I've just gotten back from a month of travelling around Europe.
I thought I had the balance right, around 2.5 weeks travelling on my own and 1.5 with a friend.
At first it was great with my friend. Chilled, relaxed, fun. But then she got really prickly. It was clear that our pace of travel was very different. I was up and ready to go by about 8.30, wanting to beat the hottest time of the day. I do heaps of walking, averaging at least 10+ kms a day (which is a lot, but I know plenty of people do more). I do research about each place so I have a vague idea of things I want to see or areas to explore. For meals I would typically have a simple breakfast that I make myself, lunch would vary and often be something quick and on the go. Dinner I like a mix of eating out, take out or a supermarket meal I'll put together. I love trying local food.
My friend on the other hand, was a late riser, would prefer to spend nights in our shared accommodation watching netflix, rarely wanted to eat out and wasn't really well researched so it was always me coming up with ideas.
We managed our shared cost on the app Split Wise. I found she often wasn't very forthcoming in paying for her fair share, so by the end she owed me a bit of money.
We never had a fight but she got so grumpy with me. She didn't seem to want to walk anywhere. She was really moody all the time, often just going in her room at night and not saying anything. One day in the middle of our holiday I said I needed a solo day and we'd catch up that night. I wanted to do a bit of walking and knew she wouldn't be up for it, plus by then we'd spent 7 days together so I needed a break. This was something we'd discussed at home so I didn't see an issue.
After that she went from sometimes wanting to do things to never wanting to do things. On our last night together I suggested we go out for dinner, she said no, she needed to pack for her flights the next day. So I go out solo and when I get back she's in her pj's by 8 and watching netflix.
It's been 2 weeks and we usually chat all the time (pretty much daily) and I haven't heard from her once. I contacted her a week ago and she was pleasant enough but nothing since then.
I'm sure there were things about me that grated her, but not enough to end a friendship. We both love travel and are in a similar position financially and I was really hoping we could do more trips togehter, but after this experience I'm not even sure our friendship will survive.