Sun Sea & Silence: When A Holiday With Friends Ends Friendships!

Summer is officially summering, and for many of us, that means one thing, getting ready to jet off on a holiday with friends! Whether it’s your very first girls’ trip or you’re a seasoned gal-cation pro, there’s nothing more exciting than planning an escape to warmer climates with your favourite people.

Some of my best memories have come from holidays with my girls; they’re perfect for bonding, laughing until it hurts, and taking a much-needed break from real life.

That said… not all girls’ trips are sunshine and giggles. Some come with unexpected drama, chaos, and seriously weird vibes, the kind that can ruin a holiday and a friendship.

If you’ve never had a disastrous trip, count yourself lucky, and let’s hope you never have to. Because let’s be real: no one wants to come back from a girls’ trip with PTSD instead of pictures and priceless memories.

There’s a saying that you don’t truly know someone until you live with them, but honestly? You don’t really know someone until you go on holiday with them.

We spoke to five women who shared their their friendships beyond repair.

Freeloader in France

“I had been friends with Katie for about four years, we met at work and had grown pretty close over time. She’d recently gone through a breakup and suggested that the two of us, along with another friend, book a short getaway. We decided on a four-night trip to Paris.

Leading up to the holiday, we planned everything out; the activities we wanted to do, the restaurants we were excited to try, and roughly how much spending money we’d all need. Katie had agreed to everything and assured us she was good for it.

But the moment we arrived at the hotel in Paris, Katie told us she was on a tight budget and didn’t have much money to spend. She asked if we could stick to cheap restaurants and avoid doing too much. We were honestly shocked. We’d gone over the plans and costs together in detail beforehand, and now she was expecting us to suddenly change everything. And more to the point , she was the one who invited us on this trip.

She gave us a sob story about how she was struggling financially but didn’t want to miss out. Not wanting to leave her out or let the trip become awkward, we decided to cover her meals, nights out, and activities. She only paid for basics like drinks and snacks. She promised she’d pay us back once we got home and her payday hit, so we didn’t mind too much at the time , even though Paris is expensive and I had to dip into my credit card more than once just to cover the extra cost.

When we got back to the UK, the money never came. I brought it up once, and she clearly stalled; it became obvious we were never going to get it back. After that, I didn’t bother chasing her again.

We stayed friends, but I never went on holiday with her again, and this incident has always made me think twice about who I go away with when I have a holiday with friends.”

– Clarissa, 21

The sloppy drunk

“The worst holiday with friends was a girl I’d known since school! I was around 21 at the time — we’d both just finished our degrees, moved back to our hometown, and decided to book a week away in Greece to celebrate.

The very first night, she got so drunk she could barely remember her own name, and I ended up having to babysit her. I didn’t judge; I’ve definitely had my moments, but when she did the exact same thing on the second night, I knew the holiday was going to be a disaster.

She got drunk every single night, and spent most of the days hungover in bed. I ended up missing out on activities and just lazing by the pool alone. (At that age, I didn’t have the confidence to go off exploring by myself.)

Luckily, I met a lovely group of girls who invited me to join them for a few excursions. As soon as my friend found out, she got really pissy and accused me of ‘leaving her out’, even though she’d spent nearly the whole trip in the hotel room. That kicked off an argument, and the vibe between us completely shifted.

But the real last straw came two nights before we were due to fly home. We went on a night out, and she ended up flirting with a guy at the bar. When we got back to the hotel, I crashed out immediately; only to be woken up by them having sex in the same room. I was honestly so disgusted. I got up, grabbed my stuff, and sat in the hotel lobby for over an hour just to get away from it.

We argued the next day. She didn’t see it as a big deal, but I felt totally disrespected. The plane ride home was awkward, to say the least.

When we got back, we didn’t speak for six months. And even when we eventually did, the friendship was never quite the same. That said, I’ve gone on to have so many amazing girls’ trips, so luckily it didn’t put me off having a holiday with friends for life!”

– Amy, 28

Going our separate ways in Mexico!

“I had a terrible holiday in Cancún, Mexico, with a friend I’d known for ten years. It was the furthest I’d ever been from home, and I went with someone I genuinely thought I could trust.

