How the people coming on your trip shape the trip more than the destination itself.
How the people coming on your trip shape the trip more than the destination itself.
One of the most common travel planning mistakes is starting with where you want to go before thinking about who you’re travelling with. Over time, we’ve learned that the exact same destination can feel like a completely different holiday depending on the people sharing the journey with you.
A city break with teenagers is a completely different city with toddlers. A road trip with friends has a totally different rhythm to travelling solo. And, travelling as an empty nester? That comes with a level of freedom that is liberating.. At Love Travel Planning, we always start with one simple question:
Who are you travelling with?
This hub brings together our guides for different travel companions, helping you think about the group dynamics, logistics and planning decisions that make trips smoother from the start. It’s something Smyto and I talk about a lot when planning content for the site, the destination almost always comes second. Who you travel with shapes everything else.
Before diving into the guides, here’s a quick overview of the main planning priorities for different travel groups:
| Companion type | Priority | Common challenge | Recommended style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Younger kids | Routine & safety | Middleday meltdowns | Single-base “hub” travel |
| Teenagers | Independence | Boredom | Activity-led road trips |
| Young adults | Collaboration | Budget differences | Experience driven travel |
| Empty nesters | Comfort & pace | Over-planning | Slow travel & culture |
| Friends | Expectations | Different priorities | Planned structure with free time |
| Solo travel | Confidence & flexibility | Loneliness | Slow exploration with social opportunities |
Over the years, we’ve travelled through a lot of different life stages. I’ve planned trips with young children who needed snacks every ten minutes, and were happiest when there was a playground nearby. I’ve travelled with teenagers who suddenly cared far more about Wi-Fi and food choices than castles and museums. And, more recently, I’ve started to discover what travel feels like when the children are older and plans can be a little more spontaneous.
Your travel companion shapes almost every decision you make, by influencing:
How much you can realistically see in a day.
Whether a hotel works, or if you really need the space of a villa or apartment.
Whether you prioritise convenience, experiences, or flexibility.
When you get this right early in the planning process, everything else tends to fall into place.
Below you’ll find our dedicated guides for different travel dynamics. Each one is based on trips we’ve planned ourselves, and the lessons that came from them:
Travelling with young children teaches you very quickly that less is more.
Some of our best family travel memories actually came from days where the plan was simply a morning activity followed by an afternoon in a park or by the sea. Children rarely care how many landmarks you tick off – they care about how the day feels.
We prioritise accommodation with separate sleeping areas, shorter travel days, and itineraries that allow space for the unplanned moments kids tend to enjoy most.
Once children become teenagers, the dynamic changes quite quickly.
Teenagers often want a bit more independence, but still enjoy shared experiences when those experiences feel a little more grown-up. One thing that worked well for us was letting the teens take responsibility for certain parts of the trip, like choosing a restaurant or planning one activity for the day.
Sometimes those choices led us somewhere unexpected, but they also made everyone feel more involved in the trip.
This stage sits somewhere between family travel and group travel. You might be dealing with different budgets, different energy levels, and slightly different ideas of what a “good holiday” looks like. The key here is building trips that allow flexibility while still creating time together.
Travelling without school holiday restrictions opens up a lot of possibilities. Many empty nesters find themselves drawn towards slower travel, longer stays, and visiting destinations during quieter shoulder seasons. The focus often shifts from seeing more places, to experiencing places more deeply.
Great group trips rarely happen by accident. Travelling with friends works best when expectations are clear from the start – things like budgets, accommodation style, and how structured the itinerary will be. A little planning early on helps avoid decision fatigue once you’re on the trip.
Solo travel offers a kind of freedom that’s hard to replicate when travelling with others. Our guides focus on choosing destinations that feel comfortable for solo travellers, staying safe while exploring independently, and finding the right balance between solitude and social opportunities.
Even the closest travel groups can run into friction once the trip begins. Everyone has their own “travel personality”.” Some people want to be at the museum entrance the moment it opens. Others see a late brunch and a slow wander as the main goal of the day. Most disagreements happen because everyone is competing for the same limited resource — time.
One framework we’ve found useful is what we call the 70/30 rule. Plan around 70% of the day together, and leave 30% flexible.
These are the moments everyone agreed on beforehand. A group dinner, a guided tour, a scenic drive or a major attraction.
This is the time where people can do their own thing. Teenagers might head to the beach, someone might explore a museum, while others simply relax.
Giving people permission to split up for part of the day often makes the time together much more enjoyable.
Within the Platinum Travel Planning Roadmap, the travel companion sits right at the start of the process. Before deciding where to go, when to travel, or how much to spend, the most useful question to answer is still:
When you start there, everything else becomes far easier, for example:
Families with school aged children have fixed travel periods during school holidays, and have to find a way around peak season pricing. Empty nesters, conversely, can get cheaper prices and some peace and quiet during shoulder seasons.
A trip with friends might prioritise a central city location near nightlife, while a multi-generational family trip might shift the budget toward a large self catering villa with a private pool.
Solo travel is often about self discovery and complete autonomy. Group travel is about shared history and collective experiences. Identifying this why early prevents you from planning a high energy adventure weekend when the group actually wants to reconnect over long lunches and a few bottles of sparkly.
By placing your companions at the center of the roadmap, you stop trying to force a group into a destination that doesn’t fit. Instead, you design an experience that works for everyone—including you.
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