We’re all a bit traumatised still from Croatia,” Will tells me. “From the get-go, it was bad behaviour from everyone.” Will is 27 now, but his trip abroad with three friends from sixth form is still so infamous in his circle that it could have happened yesterday. “Fighting over tiny amounts of money, who makes what for dinner, losing expensive beach towels from our balcony…” Holiday etiquette had soured to the point where Will’s friend, Lily*, was deliberately locked out on their balcony and left by herself while the rest of the group went out for lunch. “I keep saying, ‘Let’s do another trip’, but I think everyone’s scared because we were all so badly behaved.”
Going on holiday with your friends should be a doddle, right? You normally get along like a house on fire, you share similar interests, and you’ve never argued before. So what is it about holidaying that can cause a friendship meltdown? According to a survey by Babbel, one in five (21 per cent) of Brits have broken up with a friend as a result of a holiday spat. The most common cause? Rows about “getting lost, or disagreements over directions” (22 per cent), closely followed by “choosing where to eat” (20 per cent) and “deciding what to do each day” (19 per cent). Men are also more prone to quarrelling while away, with 30 per cent of male respondents experiencing this compared with 14 per cent of female respondents.