She had always been a bit bossy, but I usually let it slide. For some reason, though, she turned into a complete nightmare on this trip. She got jealous whenever I received male attention, constantly dismissed my ideas, and insisted we only did what she wanted because her plans were apparently “better.” Honestly, I could’ve handled all of that — what really got to me was her passive-aggressive behaviour and the constant feeling that I was upsetting her, even when I hadn’t done anything wrong.

By the fifth night, things hit a boiling point. She got really drunk, and we ended up arguing over something totally trivial. That’s when she started insulting me, everything from my looks to my personality, even how I spoke. I was so shocked and hurt that I actually cried. At that point, I didn’t feel safe around her, and I knew I didn’t want to spend another minute in her company.

I called another friend back home to tell him what had happened, and that night I made the decision to leave. Thankfully, I had some savings, so I booked myself into a different hotel on the other side of Cancún and left the next morning.

When she saw me packing, she tried to talk things through and make amends, but I told her I couldn’t continue the trip with her and was going my separate way.

Those first couple of days on my own were nerve-wracking; being in a foreign country alone for the first time wasn’t easy. But I decided I wasn’t going to let the way she treated me ruin my entire holiday. I pushed myself to meet new people at my hotel, tried some activities solo, and made the most of the time I had left.

Surprisingly, the last week turned out to be incredible. I had so much fun, and that trip actually ended up being the start of many solo adventures to come.

On the flight home, I changed my seat so we wouldn’t be sitting together. We eventually made up, but naturally drifted apart not long after. And honestly? I have no regrets.

As for now, I have no issues with having holidays with friends, if there is more than two people!”

– Lucy, 32

Who took my lipgloss?

“I went on a holiday with friends to Dubai. There were 6 of us, 4 of us were good friends and had known one another for a long time, and the other two girls were friends of one of our friends who were with us, we had met the other two girls a couple of times, but didn’t know them too much. Either way, we were all excited to be having a gal-cation together!

From the very beginning of the trip everything was such good vibes, we all met up at the airport, everyone was getting along. We had booked an 3 bed air bnb which was an apartment, so we all had

Girls being girls on holiday, make up and clothes were everywhere and we were all coming out of one anothers rooms.

I think it was around the 2nd day my friend noticed that her Dior lip-gloss was missing and she was quiet gutted about it, as not only was it expensive, it was her faourite one. We all tried to help her find it, but she ended up coming to the conclusion that it must have fallen out her bag, even though at one point she was adamant she had it with her when we got back to the apartment!

Later that evening, another friend lost her sunglasses and again after helping her look, it was no where to be seen. Then, the next day my friend noticed one of her mini pouches had gone, by this time, a few of us came to get very suspicious.

We suspected on of the girls, just because she just had a bit of shady vibe so we decided to look in whos we suspected suitcase when some of the girls were at the pool to find and my friend pouch was in it, stuff at the bottom underneath clothes, we searched in the pockets of a jacket that was in

We confronted her about it and a BIG argument broke out, it nearly got physical to be fair, she denied everything, even stating that we planted it on her because we didn’t like her, which was completely untrue

This completly ruined the trip, the vibes were off after this and it split us up, us 4 friends stuck together and the other two girls did.

I felt bad for my friend who bought her, she felt like it was her fault for bringing her into the friendship, but of course, we didn’t blame her.”

– Jas, 32

The Instagram story that caused bad vibes!

“There were eight of us who went away to Ibiza for what was meant to be the ultimate girly, party holiday with friends. We had planned it for a week and rented a stunning villa, big, spacious, with a private pool and a huge outdoor area. It was absolutely beautiful.

We were all long-time friends, and this wasn’t our first trip away together, so we expected it to be smooth sailing. But right from the start, two of the girls started clashing. They both had strong personalities, and it became clear early on that tension was bubbling. Snide comments, passive-aggressive remarks, and subtle bitchiness were happening daily. I tried to stay out of it as much as I could, but honestly, it was hard to ignore; it started to affect the whole vibe.

Things came to a head when one of them posted a shady Instagram story clearly aimed at the other. She saw it, confronted her, and all hell broke loose. What started as an online dig turned into a full-blown shouting match. After that, they weren’t speaking to each other for the rest of the holiday, which made the atmosphere super awkward. You could literally feel the tension in the air, it was like walking on eggshells the whole time.”

– Chioma, 29