Life

I Regret Going On A Holiday Trip With My High Spender Friend And I Had To Top Up For Her Overweight Baggage Fee

I never thought about the impact of financial habits on friendships until I travelled to Japan with my friend. Since we had been friends for five years and we had a good rapport, I had no issues in asking her to come along on the trip.   Before departure, we have set a budget for accommodation, meals and flight tickets. We even decided to share the checked-in baggage fare and allocated a fixed weight for each of us, because we knew that we would be bringing back a lot of souvenirs.   However, while we were there, my friend was buying souvenirs and items at almost every stop. One time, we had our eyes on some beautiful bags, so she suggested that we get matching ones as “friendship bags”. I caved and bought the bag along with her, but I was starting to worry about our baggage weight. I reminded her about it, but she dismissed my warning.When it was time to go back, I was right, as her bag was 5kg heavier than her allocated weight. Although she was in the wrong, she asked me to share the extra baggage fee because she was tight on money from the trip, with an excuse that the “friendship bags” were also part of the extra baggage.   I said no because I had already warned her about her purchases, but she then got mad at me and refused to talk to me on the way home. From then on, I learnt that my friend was not the best travelling companion, and while we are still friends, I would not invite her on a trip again.  This article is part of TSS Confessions, a weekly column where we delve into personal finance topics that are unscripted and genuine real accounts from people.