Ninety-five percent of my vacations have been with my family. Only one has ever been a vacation with my friends. Pretty sad.

It gets sadder that there’s likely never going to be another friends vacation for us. We’re in the stages of life that include careers, engagements, marriage, and babies, which often makes it difficult to arrange time, even weekend getaways, to see each other. Unfortunately, that’s the sad truth of life and growing up. 

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from that one trip with my friends, it’s that besides being willing to do it again in a heartbeat, is that you need to vacation with your friends at least once in your life because…

…You’ll make memories to last a lifetime.

Sharing memories with your friends is one of the best things you can do. Of course we could make memories doing just about anything as long as we’re together, but something about vacation memories always sticks out a bit more than that one time we binge watched all the morning talk shows while sipping coffee (even though those were greats as well).

Vacation is a big moment and definitely not the norm, so having these rare memories make them even better. You get crazy-fantastic it-could-happen-only-on-vacation memories, like something out of a movie. Who would actually believe your insane-driver friend was allowed to drive a speed boat in the middle of the ocean? Or who would believe your friend did the congo without realizing her shirt had accidently become unbuttoned? Or who would believe you got security called on you for being too loud, because everything is 10x funnier on vacation?

The laughter and joy will always travel with you. You can take away the vacation, but you will never lose the amazing (and sometimes annoying but still great) memories you have vacationing with your best friends.

…You’ll get to know your friends better

Friends are family you choose. It’s why you can be your even weirder normal self around them. While I say I’m always myself around both, there’s a me who’s more willing to let my freak flag fly with my friends around – and I know I won’t be judged. Much. (All in good humor.) 

But letting loose on a vacation with your best friends allows you to fall more in the love the family you’ve picked (even if they do occasionally get under your skin).

Ever watch your favorite movie and notice something new about it that makes you love it more? Maybe it’s the subtle foreshadowing or an ‘Easter Egg’ like Woody in the background. That’s what traveling with your friends is like. You see new things in them because you’re experiencing a new place/adventure that this new feature or side of them would have never shown before. Like the side of them that’s more adventurous and willing to try swimming with dolphins. Or the side of them that’s more go-go-go because they don’t want to miss out on a second of vacation, even if it means threatening the rest of the group by jumping on our beds to wake us up.

…You’ll have more photographic memories.

Pictures speak a thousand words. While you can talk for hours on end about the crazy adventures you had, simply looking at the photo of the adventure can say it all and have you laughing for hours.

Having a friend around will make documenting the trip 10x easier because you’ll have someone willing to take (and retake) hundreds of photos with you. After all, if there’s not a picture, can you prove the vacation really happened?

Your friends will not care how many ‘check out me and this awesome view’ photos you take – in fact, they’ll be joining you. And they’re totally okay taking several to get the right shot, angle, and lighting. Who’s judging? Not your friends. At least not till you bring out the duck lips.

…You’ll bond and be closer 

We thought we were close before. We were wrong. Vacationing together brought us much closer – and not just because we had to share a bed and one of us thought the other was their boyfriend… But that’s another story.

Being in a different setting away from home and familiarity, it creates a bond and a time to get to know each other in ways you never thought possible. You’re experiencing a new place and adventures together that wouldn’t ordinarily happen. How often are you stuck together on an airplane for three hours so you get a little stir-crazy and order shots because why not? Or how often do you just get to lounge and enjoy the beauty of not working and being in such a beautiful place together, with the sun on your face? How often do you randomly hug each other because you’re so excited to be with them in this magical place?

It’s the little things, as much as the adventures, that bond you together. 

…They’re you’re best friend.

Do you need any other reason than because they’re your friend? And because you need a vacation?

So go call your BFF right now and start packing – spring break is almost here. 

Brianna Krueger is the Chief Editor for Wandering Educators

All photos courtesy and copyright Brianna Krueger