How to plan a group trip without losing friends

To plan a group trip, settle the date with a vote, keep one live plan the whole group can see, split costs as you spend, and put the photos in one album. Done in that order, it skips the usual stall: nobody names a date, one person holds the plan, and the money gets sorted in a spreadsheet 3 weeks after everyone is home. The owner's plan sets how many people can edit; nobody else pays to join.

Pick the dates with a poll

Propose up to 10 date ranges, send one link, and everyone ticks what works. No account, no app, and leaving every box empty is a real answer too. Back on the poll, each option shows who can make it, the leader is highlighted, and Make the trip creates the trip on the dates you choose and closes the vote. The same link then becomes the way onto the trip. (Find a date everyone can make)

Invite the group to one plan

• Send the invite link and whoever opens it sees the live plan and joins with a free account, as an editor or view only. Edits land on the other screens in about a second, and if two people edit different stops at once, both changes survive. (Invite people to a trip)
• Seats. The owner's plan seats the editors beside the owner: 1 on Free, 3 on Pro ($4.99 CAD a month), 10 on Discovery ($9.99 CAD a month). Viewers never take a seat, and once the seats are full the link joins people as viewers. Nobody needs a paid plan to come along.
• Vote on the maybes. Places the group is unsure of go in the Ideas pen on the board, where everyone on the trip can see them, editors vote, and a poll can pick between two or more. The pen never reaches the public page, and your vehicles and document vault stay yours. (Shape your days)
• Decide next to the plan. Every shared trip has a Trip Chat in the right-side dock, for exactly the people on it. Friends on Treader can message directly and drop a trip, place or spot into the chat as a card. (Friends, messages and trip chat)

Budget and split the costs

• One budget for the trip, on Pro: a ceiling, a running total, and typed prices that beat estimates. Anyone with edit access can adjust it. (Set a trip budget)
• Split as you go. Add who is splitting, log who paid what, and Treader works out who pays who in as few payments as it can. Receipts with a name under Paid by count automatically. Starting a split is Pro; once a trip has a roster, anyone with edit access adds to it. (Split costs with the group)
• Share the settle-up card, not the itinerary. The public card shows who paid what and who owes who, never the dates or the stops, and a reminder goes out as a direct message at most once every six hours.
• Fuel is a shared expense with one tap when the trip has a fuel plan. (Plan fuel and check the road for your car)

One album for the whole trip

Anyone who can edit the trip adds photos, and each one files itself under the day it was taken. The owner picks the highlights and shares a recap page anyone can open, account or not. Free trips hold 40 photos, Pro 400, Discovery 1,000, by the owner's plan. (The trip album and the recap)

Share the plan outside the app

• A calendar feed puts every stop, with its time and address, into their calendar app and follows the plan as it changes. Free, and the owner turns it on. (Put the trip in your calendar)
• A public page at its own link shows the days, stops and route to anyone, with the budget, costs and Ideas stripped out before it is built. (Share a trip publicly)
• The offline pack on Pro is one file that opens on any phone with no signal and no account, for the one friend who will not install anything. (Take the trip offline as one file)

Guides in this section

• Invite people to a trip → Editors and viewers, live co-editing, seats per plan. /docs/invite-people-to-a-trip
• Find a date everyone can make → One link, the group ticks dates, the trip is made on the winner. /docs/plan-with-a-date-poll
• Share a trip publicly → A read-only page with your money and your maybes kept out. /docs/share-a-trip-publicly
• Put the trip in your calendar → A live feed or a one-off file for any calendar app. /docs/put-the-trip-in-your-calendar
• The trip album and the recap → Editors add photos; the owner shares the recap. /docs/trip-photos-and-the-recap
• Friends, messages and trip chat → Follow people, message mutuals, share trips and places in the chat. /docs/friends-messages-and-trip-chat
• Find travellers and places worth following → Browse: public moments, the people you follow, your saves. /docs/browse-moments-and-following
• Mark spots and post moments → Your own places at three visibility levels. /docs/mark-and-share-spots
• Find free overnight spots → Community knowledge for campers and vanlifers. /docs/find-free-overnight-spots
• Put your food truck on the map → A community spot with hours, a menu link and photos. /docs/put-your-food-truck-on-the-map

Common questions

Does everyone need to pay for Treader to plan a trip together?

No. The owner's plan sets how many editors a trip seats, 1 on Free, 3 on Pro and 10 on Discovery. Everyone else joins as a viewer on a free account, and voting on dates needs no account at all.

How many people can edit a trip at once?

The owner, plus as many editors as the owner's plan seats: 1 on Free, 3 on Pro, 10 on Discovery. Edits land live, and simultaneous edits to different stops are merged rather than overwritten.

Can the group split costs unevenly?

No. The total divides evenly across everyone on the roster. Log a receipt against the person who paid and the settle-up accounts for it.

Can people who are not on Treader vote on the dates?

Yes. The poll link opens a plain page where a voter types a name and ticks the ranges that work. Up to 50 people can vote on one poll.