For many of us a girlfriend getaway to Italy, complete with Italian wine, local food, bright beaches and a few of our closest female friends is the perfect excuse to head to overseas. When I moved to southern Italy a few years ago, two of my closest gal pals came along and we turned my big move into a once-in-a-lifetime chick trip.
Last week I wrote a guest post for one of those chicks who is in the initial stages of planning a repeat trip to the bel paese, senza husbands. At Andrea Unplugged, I wrote about five steps to planning an international girlfriends’ getaway, and today, I’d like to elaborate on that theme with a few tips for planning your trip.
1. Get Involved!
Once you’ve decided on a vacation destination, get everyone involved by delegating aspects of the trip. Is one of you a wanna-be wine connoisseur? Let her research wine tours? Someone else love to cook? Put her in charge of finding a cooking class. Getting everyone involved will keep the group excited and motivated, without exhausting one person with too many trip details.
2. Split the Load
If you’ve been around My Bella Vita, you know how I feel about over-packing, but a girlfriend trip makes it easy to pack light. During one of your planning sessions, work up a packing list, then decide who will pack certain shared items. You might be able to share a laptop, hairdryer and flat iron-if you decide to pack them at all, as well as phone or camera chargers and some toiletries.
3. Agree to Disagree …
on the most important sights, that is. Chances are even if you’ve all been to Italy before, you probably haven’t seen the same sights. So agree upfront that if anything comes up and one of you can see something new and exciting you haven’t yet seen – you’ll split up for the day. Agreeing up front will ease tensions anyone might have about wanting to split from the group, while actually splitting up will keep you from feeling stressed or resentful about what you “could have” seen or done on your Italian vacation.
What other tips do you have for girls planning a getaway to Italy?
Until next time … Buon Viaggio.
Thanks for this great article. I love the tip on sharing the duties. It can get overwhelming for one person to do all of the planning.
Wow, just visited your site, Stephanie! LOVE it. Thanks for swinging by.