It is also a bit irritating to have to use ticket machines (which are increasingly common in all the different transit stations, often without the option of a staff person at a window). Many of the machines will only sell a limited number of tickets to you in a single transaction (often capped at 5), which means that I have to repeat my purchase multiple times in order to get it to spit out all the tickets I need. London was the exception and made the purchase of group tickets very easy (and always had a staff person on duty to help if needed).
The biggest challenge with a large group is trying not to be in the way of locals on public transit. The group has gotten very good at spreading out on the platform in the metro to board by multiple doors, and exiting the train and standing against the wall to let locals go about their business while we wait to move out as a group. This is not so easy to do however on a small tram (Amsterdam) where you have to enter ONLY by the front door, and are crammed in a narrow tram with your luggage. Also not easy on a bus in Copenhagen that also requires entry at the front door. It was much easier the second day when we boarded a bus without our luggage, but we still took up a lot of room on the bus. (The locals were very tolerant and nice to us though, giviing us tips about getting on with our passes, etc).
Checking in at hostels with 4-5 rooms is also a bit on the time consuming side. The group is very patient in waiting for their keys to be ready, but running the transaction and getting everyone to the right room takes a while.
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