A trip with friends? Weekend, car, two spare seats.

How to post a trip in met

met has three kinds of meet-up: a plan, an event and a trip. You add a trip the same way as a plan. Tap “+” in the top bar and choose “New trip”. The wizard has three steps.

1. Where are you going? Enter the destination: Zakopane, Hel, Berlin. You can add what you’re planning, add photos and pin the destination on the map. Without a destination the wizard won’t go any further. Everything else is optional.
2. When? You pick the dates in a calendar, from and to. To start with, the wizard suggests the coming weekend, Saturday to Sunday. Below the dates you can see how many nights that makes.
3. Who’s going? Set how many places there are in total. Then choose who will see the trip: friends only, or everyone if the trip is meant to be public. At the bottom there’s a preview of the card: this is how others will see it.

Tap “Create trip” and the trip is in the Trips section straight away. No poll and no “let me know by Friday”.

Your friends see it. Whoever wants to go is in.

A “Friends only” trip is visible to your friends in the Trips section. The card shows them everything at once: the dates with the number of nights, the destination, the description, who’s already going and how many places are left. If the destination has a pin, the trip is on the map too.

Joining takes one gesture. Whoever wants to go slides the stone from “I’m out” to “I’m in”. Getting out works the same way, in the other direction. Nobody has to write “I’m coming” or add their name to a list in a message from three weeks ago.

Every trip has its own chat. The host and the people going can see it. That’s where you agree the meeting time and who’s bringing the barbecue. The same chat is also in your Chats list, alongside all the others. Anyone still on the fence sees a preview: where, when and whose trip it is. They get into the chat once they join.

A public trip also shows up in “Discover”, beyond your circle of friends. There, the stone doesn’t sign you up straight away. Instead it opens a request to the host. You can add a message to the request, up to 200 characters. While the request is pending, the track shows “Waiting for the host”. The host can look at that person’s profile card and then accept or decline the request. The newcomer only sees the chat and the list of people going once they’ve been accepted.

Spare places without counting on your fingers

A car has five seats, a cabin six beds, and a tent as many as it says on the label. Knowing someone doesn’t make any more room in the car. That’s why in met the limit on places comes at the start of the “Who’s going?” step, before you even choose who will see the trip.

You count places in total, including yourself. A five-seater car is 5, not 4. The list of people going starts with you, and each person after that takes one place. You can set the limit anywhere from 2 to 20.

The card shows the number of places left, and for trips of up to ten people there’s also a grid: taken squares are filled in, free ones are empty. When there are no places left, the card says “fully booked”. The track then closes, and instead of “I’m in” you see “Full”. That rule applies to friends too. Someone drops out? The place comes back and the next person can take it.

For a public trip you also set how many strangers can join: from 1 to 20, or no limit. Once that pool runs out, no more requests can be sent.

How to organise a trip with friends: 6 things to agree on

The app will get the crew together, but the rest you have to agree on together, the human way. This order causes the least stress.

1. Dates

To agree: dates, departure time, return time.

Start with the dates, not the destination. A destination is easy to change, but a free weekend for five people at once is rare. Suggest specific dates instead of asking when suits everyone. Also decide whether you’re setting off on Friday after work or on Saturday morning. That decides how many nights you pay for and who can make it at all.

2. Destination and getting there

To agree: where to, how, and who drives.

For a weekend, pick somewhere within two or three hours’ travel. A longer journey eats up half of Saturday and half of Sunday. If you’re going by car, decide straight away who’s driving and whether you’ll take turns at the wheel. Agree on one meeting point instead of five pick-ups along the way. The train can be more comfortable, but then the timetable and the walk from the station matter.

3. Accommodation

To agree: where you’re sleeping, how many beds there are, and until when you can cancel.

Book early, especially for long weekends and in high season. Count beds, not rooms. Check the cancellation terms before anyone pays a deposit. Then if someone drops out at the last minute, it’s easier to get the money back or find a replacement.

4. Budget and settling up

To agree: how much per person, what’s shared, who pays up front.

Say the amount out loud before you book anything. One person is thinking of a cottage with a sauna, another is counting on a campsite. Agree what you split equally: accommodation, fuel, shared shopping. Everyone pays for the rest themselves. One person pays up front and the others pay them back within a week. Photos of the receipts save arguments.

5. Packing list

To agree: what’s shared and who brings it.

A shared list saves you from three barbecues and no bottle opener. Write down the things for everyone: first-aid kit, speaker, games, extension lead, something for the kitchen. One name next to each item. Everyone packs their personal things their own way.

6. A plan B for the weather

To agree: what you’ll do if it rains.

Check the forecast the day before you leave and again that morning. Keep one indoor option up your sleeve: a swimming pool, a sauna, a museum or board games. In the mountains the weather changes faster than in the city. A shorter trail when the forecast is bad is common sense, not failure.

Which app for a trip with friends?

One that does one thing well. met brings the crew and the places together in one plan: who’s going, where, when and how many places are left. The conversation about the trip happens with the trip, not in a group chat where it drowns between memes and photos of other people’s holidays.

met doesn’t settle up money and doesn’t book accommodation. There are separate apps for splitting costs. You can book accommodation on a booking site or directly with the owner. You can check the route in a navigation app. Each of these tools does its own job. met looks after the thing everything starts with: making sure the trip happens at all.

When there’s no time for an overnight trip, see what to do in Warsaw at the weekend and post a plan for Saturday.