Why group holidays are not just for boozed-up teens

Olivia Petter recommends taking a trip away with friends as a thirtysomething... as long as you carve out some alone time

Group holidays are for kids, right? Teenagers slumped over one another on European streets, warbling nonsense into the night sky through tears, sweat and kebabs. School leavers soaked in fluorescent paint, doing shots of some obscure spirit that's probably illegal in the UK. And university students waking up poolside with their jelly sandals still strapped on, their bodies burning in the scorching afternoon sun.

With this in mind, the prospect of planning a group trip when you’re over the age of 25 might seem bizarre. By this point, people tend to have serious partners. Proper jobs. And possibly even a child or two. Nobody has time for a silly little holiday with their friends. At least, this was how I felt in the middle of 2022 when, following a breakup, I found myself looking out at an entirely blank, and consequently rather bleak, summer. It wasn’t that people didn’t want to go away together – “I’m gagging to drink rosé and talk shit for seven hours by a pool,” said one friend with a three-year-old – but few had the time, money or energy, let alone all three.

Those that did were impossible to galvanise. WhatsApp groups were made between various friendship groups. Screenshots of flights were shared (“Look, the EasyJet sale is on now!”). And links for various Airbnbs across obscure European cities were hotly debated. And yet, nothing happened, which is why that year I ended up going on my first solo holiday.