Investing in relationships is important, and what better way to do that than with an epic girlfriend getaway, right? Right! But planning a trip with a group, or even just one BFF, can be tricky. Managing a budget, establishing expectations and creating itineraries all leave opportunities for frustration, but your girlfriend getaway is supposed to help you connect and make memories, not cause you to butt heads with your besties.
With our incredible Ireland adventure coming up in just a week and a half, we thought we would share our advice for planning a trip with your girlfriends. Follow these tips to ensure maximum epic-ness and minimum disappointment.
GET ON THE SAME PAGE
You have picked the perfect girlfriend getaway destination. Now what? Start by understanding what each of your girlfriends wants out of the trip. If you are planning your girlfriend getaway to connect with your BFFs, you need to make sure you are on the same page. Establishing expectations and setting a common theme for the trip will help with that.
What is the Goal?
If the goal of the trip is to relax as much as possible, make sure you don’t have a friend who is expecting to see all the sights and explore. If your goals are not aligned, someone is bound to be disappointed. Disappointment leads to frustration, and possibly anger or irritation, which you DO NOT want clouding your fun.
ESTABLISH A BUDGET
Oh money, how you love to meddle with friendships. Money and budget can be an uncomfortable subject to talk through, but it is worth having an honest conversation about. Decide on a budget and discuss what is included in that budget so there are not any last-minute surprises. Money is frivolous, so don’t let it get between you and your girlfriends.
Paying For Group Meals
I’m going to share the ultimate #protip for paying for group meals so you can skip the check-splitting hassle and awkwardness. You have your budget, and a portion (for us, it’s a large portion) of that budget is sure to be food and drinks. Have everyone add the same amount of cash to a “family purse”. That purse will be used to pay for all meals or group activities. One person managing the money simplifies the payment process of your outings. At the end of your trip, either split the money up evenly or keep the family purse for the next time your girl gang is out and about.
Understand What Is Important
At the very beginning of planning for your girlfriend getaway, have each person create a list of all the things they would like to experience. Make sure to identify which items are especially important and which are optional. Basically, prioritize! Get together and compare your lists. Items that appear on everyone’s lists should be must-do for the trip.
Real life example: When we started planning our girlfriend getaway to Ireland, we quickly realized that our lists had a lot of the same items on it. Some of the low-hanging fruit for each of us had to be cut out, but it was easy to do since it was making room for higher priority experiences. Experiences that were important to both of us.
Create An Itinerary
We recognize that some people love to fly by the seat of their pants on vacations, but we have found that it is important to create an itinerary for your girlfriend getaways. An itinerary does not need to be mega-detailed, but even a loose outline of your trip will add structure to avoid missing any must-dos or awkward “what do we do now?” moments.
Use Easily Accessible Resources
We are big fans of Google Sheets here at LEO & MAUDE, and we have found that it is an incredible resource for planning a trip with a group. You can create your itinerary in a Sheet and it will be easy for every trip attendee to access. You can create a tab for your itinerary but also for to-do lists, budget, and important reservation (flight, hotel, etc.) information.
Overestimate The Timing
If you are with a group of intensely detailed planners, make sure you overestimate the time you set aside for each itinerary item. There are always unforeseen time-sucking aspects like walking to the car, traffic, chatting with a local, etc. Planning extra time will help avoid feeling like you are late for your next itinerary item and keep you organized.
Prepare to go with the Flow
Even the best laid plans are sure to change, and the same goes for your girlfriend getaway. You created your itinerary but be prepared to go with the flow. Keeping an open mind about your itinerary helps to manage expectations and again, mitigates disappointment. Don’t waste time overthinking the details, which can get in the way of valuable memory-making opportunities. Instead, plan your trip and roll with the punches. Adventures lurk in unknown places, but you will miss out on them if your sulking over your “ruined” itinerary.
Planning the trip of a lifetime with your best gal palls is an incredible experience. While it can seem overwhelming to wrangle up all the ideas of a group into one trip, taking the time to plan your girlfriend getaway will be worth it. There will be clear expectations, paving the way for all the memories that you will make. Now stay tuned for updates on our Ireland adventure, the inspiration for all these trip planning tips.
xoL&M
Over To You
How do you feel about girlfriend getaways? Have you taken an epic trip with your BFFs? If so, where did you go? Do you recommend it as a destination for others’ getaways? Maybe you have a dream destination for a trip with your girl group? Share it with us in the comments below, we want to hear from you!
