Dear Prudence,
Since quarantine wound down, I’ve been making an effort to go traveling more, sometimes alone and sometimes with a friend or two. I have two local friends who I enjoy seeing for dinner or hangouts, and who keep asking me when I’ll plan a trip with them. The thing is, I do not want to travel with either of them at all. They are both kind of bad at making plans or taking care of themselves (i.e. wearing flip-flops in November and complaining about how cold they are). Whenever they run into even a small problem, they act completely helpless and expect someone else to fix it (i.e. if one of them loses their phone, they say, “I lost my phone” and stare expectantly at you to start looking). This is something I’m fine with when we’re just grabbing food locally, but I would find it incredibly irritating when stuck in a hotel room or on a plane with them. They’ve started getting pushier about making plans, especially if they ever catch wind from a mutual friend that I have travel coming up. Do I just keep dodging endlessly, or should I say something to ease them off?
—When You’re “Monthly Dinners” Friends Not “International Travel” Friends