How to plan a group trip: a 7-step guide

Travelling together is the best part — the organising a little less. With several families or a group of friends, the packing list quickly disappears into three group chats. This guide keeps it clear, from first idea to relaxed departure.

Prefer ticking it off together instead of printing? That is what PAKT does.

The step-by-step guide

1. Pick a date and destination together — start here, it’s the hardest part. Lock a date before you debate the destination.
2. Set the budget — agree early roughly what everyone wants to spend. Avoids awkwardness later.
3. Divide the tasks — who books the accommodation, who the travel, who the groceries? One owner per task.
4. Make one shared packing list — so nobody brings three tents and forgets the pegs.
5. Store all info centrally — address, tickets, itinerary in one place instead of scattered across emails and chats.
6. Agree how you split costs — deciding upfront how you share (kids often count for less) saves hassle afterwards.
7. Check the list together a week before — fill the last gaps while there’s still time to sort something.

The biggest pitfalls

• The packing list wanders across several group chats
• Nobody knows who brings what — so double or nothing
• Receipts and IOUs weeks after the trip
• The holiday-home address lost in email
• Starting too late for the most popular places