Best friend! They are called that for a reason and like other avenues in life, a best friend is indeed the best travel partner (even the finicky friend) one can have! When I say best friend, I don’t mean your girl gang or the school group. I strictly mean that ONE favorite person!

Swati and I have been BFFs since a long time and we are completely opposite in our choice of foods, punctuality, fitness level and both are blessed with extreme mood swings! I don’t remember any vacation, where we haven’t argued and that in itself keeps us both sane and real! From searching a cup of coffee at random dhabas to skipping that morning trek, from singing aloud weird 90’s songs to handing me my toothbrush while I am still in bed, she always made sure I enjoy my journey with her.

Here’s a few out many reasons why I urge you to travel with your best friend-

1. You can openly discuss about the money!

Everyone wants to travel on a budget, and it might often be challenging when traveling with other people, but never with your best friend. You can be pretty honest with them if you can’t afford the fancy 3 star hotels they selected and switch to a basic home-stay.

2. No pretension needed whatsoever!

Nobody knows you like your best friend, so if you want 100 photos in the same spot or go on a fart spree after over- eating the yummy Rajma Chawal, you need not be pretentious at all. You can dress up the way you want, be grumpy if not in a mood, steal apples from someone’s orchards or just cancel the day’s plan out of laziness, you need not fear being judged.

3. Any goof-up can actually turn into an adventurous funny story!

You may end up missing a flight, board a wrong bus, get stuck on the roads for hours, almost “drown” when posing on the beach, while these might be nightmare-ish otherwise but with your best friend you know you will bookmark this moment as an amusing story! We have been stuck due to landslides and ended up stalking hot bikers and making new friends, we have boarded wrong buses and reached a different place altogether and ended up exploring a new town!

4. You’re always together yet value each other’s need for space!

Amidst a bustling adventure, there are times when you need some self time, some solitude where you could spend an entire day on a hammock or go hiking all by yourself and instead of feeling awkward, she absolutely understands and gives you the Me-Time you need without abandoning you and making sure you’re okay!

5. You will share clothes and stuffs, irrespective of the size difference!

When traveling with someone this close, you don’t have to worry about carrying everything you could need in a trip. While she carries the essentials like toothpaste, medicines etc, I am the one carrying my camera and stuff. She loves to wear my oversized sized jackets and sweats and I am often wrapped up in her extra comfortable shawl!

6. Planning the trip is so much fun with them!

You can call them at 1 AM without any hesitation when you get super excited on getting a deal  for booking the stay you’ve been eyeing for and discuss even the minutest things which might be stupid to others.

7. You guys make a perfect team!

While one takes great pictures, the other gives excellent poses, one doesn’t like experimenting with food and the other wants to try everything locally available, one is a good negotiator and the other knows exactly which place to book, one is a lazy ass and the other will have a list of things to do. You both are so similar yet so different and because you care about each other, you’ll end up trying things you wouldn’t have considered otherwise.

8. You’ll fight like crazy, only to come closer!

“you’re a b!t*#, I am never traveling with you after this!” well everything might change, but this will be our constant! We ALWAYS fight during a trip irrespective of it being a long weekend or a 15 day long adventure. We can fight on petty things like over a song, on deciding who clicks better photos or when one is just a little hangry. And just in a few hours we would be the same again, only with one more reason to laugh at.

9. The adventure begins as soon as you guys meet!

From looking for each other at the airport to missing your uber twice because you were so busy catching up and clicking selfies, the adventure begins as soon as you guys see each other. With your bestie, it’s not just about the journey or destination, the company is equally (sometimes more) important.

10. Your perfect break from the mundane life is your best friend!

She’s a home like no other! She knows your secrets, understands your lows and carries the beautiful sense of nostalgia! When you badly need someone to lift you up, your perfect resort is to reconnect with your best friend and just the two of you going on a vacation is the most amazing thing that can happen to you during lows of life!

11. You’ll realize how both of you care for each other!

Have you ever fallen sick during a trip? Gotten lost (kind of) during your trek? Just came out of toxic relationship? You have the perfect person to lean on. While she will make embarrassing videos of the drunken you, she would also not mind cleaning the barf when you’ve passed out. She will visit the boring museum just to give you company and beat the shit out of the artifact salesman who was about to con you.

12. You know they’ve got your back and that gives you the confidence!

When embarking on an adventurous journey, you may sometimes find yourself in unfortunate circumstances, but with your best friend beside you, the fear is lifted and you feel pretty much motivated to face it. When Swati and I were lost during our Tirthan valley trek, it was solely she who kept me going.

13. You are knitting a stronger bond each day!

Nothing develops a stronger bond than traveling together and creating memories for life. All the madness, fun, highs, tears, stress and adventures bring you closer like nothing else, you discover newer things about each other, you start respecting each other a little more and the goodbye is all the more heartfelt and heavy!

Call your best friend right away and start planning your vacation already!