Why Every Woman Needs a Girls' Trip
By Lisa | Something More Travel
As a twenty-something woman navigating student loans, entry-level employment and the daily grind, girls’ trips weren’t really something I experienced. There was no money for travel.
Although, believe me, I did my best in my ’86 Daytona until she died.#CalgaryStampede #DepecheMode #IYKYK
My later 20s and 30s brought settling down, buying a home and starting a family. My family and I travelled - the passion was always there - but it wasn’t until a friend and I headed to the mountains for a weekend with our young daughters that I really started thinking about girls’ trips.
We had so much fun.
And something clicked.
It’s different. A break from the norm.
No husband asking where his shirt is. No one asking you to rub sunscreen on their head. No one complaining about traffic...
I digress.
All kidding aside, there’s a freedom that comes from stepping outside your usual roles and routines. I loved sharing that freedom with my daughter, my friend, and her daughter. The conversations were different. The activities were different. We were experiencing something new together - and seeing beautiful places and new vistas has always done something to me.
It makes me happy. It reconnects me to myself. It motivates me.
Travel as nourishment for the soul
I’ve always felt, intrinsically, that travel is one of the really good things in life.
Some people might call it therapy. I think of it more as nourishment for the soul.
Like a great meal shared with your best friends. An impromptu evening out with people you laugh so hard with your stomach hurts. A sunset you stop to watch even though you’re supposed to be somewhere else.
Travel can be healing. Nourishing. Perspective-building. It shakes things loose and reminds you there is a very big, beautiful world out there beyond whatever is currently occupying your brain.
Raising adventurers
There’s another reason I love travelling with girls: the example we’re setting.
I want the girls in my life to grow up knowing how to be fearless, independent, curious and capable.
To explore. To take a few risks. To try something they’ve never done before. To talk to people. To figure things out when the plan inevitably goes sideways.
To be do-ers and connectors.
I want them to know that the world is something to be experienced - not just watched.
Remembering Me
And then there’s the most selfish reason of all.
I’m more myself when I’m travelling.
When I’m away, I’m not Lisa, communications manager, with the schedule, responsibilities, contacts and expectations that come with that life.
I’m not this person’s friend, or that person’s volunteer, or the woman with 50 things on her to-do list and a house that hasn’t been properly cleaned in weeks.
I’m just Lisa.
The girl who loves music, dancing, laughing, art, good food, great conversations and stunning vistasw.
The girl who will give you a run for your money at the poker table, the pool table and, yes, the debate club.
Travel gives me a chance to remember her.
So… maybe you need a girls’ trip, too.
Maybe it’s a weekend in the mountains.
Maybe it’s a week somewhere warm with your best friends.
Maybe it’s a cooking class in Italy, a villa in Portugal, a spa weekend, a road trip with your daughter, or a beach where the only thing on the agenda is deciding whether to order another margarita.
Whatever it looks like, go.
Go laugh until your face hurts. Go see something you've never seen. Go have the long conversations. Go get a little lost. Go make the memories you’ll still be talking about ten years from now.
Consider it a soul refresh.
And I am endlessly grateful for my own personal tribe of gypsies, supporters, fellow female bon vivants, adventurers and ride-or-dies.
There really is no better feeling than being somewhere beautiful with women you love.
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