This month, I met up with one of my very favourite people, SW, in Byron Bay for a giggle-laden, sunshiney, instagrammable, girls-only mini-break. It was one of the most soul-filling 72 hours I can remember. So good in fact that I’m 100% convinced we should all be doing this more regularly, so in this post, I’m going to give you the complete business case for planning your own girls trip!
So here it is: my 9 reasons you need to be planning a girls trip ASAP!
1. Our friendships have milestones worthy of celebration
In Australian culture, we’re pretty good at celebrating milestones in our intimate relationships with anniversaries, Valentines Day etc. And for good reason: deciding to choose a partner for life is a big deal! But the other people we choose to be closest to in life – our friends – are also a big deal. Many of us have friendships that pre-date or outlast our intimate relationships.
SW and I booked this trip to celebrate twenty years of friendship. We met on the first morning of the first day of year 8 and 20 years, 4 degrees, 2 marriages, 1 baby and about 28,912 hours of shopping later, there is so much life we have shared and it was so worthy of celebration! (Though we are both certain we don’t need to wait another 20 years to do this again!)
2. Great relationships – including our friendships – deserve nurturing
Of the 20 years we’ve been friends, SW and I have spent a little over half that time living in different cities. We are excellent at keeping in touch, but there’s nothing quite like time spent face-to-face. While the time off and the sunshine and the naps were definitely refreshing, there’s something about spending time with girlfriends that makes your soul smile.
3. You’ll probably want to do lots of the same stuff…
Shop! Nap! Eat! Swim! Shop! Cocktail hour! Did I mention shop!? Also, total snaps to Byron for being such a fabulous mini-break destination with all of these things!
4. … and if that’s shopping you won’t have to do any polite sightseeing first!
I didn’t marry a man that loves shopping. I married a man who loves me and accepts that I love shopping. When we travel, the shopping usually comes after the general exploring and that suits me fine. But I love exploring a new location through its retail opportunities (even if you’re not buying anything) but usually it comes on day 2 or 3, or squeezed in, intermittently, around other events. Not when you’re traveling with your like-minded gf/s! Check in, bags, down, explore the retail offerings!
I am also the only person in my marriage who loves a nap! Not the case holidaying with SW! As a mum of an adorable small person, we were 100% on the same page with nap-hour.
5. You’ll probably laugh ’til you cry
And maybe even snort-laugh, or choke on your food in the process, regardless of how it happens, it’ll be a wickedly good workout for your abs.
6. You may also just cry
So it turns out that after a seriously great day with reptiles at breakfast, lighthouses, Hugh Jackman as The Greatest Showman, and a friend who knows me nearly better than I know myself… if you plant me in front of a beach where dogs are playing on the sand as the sun sets, I may well up with tears, confess my undying gratitude for aforementioned friendship and be laughed at by aforementioned friend.
If you find yourself in this emotionally overwhelmed position, I suggest following this sequence with fancy drinks, woodfire pizza and icecream.
7. You’ll have some excellent opportunities to be matchy-matchy
Because who doesn’t like twinning!?
8. You may get to enjoy a beautiful part of the world you don’t always see
We seriously rated Byron for it’s great food, gorgeous beaches and laid back vibes. We stayed right in the centre of town and it was great to have so much to explore on foot.
We also drove up to Cabarita to check out the much-instagrammed Halcyon House which was even more gorgeous than pictures do credit.
9. You will remember it fondly always
As long as I can hold onto my memory, I will remember this three days as some of my favourite of my life.
I am psyched to share that it’s only another couple of months before I’m headed away for the weekend with a bunch of girlfriends again. Extravagant? Maybe a little. But I can’t think of anything I could buy that will bring me as much joy as these weekends away so happy to save some pennies to make it happen!
Do you have a girls trip on the horizon? Do you think it’s time to book one in? (Hint: it is!)