I’ve blogged about this yearly girls adventure in the past, but in case you missed the memo on this stellar travel idea…here is the back-story and the details…
A few years ago I read an article in Real Simple magazine about this group of girlfriends who made a pact to go on one annual trip, which sounds pretty normal and fun, right? But, this gal-pal getaway had a few important and unique twists that caught my eye, leading my group of girlfriends and I to follow suit!
Here are the rules from the article:
1. One or two of the girls planned the entire trip completely solo. *** Which I did this year along with my bestie Alyssa.
2. Everyone on the trip contributed the same amount of money and gave the money to the planner/s. This meant that regardless of where each girl lived, she paid the same dollar-amount, making it financially fair and square. The chances of the entire group attending became exponentially higher, and girls that lived farther away didn’t have to spend more, which, YES, always happens and isn’t so fabulous.
3. THE ENTIRE TRIP WAS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL SURPRISE. And when. I say that the article called it a surprise trip, I actually mean it. From start to finish- location, flights, activities, food…everything was planned by the planners and was all unknown.
As I mentioned, it was my turn to plan this year, and OMG, doing this trip is NO JOKE! Pulling off all of the intricate details without effing up…dudes, it’s straight-up cray. From booking a house, to arranging 10+ flights for a huge group WHILST keeping it all as secret….heart palpitations. Early on, Alyssa and I decided that we wanted to do a beach location (especially since the trip would be over Labor Day weekend) and we wanted to do some fun activities. So, when we found out we could get tickets to Jay Z’s Made In America festival, we decided to book an awesome beach out in Belmont Shores (Long Beach, CA). We also took the most magical/awesome sailing trip where we got to jump out of the boat, swim around, drink champagne and act weird.
Overall, I think the trip was a success. Or, I hope it was! But as per the usual, the true highlight was having time to spend with these amazing women I’ve somehow been friends with for prettyPreview Changes much half of my life at this point. These intelligent, talented, funny, beautiful, generous women travel from all ends of the world (literally), and take time away from their families (there’s one baby in the mix now so ish just got real), and time off from their uber-awesome careers (these girls are legit boss ladies), to spend time together, catching up, having silly/deep/thought-provoking/important conversations and to celebrate the awesomeness of each other. It’s cheesy, but I love cheese. Plus, it’s true.
MASSIVE SHOUT-OUTS to: My Uncle Gary, the owner of the raddest sailboat ever and his Captain, Captain Raggs. FYI, they’re avail for charters, so click HERE. And also to my parents for letting me borrow their sweet SUV and for taking me to Costco 🙂
If you want to see where we’ve been in previous years:
Cayucos, CA Luxury Dude Ranch of 2011
NBA Themed Pheonix, Arizona Experience of 2012
Seattle, Washington Lake House with Bon Jovi of 2013
ENJOY THE FUN PICS BELOW!
FYI – I’m like waaaaay too proud of my cannon ball skills. But on the real, I’ve been working on perfecting this move since the 90’s.
Pure joy.
SF and SD can really be friends.
Under the deck of the boat. Totally felt like we were on Pirates of the Caribbean…(over active imagination)
Too bad she’s so boring. LOL.
This doesn’t look scary, but it kind of was. I loved it!
Lounging at the Made in America Festival
Jammin
Pretty ladies
ZZ WARD!
Oh did I mention it was the Budweiser Made In America Festival. Obvs we had to sample a bit.
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