Life is busy, and the older you get, it only gets busier. Finding time for yourself can feel impossible, let alone time to catch up with your best friends. But with a bit of forward planning and communication, it is possible to round up the girls and have a great time together. 

Sometimes, a Saturday brunch just isn’t enough, and you find yourself dreaming of a weekend getaway. On the rare occasion that everyone’s calendars align, you’ll want to make the most of it. Planning a trip that is full of fun, laughter, connection, relaxation and making memories together. But getting the plans off the page and into reality can be a tall ask. Here’s how to make it happen.

Getting It out of the Group Chat 

Every good girl group has a group chat. It’s probably named after some obscure in-joke that only half of you remember the origins of, and it’s where everything from promotions to breakups to Instagram reels is shared. This is the perfect place to start planning. 

Start floating the idea early, as lining up annual leave can be one of the hardest things. Discuss preferred dates, introduce talks about locations and budgets, maybe even use polls to make the decision-making clearer and more fuss-free. These early chats are instrumental to the final product and are the first step to making the trip happen. 

Set a Budget

Having a clear budget will help inform all the decisions you have to make from here on out. The amount of how much money people have to spend will help you decide if flights are feasible or if it’s best to book somewhere within driving distance. Money talk can be tricky, but it’s essential. 

We recommend agreeing early on things like how much everyone wants to spend on big-ticket items like travel, accommodation, on-ground transport and food, and whether costs will be split evenly or itemised. Services like Splitwise or Beem It allow you to quickly and easily split costs and request money from friends. Encourage honesty and compromise. Everyone has a right to help plan the trip that they’ll not only love but also afford. 

Choose Your Destination

No doubt, people immediately started suggesting places to go, things to see and activities to do. Before you can move forward, settling on a location is an essential first step. Whether you’re staying nearby and heading out to your state’s wine region, or booking flights to Bali, there are options to suit every time frame and budget. 

Being honest and willing to compromise here is essential. If you’ve got one person who is running a little low on cash, an international trip may not be the best choice. Wherever you go, making sure you’re not leaving anyone out or making anyone uncomfortable will help make the planning much smoother. At the end of the day, it’s about spending quality time with your best friends, not about where you do it. 

Discuss Itinerary

Everyone holidays differently. Whether you’re a sun soaker, happy to sit by a pool with a book all day, or an adventure seeker looking for the next hiking trail, making sure there’s room for a little bit of everything will help keep everyone happy. Finding a balance between planned activities and free time will help smooth any potential clashes, allowing people to do the things they want to do without forcing everyone into one box. 

However, planning some activities can help anchor the experience. Maybe you look into how to plan a self-care day, and you set up a DIY spa night in your accommodation, or you book a wine tour for your second day. Whatever it is, open the floor for input from your friends, and you can construct the perfect girls’ trip from there. 

Delegate Tasks and Start Booking

Once you’ve chosen everything, consider splitting up the jobs of booking and organising things between each other. Depending on how many people are coming and where you’re going, maybe one person is in charge of flights, and one is in charge of the accommodation. If you’re staying close by, perhaps giving someone the responsibility for the grocery run, and someone else in charge of picking up any wine or drinks, can help take the pressure off one particular person. 

For those who really love clear organisation, setting up a shared Google Sheet or Doc can help make things really clear, assigning tasks to each person that they can action and tick off as you go. This is the last step before making the trip a reality, so while it can be a drag to set up, this is when excitement really starts to build. 

Putting together the perfect girls’ trip can be complicated. Managing a group of people’s calendars and budgets can take a fair bit of planning and compromise, but once that trip finally makes its way out of the group chat, and you’re all sitting around a table laughing together, it’ll all be worth it.