Girls Trip

Central Park, New York City

Hey Mama!! Take the that trip. You know which one I’m talking about. The one where you don’t have to lug around a diaper bag or pack 10,000 stickers and 5,000 snacks and juice boxes. The one where you aren’t worrying about keeping everyone’s passports together or whether you have enough episodes of Peppa Pig downloaded on the i pad.

This is the trip where it is about YOU. While I haven’t had the courage yet to take a solo trip, there is the next best thing : A GIRLS TRIP! While it doesn’t have to end up like the one from the movie (although you do you!), it can be whatever and where ever you and your best gal pals want to do.

Serene Sunsets by the lake

Need some convincing? Keep Reading, I’ve got my top 5 reasons:

1. Reconnecting with your besties: as we become grown adults living in a grown up world, we often don’t get a chance to connect and nurture our friendships as we once used to. Who has the time (or the quiet space) to gab on the phone for hours with our friends like we used to? Group chats and texts are great for sharing pictures and memes, but not really for any meaningful connection with our friends who know us, who get us, and who still put up with us.

2. Reconnecting with you: Go back to who you were before you were a mom, or a wife, or super well put together adult (ha!). Pack those sexy impractical shoes, the white dress that you wouldn’t dare wear because it is a stain magnet around the kids, and empty your makeup up drawer into your suitcase. Or don’t. Just be you. Whether you want to get dolled up and go out on the town or just sit in your comfy sweats and pony tail, the genius of a girls trip is that you get to be you. And everyone around you loves you anyways.

3. Come home happier : You’ll come home happy, relaxed and appreciating and missing your family. They’ll miss you too and your husband will find a new appreciation for everything you do to make your family life run. The kids will survive without you, in fact they may even thrive. I come home after one girls trip to find my girls had become carnivores – they gobbled up steak and loved their dad’s recipe for mashed potatoes. So now they only want Dad to make that meal!

4. Letting go: For once, you don’t have to plan every part of the trip. Girlfriends take care of each other. Someone will know the hottest restaurant to try, someone else will be able to do a smokey eye for you, someone else will be happy to organize the day’s itinerary or to mix a mean cocktail for before dinner drinks.

5. Free(ish) therapy: Remember those long phone calls we used to have with our girlfriends? Where we gossiped and dished the dirt or just cried about our frustrations. While we probably don’t have time to have those phone calls as often anymore (or at all!), a weekend away provides therapy of the best kind! Everyone has stuff in their life, and we all need a safe space to be able to vent it out. A girls weekend can provide that.

Sedona

BONUS REASON: As a mom of three girls, I know that I am their role model so many things. One of those include self care. My kids get to see that this mama needs to take care of herself too, so that she can better take care of them.

Where To Go:
Now that you are convinced, you need to figure out where to go! The answer is – really anywhere! I’ve been super lucky that I have enough friends that like me enough to take me on some great trips over the years.

1. City Life: Chicago, Montreal and New York City fit the bill : walk n’ talk while discovering great boutiques and cafes, or go to fun, hip restaurants, and indulge in some shopping – a big city trip has something for all the gals in your group along with a ton of hotel choices for all budgets.

2. The Great Outdoors: Hike in Sedona and take in the beauty of the red rocks. (see my post on Sedona for more insp.)

3. Beach: An all inclusive in Mexico or a Miami beach trip – there is lots of beach relaxing and supportive comments about your booty in that bathing suit.

4. Cottage: It works out best when someone has a cottage or cabin for a girls weekend in. Movies, games and food are really all you need.

5. Spa Retreat: Splurge at Mii Amo spa in Sedona or go on a short road trip from Toronto to Ste. Anne’s Spa – a wellness trip where everyone comes back super relaxed

6. Party Time: Sometimes girls just want to have fun and let off some steam. Partying with your best gal pas means someone always has your back in da club where you can bust out all your dance moves with no judgement. Las Vegas is perfect for that: party, shop, pool and repeat. Not to mention the desert air makes for good hair days. (I got you girl!)

7. Wine Country: It’s the perfect place to “wine” about your life with your friends (I’m so clever). Whether in Napa or Niagara-on-the-lake, grab some bikes and head out together to visit some gorgeous vineyards.

Where have you been for a girl’s trip? Share below!