MissJ

I do most of this, too. He usually drives in the US because he's a horrible navigator and me relying on him for directions results in murderous threats. I drive us overseas including "other side" countries because I used to work in England and can get used to it rather quickly. He did a teeny little bit of driving in NZ once because I needed to be picked up from a shop. The agreement is that overseas, the GPS is on and I am paying attention to it. No commentary from him needed. He is useful for going to get things when I am just not in the mood or too tired to move. Always goes to get breakfast and somehow often convinces staff to let him leave with my plate. I am a breakfast in my PJs type of girl.

venomtrilogy

This is amazing. I've lowballed flight times with partners before, but never too crazy because I figured they knew distances and/or how fast an airplane can travel.

LondonElite

Splitting checks is one thing, ok. But jamming excel spreadsheets up people's noses when you're just trying to have a nice time is poor form. Either you need to sort it out beforehand or roll with the flow.

tcualum

donaldsc

So leave them behind.

DON

darthbimmer

People who cannot respect the schedule and other people's time drive me crazy. My wife and one of her friends dealt with a cannot-be-on-time friend on a few trips by lying to her about when events started. For example, if the show started at 8 and seating opened at 7, they'd tell her the show was at 7 and doors opened at 6. Then, when she'd promise to arrive at 6 and show up at 6:50, they'd still have a decent place in line. She caught onto the ruse after 2-3 times and was angry until her friends pointed out that otherwise she would have wrecked the event for everyone.

Personally I prefer not to mislead people but instead to treat them like adults. Including, adults who can be left behind. "DW and I are going hiking Friday morning," I announced on a Wednesday to a group of friends at a house party several months ago. "Who wants to come? We'll be leaving the house at 7am." About a dozen people expressed interest. "OK, great," I said, "But we're leaving promptly at 7." Half the hands went down. I checked against Thursday evening.... "Leaving tomorrow promptly at 7. I'll knock on your door at 6:30 if I don't see you up yet, but that's it; we leave on time. Who's in?" By then there was only one taker. And to his credit he was 100% ready to roll at 6:45 while everyone else was sound asleep.

invisible

I made a rule clearly communicate to people that there will be no waiting and ask them to repeat what they've heard after one cause when we almost miss the flight because she wanted to finish breakfast.

LondonElite

I do this with my children, occasionally, but not adults with whom I want to maintain a friendship!

chrisboote

Jail? For flagrantly breaking the law? Sounds reasonable to me (and, I would suspect, to most)

LondonElite

Jail for sex in an unlocked office? No wonder the prison population is so high. I stick with 'give me a break'.

stickytoffee

For 20 years my Traveling Companion and I have gone once or twice a year to a country that's considered very desirable by Americans.

In the early years a dear college Friend of mine suggested we all go together (my TC and me, my Friend and spouse) on the next trip.

I considered the possibility because Friend and I travelled Europe together with another friend years ago after college on a successful three month trip.

While not on the hostel and backpack level but more on the tourist hotel and proper luggage level, we all had frugal spending habits while still having a good time: restaurants and picnics, plays and opera, shopping, museums, etc.

Fast forward thirty years. Friend now only travels first class and wouldn't consider anything below 5 star hotel, fine dining, limos, big city life, fast paced, ten days MAX.

Qwkynuf

What does that even mean? Is there really one country out of the existing 195 that is (even more or less) universally desirable among nearly 327 million Americans? Most times, I can't get my relatively small group of friends to agree on where to go to dinner!

darthbimmer

Welcome to FlyerTalk, stickytoffee! You're right that people's travel styles change over time. A person's physical limits change with age, discretionary budget can increase (or decrease!), and tastes simply change, too. The fact that two people had compatible travel styles 10 or 20 years ago is no guarantee they're compatible today. It's always best to talk through plans for a trip before committing, even with an old friend.

Artpen100

Well, its only 6 and a half the other direction. Not too far off.

invisible

With people who say 'Oh it will take just 5 min to get my makeup' when it takes 45 min this is the only way
At the same time - before you say this - yes, you will be better off not travelling with them.