Group Travels

tips & tricks in making group travelling easier

Before getting all excited about going to exchange in Asia, remember to make a packing list of the things to bring along with you for the few months in Asia! Asia is a really humid tropical country so there are a few things that are extremely important for you to bring along (especially if you’re from the colder countries)!

google drive

Sometimes travelling in a big group means that there is a large number of tickets that you have to book, and this is especially so when you go on long trips that require several different bookings.
Hence, an application that we always use would be Google Drive -- upload all the important documents onto the google drive created for the trip (e.g. Singapore 1-5th Dec), and share it with everyone on the trip.
This way, everyone will have access to the important documents easily and conveniently, and would minimise any confusion.
In addition, you can download the documents on Google Drive to be accessible offline so that even if your internet/data is down, you still can access your important documents on your phone!
Google Drive is available on Appstore and Google Play so everyone will have access!

splitwise

Splitwise is a free tool for friends to track bills and other shared expenses. This tool tallies who paid what and sends reminder at the end of the month to settle the debts.
Splitwise is a very simple app to use and at the click of a button, you will be able to split the expense accordingly.
For instance, I want to split the cost of groceries with my housemates in Pamplona, i just have to click on the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the page and key in the details of the expense and save the expense. Splitwise will then automatically calculate how much each person owes me for groceries.
At the end of the month, you can send reminders to your friends who owe you money to settle up the debts.
Therefore, Splitwise reduces alot of tension from borrowing money between friends, and it is a very good application to use to keep track of your expenses and to ensure that money is split accurately.
Splitwise is also available on App Store and Google Play!

whatsapp / telegram

At times, when you are travelling as a group, you tend to split up because different people want to do different things and trying to meet again in a very foreign country where it is difficult to even read the street signs is very difficult.
Hence, Whatsapp and Telegram’s feature of sharing ‘live location’ is very useful in such instances. You just need to share your live location in your group chats and your friends can track you for up to 15 minutes, saving the hassle of trying to describe where you are at etc.
Another function available on Telegram that is very useful in Group Travels would be the pinning of important messages.
All you have to do is to tap on the message that you want to pin, and click ‘Pin’, and select whether you want to allow all parties to know that you have pinned it.
The message will then remain at the top of your message screen for easy access.
This is very useful when there is important information that everybody needs to know about (eg, Phone number, passport number) that was sent in the group chat.