In a previous post, I wrote that travelling with friends can be a very meaningful thing. I said that the best part of youth is having almost no responsibilities, and we should travel with friends when we can. But beware – travelling can make or break friendships, and if you met potential travelling buddies who have set your alarm bells ringing, it might just be the time to re-consider.

Travelling with friends is fun, but there are certain travelling buddies you should just really keep at arm’s length.

Seven types of people you never want to travel with

1. Mr Control Freak

Mr Control Freak will always want to be in control and dictate the places he wants to visit. He will only give in to you at rare times, oh wait, (isn’t that 99% of the time), or unless you show a black face. If things doesn’t go his way, he is likely to throw a fit, or sulk. He is one big liability that you do not want to have on your trip.

Tip – if you guys are already bickering on your home base, chances are, things are going to get worse when you travel. Just think about it –  both of you have invested time and money on this trip and you would have goals you would like to achieve. If you both don’t come to a consensus, chances are you’re going to fall out due to a clash of wills.

2. Mr and Ms Rule Abider

It’s fine to abide by rules. But don’t be too extreme. I know of some who refuse to jay-walk when the next traffic light is 500m away. Some refuse to step on green patches of grass when walking on the pavement means taking an additional 10 minutes walk around the perimeter. The worse is when Rule Abider refuses to cut queues even though you are obviously going to miss your train and your next flight out of the country.

3. Mr and Ms Emo

Yeah, you’ve got to put up with their mood swings. At one time they are the best of friends, and the next, they have sunk into deep bouts of depression and refuse to go anywhere and stay and mope in the hotel room. They break into tears at certain keywords such as “boyfriend” or “job”. That being said, girls having their periods should be excused.

4. Mr and Ms Drunk

There are times where we have too much fun and get a little pukey. That has happened to me before. But if that travelling companion of yours gets drunk 4 out of the 5 days you’re on holiday (and I mean drunk as it puking away), chances are, you’re going to spend most of your nights cleaning up the bed, holding hair away from the toilet bowl (for girls), and that wouldn’t be what I consider to be a “meaningful” holiday.

It’s even worse if that guy friend of yours gets violent or touchy. Yuck.

5. Mr and Ms Scrooge

Travelling with The Scrooge is tiring. You’ve got to stay in the cheapest of all hotels, just to save 5 bucks, and put yourself in the hassle of walking 5km. They scrimp on tips. They fidget when the suggested night activity is hanging out at a slightly more high end bar. A scrooge is more difficult to manage than a spendthrift. This is because that spendthrift is spending his/her money. (Try to extract more treats from him/her and you’ll feel better about compromising.)

6. Mr and Ms No Commonsense

They prod sleeping dogs. They give to every beggar that comes their way. They greedily accept drinks at bars from thug-looking strangers. They use F words on muscular tatoo-ed locals in bars at a disagreement. They behave as though they are in their home country, and have no consideration for the local culture in that particular country they are in.

These are enough to get me to sit upright and say, “What the hell!”

7. Mr and Ms Inconsiderate

They sleep until noon the next day, causing you to miss your complimentary morning buffet breakfast. They take forever to bathe, put on make-up and get ready. They encroach on your personal space with their clothes and bags of shopping. They sleep with the light on, even though they know clearly that you need full darkness to fall asleep. These are the sort of people I wouldn’t mind leaving behind in the middle of the trip.

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At the end of it all, no one is perfect.  Travelling, just like relationships, is a matter of give and take. There’s no perfect travelling companion, and any seasoned traveller will tell you, that it takes a lot of compromise and understanding of that person to get past the trying, stressful and exhausted moments.