After spending two weeks on the road with a few of my best friends, I realized that traveling with your friends is not just fun and games. It’s a lot harder than it seems; we fought, ignored each other in the car, plus we’re all messy people running on different alarm clocks. It was a challenge to get us all out of the door at the same time.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t travel with your friends. Road tripping with them is a great idea. It’s fun, spontaneous, and just overall full of surprises when your friends are as funny as mine. I don’t know about you, but for me, every trip I take I use as time to do a little soul-searching, and sometimes it’s not all positive things (which is okay). Here are a few things I learned after being on the road with my friends:

1. I don’t like traveling in a pack

Don’t get me wrong, I love all of you! The more people you have on a trip the more indecisive we all get! Making a plan before heading off on the road is the way to go but eventually one of us is going to be unhappy with the destination we had planned.

2. Communication is key

It’s hard to be mad and stay mad when you’re together 24/7 in an enclosed space. If the road taught us all anything, it taught us to be honest with each other. Until today, I can’t stay angry at my friends for more than two hours, I’m always the one to call and tell them I miss them already.

3. You might lose a friend along the way

Being on the road with someone isn’t just hanging out with them for one hour then going home, it’s living with them in close proximity. You see the good, the bad and the ugly and you realize that your differences are just too different and that’s okay. I appreciate the memories and will always have inside jokes whenever I see them but growing apart is a normal process and instead of holding a grudge, you embrace that they’re their own awesome person.

4. My friends are my soulmates

I fell in love with my friends on the road. We had our ups and downs and we still managed to make it to the end without ripping each other’s heads off. You become comfortable with the awkward silences and talk about life on the 10-hour drives. You cry about your mistakes and talk each other out of the dark. Even though we see each other less, I know we will always be there for one another.

Going on trips with your friends can either tighten the relationship or break it. I also started traveling on my own and my friends were very supportive of my decisions. I’m not trying to discourage anyone on taking trips with their bffs, it’s an experience that everyone should have and I highly recommend it.