They say you never truly know a person until you have lived under one roof. There is, however, an alternative to that. You can travel together instead. Just like cohabitation, traveling entails stress and bliss, sometimes in equal parts, and everyone handles those emotional fluxes differently.
Traveling can unravel parts of you that you didn’t know existed, just as it can reveal traits of your friends you wish you never got around to discovering. Who knows, your very best friend could even be the one person who makes you think “I wish I just went alone. “
Here are some types of people you don’t want to travel with, as well a telltale signs to look out for:
The COD: Cause of Delay
Telltale signs: She always makes the entire barkada wait for her, be it to finish her dinner or her touchups. She’s caused you to be late for a movie once or twice because she never seemed to know how to respect other people’s time.
Why you’re better off without her: If she doesn’t respect your time on a normal day, chances are, she might not respect it the entire duration of your trip.
You don’t want a reason to miss your flight, because you know how expensive rebooking those tickets can get. You also don’t want to wait on her for an extra hour and a half while she makes sure her mermaid waves stay in place: you could be using that time to discover the local sights.
Your Polar Opposite
Telltale signs: She hates pineapple on her pizza, you bribe the cashier to put extra pineapple on yours. You own nothing but dresses, she lives inside her trousers. Your personalities have stark differences, and you are both well aware of it. You don’t always get along – sometimes it bothers you, but most of the time it doesn’t.
Why you’re better off without her: Well, not really. Two people with totally opposing personalities can still travel together. You need, however, to establish the thing you both want out of the trip beforehand.
If your purpose is to meet new people while for her it’s to relax, it might not work. Discomfort might form between the two of you once she starts dozing off just when you’re in the mood to paint the town red.
The Uto-Uto
Telltale signs: You tell her gullible isn’t an actual word, and it’s not even in the dictionary. Wide-eyed, she responds with “Ay, totoo?”
Why you’re better off without her: If she believes you when you tell her you’re leaving on June 25th to spend Christmas with your family in Australia, she is likely to believe sketchy strangers who tell her to take a sip from an “alcohol-free” drink. You might spend the entire trip looking after her and making sure she does not fall into the trap of an ill-intentioned person, and the responsibility might take away the fun from your trip.
It’s perfectly fine to be naïve sometimes, especially in an unfamiliar place where you don’t know anyone. Just like anything else in life, however, too much naivety can lead to trouble.
The Primetime Princess
Telltale signs: She wears high heels to go mountain climbing, and then complains about why the barkada chose such a difficult hike. She lashes out at servers when her meal is served a minute late. She never lets a moment to make a scene pass, and she is almost never sorry.
Why you’re better off without her: Once she starts whining about the heat, the long ro-ro ride, or the below-par accommodations when she knows these are what she signed up for in the first place, bad blood may form between the two of you. On a trip, moreover, not everything will go as planned. There will always be little surprises along the way, and you want to travel with someone who welcomes these as little adventures, not as a reason to throw a hissy fit.
Of course, when a friend is madrama or too trusting doesn’t mean you need to burn bridges. Of course, the decision to continue being friends beyond backpacks and airfares is still up to you. It’s just that, the right company can mean all the difference between a memorable trip and a disaster.
Traveling is supposed to be about exploring unknown territories, discovering new things, meeting new faces and furthering your knowledge. Bringing the wrong person along can lead you to tiptoe your way around the world, and that’s not the ideal way to enjoy a trip.
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