We keep talking about how much we have loved our international adventures with friends. As I thought about sharing what we enjoy so much about exploring the world with our pals, I began to scroll back through photos of trips we have taken where we have set out to see new parts of the world with our friends. The memories of discovery and companionship and far-away adventures came rolling back, and I smiled back at my disorganized photos as I realized I was grinning broadly in each photo. Which is no surprise; I find great joy travel and I adore my friends.

Traveling with friends can exponentially increase the conversation topics and perceptions of a new place. Traveling to a place where friends live is a bonus because then you don’t have to spend your time hunting down the places that are so cool they aren’t on Trip Advisor and figuring out which direction the train is going.

Moving in groups of four works great; you can fill up a cab and split a room with two beds. And you know we love a good deal. We also try to be intentional about inviting all our friends, coupled or not, to adventure with us. As a dear friend pointed out to me in our early 20’s, as people get older those who are single and those who are coupled tend to have less overlap in activities.

In addition to the obvious—like wanting to travel to the same place—having similar plans about how you want to spend your money and time on the trip seem to take the cake for most important pairings. If you want to stay at a hostel and your friends want to camp out at the Ritz, you run the risk of everyone being frustrated with the shakedown. It is good to establish a general budget/way of traveling in advance. What price point and types of places (free hotel points in Stone Town or rustic solar-powered home on Bocas del Toro) do you want to stay at? What type of paid (horse back riding in Cuba) or free (beach lounging in Akumal) activities do you hope to do? Are you ok getting around by the local bus (I’m never that into this option) or are you hoping to fly between destinations (Bangkok to Chiang Mia via plane instead of train) in country? Do you want to move and shake through your vacation or do you just want to hang out and relax?

The times we have traveled with our friends always make me wistful for days of old: college. It provides space to enjoy a beer and stay up late into the night sharing about life. It offers time, that ‘real life’ doesn’t, for life to unfold in community.

The first time we convinced friends to travel with us was in 2014 with Heidi and Greg. We left Portland winter in search of the sun and adventure, landing in Cuba before it was more formally accepting visitors. We explored the jazz clubs of Havana, rode horseback in Viñales and stumbled upon the 500 year celebration of Trinidad and (tried) to salsa in the square with the locals.

After Jason started his pursuit of miles chasing (more to come on this I’m sure) we cashed in our miles to spend the week with Blake and Raphaelle in Paris, where they were living at the time. Our dear friends let me live out my lifelong dream of being French for a week, stopping in the local bakery each morning for a croissant and starting dinner no earlier than 10pm each night.

Following our first dinner with Alison and Brian, I convinced Jason to rearrange his vacation schedule for the year to match theirs and then and we (not so subtly) offered that maybe we should all vacation together. We had a whirlwind trip to Panama, eating ceviche out of small styrofoam cups in Panama City, then lounging on one of the small islands of Bocas del Toro staying up late each night playing cards.

As we shared of our adventure to Panama with new friends Mariana and Brian, they off handedly mentioned they would love to travel somewhere with us. So I got right on planning that. We first decided to go to Mexico in February. Then they also decided they would like to marry each other and to do so that same February, and therefore our first adventure together also turned into their honeymoon. We thoroughly enjoyed ‘our’ honeymoon, walking all over Mexico City and eating all the tacos before relaxing beachside on the Yucatan peninsula and enjoying our $2 Tamarind margaritas.

Nate suggested we meet up in Spain for Christmas and as we all sat in a bar in Barcelona chatting with the bartender and telling him that we all currently live in Africa I wondered ‘whose life am I living?’. Nate had lived with us in Portland for a few months and we easily fell back into our routine of sharing space and food but this time doing so in ancient towns surrounded by stone walls, etc.

And thankfully we convinced Mariana and Brian to come adventure with us again and they flew to Tanzania last month. We sent them away to the Serengeti and Zanzibar on the weekdays and on the weekends joined them for an African music festival on Zanzibar and exploring our life in Dar.

As we prepare for our upcoming adventures after we close our time in Tanzania, I can’t wait to be joined by friends in different corners of the world. Who wants to come explore?