Most Friends Can’t Coordinate Dinner While Mine Plan International Trips
A celebration of the chaotic, committed, passport‑ready friendships
Most friend groups can’t even agree on a dinner reservation. Someone’s “not doing carbs,” someone else “already ate,” someone’s running late, someone can’t afford the venue and someone mysteriously disappears the moment the words Where should we go hit the chat.
Meanwhile, my friend group? We’re out here planning international trips like it’s our part‑time job. Oh wait, it technically is my job so I suppose it helps when you have one in the friend group always planting the seed.
While other groups are still debating sushi vs. tacos, we’re comparing flight prices, comparing outfits, dropping hotel stay links, and casually saying things like, “Should we just do Turks & Caicos?” We don’t pick a restaurant — we pick a country.
And honestly? I’m so proud of us.
It’s a big enough challenge for me to get a boyfriend to commit to a trip. Actually, it’s just challenging to get a man to commit to plans on a Saturday. These men are clearly part of the other friend groups who can’t even plan dinner.
Getting a group of adults to commit to anything — let alone a trip that requires PTO, passports, and a full itinerary — is nothing short of miraculous. It’s diplomacy. It’s logistics. It’s blind optimism. It’s friendship at its highest difficulty setting.
What’s even more impressive is the diversity of our friend group all being in different places in our lives to come together and make it happen. Some are married long term, some are newlyweds that we’ve known since the beginning of their love story, some are divorced, some are newly engaged and some of us are as single as our passports are stamped. But, it just works.
And when it works? When the trip actually makes it out of the group chat? It becomes the kind of memory that bonds you for life. 📱
When the Trip Actually Makes It Out of the Group Chat
There’s a moment — a sacred, almost spiritual moment — when a group trip crosses the threshold from chaotic fantasy to actual reality. It’s when the group chat shifts from memes and unhinged voice notes to… logistics. Real logistics. The kind that require calendars, commitment, and courage.
It always starts with one brave soul typing the words that change everything:
“Okay, but seriously… are we doing this.”
Suddenly, everyone plays into a role. You have the friend who always asks to go on trips with you but will never commit. They are the ones that watch but go silent. You have the core group that you know will always say “count me in” because we can’t bear the FOMO that will come from missing out on the memories from another international debauchery. You have the friends who are already looking up flights and hotels before we even decide where we’re going and the others who just say “tell me what to book” and just show up.
And then it happens. The moment that separates the dreamers from the doers:
Someone finally books their flight.
That’s the point of no return. That’s when the trip officially escapes the gravitational pull of the group chat. That’s when everyone else has to either commit or admit they were never serious.
If you’re lucky, your friend group has a points guy who travels so much for work that he accumulates the highest level of status and invites everyone on his itinerary to book business class for under $200 per person. If your friend group doesn’t have that guy, start looking for one.
And when the confirmations start rolling in — seat selections, hotel reservations, business-lounge access, passport renewals — you realize something magical:
This isn’t just a trip anymore. It’s a collective triumph.
A logistical miracle. A testament to the fact that your friend group is built different.
🌍 We’re Not Just Friends — We’re a Travel Task Force
Every group has roles, and ours are elite:
The Planner (this is usually me as the Travel Industry hook up)
The Points Guy
The Flight Deal Hunter
The Spreadsheet Queen
The “I’ll Go Anywhere” Wildcard
The Boat Guy (yes, our trips often involve being on a boat)
The Human Yelp Review
The One Who Packs Like They’re Fleeing the Country
The One Who Packs 20 Minutes Before Leaving for the Airport
Together, we’re unstoppable. Separately, we’re… well, still unstoppable, but with less shared luggage.
🧳 We Don’t Just Travel — We Commit
We’ve mastered the art of:
Coordinating PTO like a synchronized swim team
Booking flights at 2 a.m. because “the price dropped $14”
Pretending we’ll wake up early to journal and drink water
Packing all brand new outfits we bought for the trip that we absolutely will not wear but may gift to our trip mates
Fixing our schedules so that we never miss a sunset
Creating itineraries that are 40% realistic and 60% delusion
And somehow, it all works.
Because the moment we step off that plane — sleep‑deprived, over‑packed, possibly over-stimulated and buzzing with excitement — everything clicks. The chaos becomes comedy. The planning becomes payoff. The group chat becomes a living, breathing adventure and our base of sharing the hilarious or oh-so-cute photos we took of each other.
🌄 We Collect Memories, Not Just Menus
Some friend groups bond over brunch. Ours bond over:
Getting lost in foreign cities
Catching boats and daily sunsets
Themed nights and matching outfits for the cutest photos
Laughing until we cry while pregaming in someone’s hotel room
Sharing chargers, snacks, beverages and emotional support
Turning every mishap into a story we’ll tell forever
We don’t just go out to dinner — we go out into the world.
And that’s the difference.
💛 Because These Are the Friendships Worth Traveling For
Anyone can show up for a meal. But showing up for a passport‑stamped, time‑zone‑crossing, memory‑making adventure? That’s a different level of friendship. That’s family.
It’s commitment. It’s chaos. It’s love. It’s choosing each other — not just for a night out, but for a whole experience.
Most friend groups can’t even plan a trip to dinner. Mine plans international trips. And honestly? I wouldn’t trade them for anything. From Newport, to Nashville, to Cabo, to Las Vegas, to Tulum, to London and Paris, to the Mediterranean, to Miami, to Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas, I can’t wait to see where the next adventure takes us and the memories that come along the way.
