When it comes to planning your travels, it can feel like a choice between two opposites. Your first option is to explore unknown corners of the world, surrounded by glittering temples and exotic animals. On the other hand, you can spend your summer doing shots and stumbling along a club strip on a Greek Island, dodging puddles of vomit. Or at least, that’s how Instagram can make it seem. The reality is somewhat different. Don’t let social media fool you into thinking you have to choose, or that one is better than the other. A week clubbing in Ibiza is not necessarily any of a less valuable experience than a yoga retreat in Bali.
“Party holidays” are often given a bad name. You only have to check the tabloids in July to be surrounded by pictures of scantily dressed tourists, generally swearing, vomiting or defacing something. Obviously this doesn’t give these trips the best reputation. We’ve all cringed at “Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents” as an unsuspecting youth makes with out with a questionable bloke in full sight of mum and dad. But in reality, there is a lot more to these holidays than fishbowls and hangovers.
For many young adults, a holiday without parental supervision is still a novelty. It’s a taste of freedom after the pressure of A-levels, and a chance to let loose before the stress of adult life sets in. Or it might be the first time venturing out of the uni bubble with housemates and new friends. It’s a chance to see who you are away from your hometown – a you who isn’t worrying about deadlines and coursework. Instead you can let loose, have fun and make some memories that will last a lot longer than bad tan lines do. How often do you have the chance to dance until morning with nothing to do the next day but head to the beach?
And what better way to bond with your mates than a whole week stuck with one another. If anything can put a friendship to the test, it’s a girl’s holiday. But rest assured, 5am drunken screaming matches followed by a teary hug and make up the next day are your becoming. These are the friendship defining moments. You never truly know someone until you’ve shared a dingy hotel room with broken air con and some questionable stains on the mattress.
It’s not just your friends you’ll learn about, but yourself. From coping when your airport transfer never turns up to finding out just how little sleep you can actually function on, you’ll probably realise that you’re tougher than you thought. Sometimes it takes losing a flip flop on a busy dance floor and having to create a make shift replacement out of plastic cups and duct tape to discover just how resourceful you actually can be.
So sure, that 1 euro bottle of wine might not be as Instagram worthy as an authentic Tom Yum Goong bought at a street market in Thailand. And it’s true; you probably won’t remember the strangers you spilled your heart to in Cherry Bay nightclub. But what you will remember is skinny dipping with your best friends in the Mediterranean Ocean as the sun rose. You might never look back fondly at the 70 likes on your profile picture, but these moments will be the ones you’ll remember with a smile when you’re way past the age of glitter and Jager bombs.