Keep track of how much you spend on a trip by hanging onto receipts for cash purchases and paying close attention to your credit card bills. When you get back home, sort through everything with your tripmates, figure out how much everyone is owed and settle up. Do this within your first week back from your trip. The longer you wait, the fuzzier the memories become and suddenly you’re fighting over money. No trip should have its memories ruined because you can’t recall who paid for you ugly friend to get his first handjob.
Or just go with the theory that over time things average out close enough in the end. If they don’t naturally get there then you’re hanging out with the wrong people anyways…
I try to avoid all this by making a ‘bank’–everyone chips in $50 or so to start–and then one person carries it and pays for all group expenses (dinners, train tix, etc). Folks are on their own for their handjobs.
argggggghh, the tallying up the receipts and the inevitably ensuing absurdly complex spreadsheet is the worst thing ever. the two best systems i have so far experienced:
1. richest guy just pays for everything, all the time on his elite-colored amex. then he just tells you what you owe him and everyone only owes one person. note: only works if you are traveling with a friend who makes at least a 6-figure salary. which is rare.
2. everyone takes the same amount of money out of the ATM at the same time. since the overwhelming majority of expenses are communal (meals, bar tabs, car rentals, gas, hotel rooms, train tickets, bananas to feed the monkeys, etc), one person can just pick up the whole tab and keep going this way until everyone’s money is depleted, then everyone goes to the ATM again and takes out the same amount of money to put towards those things. that way you never have to worry about doing math on restaurant checks or tallying up receipts later. extra amounts can be taken out for personal expenses and souvenirs.
only works well with groups no larger than 4, and only if you implement the system from the very beginning. effectiveness will vary if you are traveling with douchingtons who always order the filet mignon and appletinis, but this is usually not the case (for me at least). sometimes someone’s meal or drinks will be a little more expensive, but it all seems to even out eventually.
Steph, good plans. It is all so contingent on your companions. If you travel with good people (as you and I clearly do), then this isn’t too big an issue. But hunting down “friends” for cash is awkward for sure. Thanks for sharing your strategies!