begins when
we select the location of our next adventure,
and is ever-present in just about all of our
decision-making. Everyone in your group should
have a voice and be comfortable expressing
it. Yes, there will be the requisite loudmouths,
manipulators and passive-aggressives among
you (and you love them for it, right?), but
you’ll seriously limit drama when majority
rules and everyone accepts the system. It’s OK to separate. Our group's mantra
is always “we don't have to do everything
together.” Make sure that’s the case.
Often the ones who strike out for a day of
solo exploring end up discovering the amazing
off-the-beaten path café, the fabulous
little boutique, the ‘not-on-any map’ hiking
trail, or the pristine deserted beach that
the rest of us might have missed. Of course,
despite the fact that our tribe includes independent
thinkers and solitude-seeking introspective
types, we still wind up spending the majority
of our days and nights as a group. Go figure.
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