Travelling With Friends vs Travelling With Like-Minded Strangers: Which Do You Need Right Now?
When we think about taking a break, travelling with good friends often feels like the obvious choice. After all, they’re the people who know us best. They know our coffee order, we can easily tell them if we need some alone time without hurting their feelings, and they can be very attuned to our moods. There’s a comfort in familiarity, and holidays become an extension of the familiarity in the friendships we’ve taken time to build. They give us the chance to spend uninterrupted time together away from the distractions of everyday life.
But sometimes, there are points in life when familiarity isn’t necessarily what we need.
For example, if work has consumed every conversation with your friends for months, or if you’re navigating the end of a relationship, or adjusting to an empty nest. In these times of stress or change, spending a week with the people who know you best can sometimes reinforce the situation driving the stress. The familiarity is comfortable, but it can keep you stuck in that difficult situation. There isn’t much space for you to begin moving beyond it.
Travelling with like-minded strangers, on the other hand, offers something completely different. Because spending time with strangers allows us to step outside the routines and identities we’ve accumulated over the years with our friends.
STEPPING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Whether we realise it or not, the people closest to us play a significant role in reinforcing our identity. They help us shape the stories we tell ourselves, which isn’t a bad thing – but if we are navigating a new chapter in life, familiar stories can unintentionally keep us anchored to the past.
Imagine you’ve recently gone through a breakup or divorce. You book a weekend away with close friends, hoping for a change of scenery. Naturally, they ask how you’re doing; they want to know what has happened since you last saw them. The conversation returns to your relationship because it’s a pivotal moment in your life. They want to be there for you. This is exactly what friends are for.
However before long you may have spent another evening reliving emotions you’ve already thought about every day for months. The change of scenery you’d hoped for may be different physically, but emotionally you are in the same spot.
Now imagine arriving somewhere where nobody knows your story.
They don’t know your ex-partner’s name, they don’t know about your job or the stress it may be causing you. The only thing they know is that you’ve both booked on to the same fun-filled adventure, so clearly you have something in common.
Rather than asking about the situation you’re trying to take a mental break from, they ask questions like:
What brought you here?
What do you enjoy doing?
Where would you love to travel next?
Already, the conversations naturally become more future-focused than in the past, and create space to explore who you’re becoming.
SOMETIMES THE BEST ADVICE A FRIEND CAN GIVE YOU IS TO TRAVEL SOLO
One of the most surprising things about travelling with people you’ve only just met is how quickly the conversations move from surface level to something much deeper.
Perhaps it’s because everyone has booked a trip with strangers, so instantly there’s a connection in the shared intention. Everyone is there to move, explore, connect and experience somewhere – and something – new. There’s very little small talk about deadlines or life admin.
Instead, conversations often drift towards hobbies, ambitions, travel experiences, career changes and the things people hope to do next.
There’s something strangely freeing about speaking to people who have no preconceived ideas about you.
Our closest friends can sometimes become invested in the roles we’ve always played. There’s the friend who is the organised one, the adventurous one, the one who is always late, or the one who is always training for something.
Meeting new people removes any and all labels and gives you permission to show up just as your most free version of yourself, free of the role you’ve always played, and the person people perceive you to have always been.
TRAVELING WITH LIKE-MINDED STRANGERS at Different Stages of Life
The reasons someone chooses to travel with like-minded strangers vary enormously, but the experience often serves a similar purpose.
For someone who is immersed in a demanding career…
…the greatest benefit might simply be stepping away from conversations dominated by work.
Spending time with people from different industries and backgrounds offers perspective. It reminds you that there are many ways to live a meaningful life beyond your inbox and fully-booked calendar.
For someone rebuilding confidence after a breakup or any emotionally challenging period…
…joining a group alone can be incredibly courageous.
You discover that you can navigate unfamiliar situations, build new friendships, and enjoy your own company far more than you imagined. Sometimes we think we need to wait for the confidence before we do a certain thing, however it’s more likely that the confidence will grow because we do that thing.
For someone entering a completely new phase of life…
…perhaps after retirement or once children have left home, travelling with new people can be a wonderful reminder that life still has plenty of chapters to write. Watching other people pursue new adventures, change careers, or learn new skills can show us what’s possible.
For someone questioning whether the corporate world is still the best path for them…
…travelling with new people can help them to think beyond what they’ve always thought success and happiness meant. Many people reach a point where the career they worked hard to build no longer fits with who they are now, and being around people with different priorities and life experiences can help change their perspective and view of what’s possible. It doesn’t mean they’ll return home with a fully formed plan, but living for a week with “strangers who become friends” can instil in them a sense that there are more options available than what they had previously thought.
A New Environment BRINGS A New Perspective
One of the reasons so many of us feel different when we’re away from home is, put simply, science.
Environmental psychologists have long recognised that our surroundings influence how we think, feel and behave. Research has consistently shown that changing our environment – particularly spending time in natural settings – can reduce stress, restore attention and improve psychological wellbeing.
It’s not because we’ve suddenly become a different person, but because we’ve temporarily stepped away from the routines and environments that shape our everyday lives.
Travel has a wonderful way of interrupting those routines.
At home, it’s easy to fall into familiar patterns without even realising it. We take the same route to work, shop in the same supermarket, exercise in the same gym, and spend time with the same people. There’s naturally a comfort in that, but it can also make us go into autopilot mode.
Travelling naturally disrupts that mode. Whether it’s because you’re exploring new walking routes, or trying new foods every day, your days become less about rushing from one commitment to the next and more about just being present.
When you add new people into that environment, it disrupts it even more.
The conversations become different. You might hear about careers you didn’t know existed, hobbies you’ve never considered trying, countries you’ve yet to visit, and life experiences so different to your own.
Sometimes all it takes is a new conversation to remind us that there are many different ways to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF BREAK FOR EACH LIFE CHAPTER
None of this is to suggest that travelling with like-minded strangers is somehow better than travelling with friends. They simply offer different experiences, and there are times when one may serve us better than the other.
Travelling with friends is about deepening existing relationships, giving us uninterrupted time with the people who have supported us so far. There’s something very special about being able to continually create new memories with people who know us well.
Travelling with like-minded strangers offers a different kind of connection. It introduces us to people we may never have crossed paths with otherwise, often from completely different professions, countries and stages of life. Everyone starts on equal footing, so conversations are driven by curiosity rather than history.
It’s incredible how quickly a hike, a long dinner, or a morning workout can turn strangers into people you look forward to spending TIME with.
Many guests tell us they’re surprised by just how close the group becomes over the course of a week. Perhaps it’s because everyone has chosen to be there for similar reasons – a shared struggle, a shared need - they’re open to new experiences and willing to step outside their comfort zone. There’s immediately a sense of belonging that often develops far more quickly than people expect.
ARE YOU LOOKING for a Different Kind of Break?
Whether you’re looking for a break from work, rebuilding your confidence after a difficult period, or simply wondering what the next chapter of life might look like, travelling with like-minded strangers offers something that can be difficult to find in everyday life. It enables you to see yourself outside the context of your day-to-day life and test what’s possible for you.
Our retreats are designed around movement, adventure, nourishing food and meaningful connection, giving you the space to reset, challenge yourself and return home with a fresh perspective.
