Splitting Travel Costs with Friends: The Fast, Safe, and Easy Way!

So you and your friends are ready to stop drooling over those mega-amazing Instagram travel photos and make travel your own reality? Sounds like a group trip in the works! But before you embark on your grand FRIEND-TRIP, do yourself a favor and prepare a plan of action for splitting travel costs with friends, ahead of time. TRUST ME. You should leave for your trip ALREADY knowing how you’re going to split travel costs with friends, saving you time, stress, awkward conversations, and ensuring every cost is taken care of as fairly as possible!

This post is sponsored by Zelle® and the InfluenceHer Collective. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Television of Nomads possible!

Here’s what you DON’T want to happen when traveling with friends. THE DREADED MONEY ARGUMENT. I’ve had a friend conveniently “forget” to reimburse me for a flight I booked for them, and then argue that we were “even” since she paid for the hotel. The problem is, the difference in cost between the flight and hotel booking was over $300, and I ain’t no money bags! In fact, if there’s ANYTHING I learned from the financial empowerment panel with money expert Farnoosh Torabi, VP of Marketing & Branding at Early Warning Services Melissa Lowry, and Her Campus co-founder Annie Wang at the “pop-up with a purpose” known as Stacks House, it’s that empowering women to take control of their financial destiny means being straightforward about money, and taking what’s rightfully theirs. And of course, that applies when splitting travel costs with friends! So how can we avoid any confusion about money when traveling with buddies? We recommend Zelle as a fast, safe, and easy way to pay friends back when sharing travel costs, right from your banking app!

Here’s the fast, safe, and easy way to split travel costs with friends!

Stay smiling: avoid the dreaded money argument!

Travel Better with Zelle

We recently learned that 74% of Americans prioritize experiences over things. And while traveling with friends is perhaps the most amazing experience you can share with them, splitting travel costs has always made it trickier. Dealing with different currencies, not wanting to carry around too much cash when traveling for safety reasons, etc., can make the process even more tedious. Of course, it’s super easy to pay back our friends when traveling now, and to do so in a way that’s fast, safe, and easy with Zelle!

Splitting Travel Costs with Friends: Don’t Waste Any Time

We’re not in the olden days anymore, y’all. The wonder of technology allows us to pay back our friends for travel costs with just a few taps. While there are plenty of apps you can use to track your ongoing expenses during your trip, we recommend taking care of each re-payment as quickly as possible to avoid the dreaded money argument. After all, sometimes people legitimately DO FORGET, so we advise splitting the travel costs and paying any money back right away!

It’s literally as easy as looking for Zelle in your banking app (as long as you have a U.S. bank account), and with a few taps, you can send money to friends, family, and others you trust in minutes (as long as their email address or U.S. mobile number is already enrolled with Zelle, so just make sure to take care of that before your trip)!

If you make a habit out of splitting the travel costs immediately after each new expense, no one will even have the chance to forget any new travel costs, ensuring your friend-trip continues as smoothly as possible!

Other Benefits of Splitting Travel Expenses Using Zelle

We’ve already talked about the speed of sending money with Zelle to pay friends back for travel expenses. And yes, it is definitely fast—I’ve sent money to pay friends back for my share of dinner before even leaving the table. But it’s also a lot more secure and  convenient than carrying around a bunch of cash when traveling.

When considering the benefits of splitting travel expenses using Zelle, note that you’ll have a record for each time you send money to friends in your banking app, giving you a digital receipt to prove that you’ve already paid your fair share (should anyone forget—we’re human, after all!). Another wonderful benefit of using Zelle when splitting travel costs is that you will be able to easily keep track of JUST HOW MUCH you’re spending, for your own financial assessment! Since you can add a memo to each payment you send with Zelle, you’ll be able to remember exactly what you spent your money on for each part of your trip, allowing you to learn about your travel spending habits and make responsible travel financial decisions accordingly.

Make smart money choices and get a slice of that cake!

Traveling with friends will give you the time of your life, as long as you make sure to take care of splitting travel expenses with them. Whether you’re splitting travel costs for hotels, flights booked together, restaurant bills, transportation, etc., you now know how fast, safe, and easy Zelle makes it to pay back a friend when traveling to avoid any future confusion or disagreements. Just remember, learning to make responsible travel decisions is just one step of becoming financially literate. We’d love to encourage you to continue to empower yourself through discussion and education to make smart money decisions in every aspect of your life, whether you’re traveling or in your every day! We love how Zelle factors into our money choices, not just with travel, but with everyday life as well, helping everyone, of all ages, to take charge of your finances and become the badass money boss you deserve to be!

Running to catch my next flight like

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